LATEST NEWS

5TH FEBRUARY 2010

Bell stays on as a Bear

Ian Bell has extended his Warwickshire contract by signing a two-year extension, taking his contracted stay to the end of the 2012 season.

His availability for the county side may be seriously negotiated this season by his position within the England side, after returning to favour with a number of spirited and classy knocks in South Africa this winter.

While he was out of international reckoning in 2009, Bell appeared 13 times for Warwickshire in the County Championship making 986 runs at an impressive 54.77, including four centuries.

He has not played in so much Championship cricket since 2004 before he had made real inroads into becoming a fully fledged England cricketer.

The Warwickshire faithful will be pleased to see his elegant style appearing at Edgbaston till at least 2012, as and when his England career allows.



2ND FEBRUARY 2009

Yuvraj to link up with Gilly at Lords ?

After Sachin Tendulkar turned down the chance to join Middlesex for the Twenty20 Cup, Yuvraj Singh is the next crowd-pulling name to enter into talks with the club.

They have already snared Adam Gilchrist, and if they add another name such as the frustratingly talented Yuvraj, it would certainly enhance their chances of improving on a poor 2009 campaign in the same tournament, where they failed to get through the group stages.

"We have been in talks with Yuvraj about the possibility of him playing Twenty20 cricket this summer," Angus Fraser, Middlesex's director of cricket, told Cricinfo. "The contract is not in place at this moment in time, but we're in communication, and it seems to be going quite positively."


29TH JANUARY 2010

Hants swoop for McKenzie

South African Neil McKenzie joins Simon Jones, Kabir Ali, Ajantha Mendis and Shahid Afridi on the exciting list on new signings that Hampshire can boast ahead of the 2010 season.

With McKenzie currently out of favour with the South African national side, and unlikely to return at this stage of his career, he has joined the South Coast club on a Kolpak contract and will be available for the duration of the season.

McKenzie's pedigree suggests he should be an unquestionable success, the captain on the Highveld Lions, in South Africa, has 58 Tests and 64 ODI's under his belt, averaging just over 37 in both forms.

The stylish batsman returned to the Test fold at the start of 2008 after being out in the cold for just under four years. Since that period to his last Test to date he has averaged a more impressive 47.11, perhaps testament to his matured style.

It was during tbhis time that he made his name as an opening bat, thrust into the position he excelled displaying key attributes such as patience and concentration, yet more prevalent was his ability to play the moving ball late. When in form McKenzie would not push at the ball, he would let the bowlers come to him and play the ball absolutely under his eyeline.

His temperament, while owning a number of superstitions, is that of an unflappable nature, exemplified by his 553 minute vigil at Lords to help save the Test for South Africa in July 2008.

It must be said though, that his last visit to the County Championship was not so successful.

While playing at Durham, he failed to pass 50 in any of his eight innings during 2008. A year earlier he did show more of a liking to County attacks with three fifties in five innings for Somerset.

Regardless of what he has done in the past, over the course of a season, it is logical to expect McKenzie to play a pivotal role for Hants. With John Crawley retiring at the end of last season, the consistency, reliability, and experience you expect to miss will surely be minimalised by the signing of Neil McKenzie.



29th JANUARY 2010

Denly extends his stay at Kent

Kent's exciting opening batsman Joe Denly has signed a new extended contract with the club which runs till the end of the 2011 season.

Denly broke into the England limited overs side during the 2009 season, and his partnership at the top of the order with captain Robert Key has been crucial in all forms of cricket.

He will be eager to add to his nine One-Day international caps. Denly, 23, has showed glimpses of his potential at the highest level, innings of 67 against Ireland, and cameos of 45 and 53 against World Champions Australia, have shown his attractive strokeplay during the 'powerplay' overs can be effective at the top of the innings.

But it is a consistent County Championship season that Denly will be working towards, as he aims to put pressure on Hampshire's Michael Carberry, who seems to be the man England currently prefer as a back-up opener to Andrew Strauss and Alistair Cook in the Test side.

With Kent returning to the top flight in the County Championship, after winning the second division in 2009, Denly will be a key figure in ensuring they maintain their first division status.





27th JANUARY 2010

Surrey today announced the signing of Hampshire quick bowler Chris Tremlett on a three-year contract.

The 6'7" seamer made his fist-class debut for Hampshire back in 2000, when he took 4-16 against a New Zealand 'A' team.

Since then we have seen real glimpses of a top class bowler, that finally got his crack at Test cricket in 2007 during a home series against India. Tremlett didn't disappoint, his steepling bounce caused real problems for India, but as has been the case so often, injuries have meant he has slipped some way down the international pecking order.

Last season Tremlett, 28, managed just seven Championship appearances, taking 14 wickets at at 40.28. A statistic that does not do justice to the talent.

With Kabir Ali recently signing for Hampshire, they took the decision to release Tremlett from his contract and allow him to embark upon a fresh challenge in the hope of him rediscovering his top form, and perhaps more importantly, an injury-free campaign.

The Oval should be a place, certainly a wicket, that should suit Tremlett's attributes. While it doesn't possess the pace and bounce of years gone by, it should still offer enough assistance to encourage the paceman to bend his back.

His experience, and qualities, alongside the emerging Jade Dernbach and the raw pace of Stuart Meaker should give Surrey a cutting edge in Division Two, especially with the skills that Piyush Chawla can offer should the pitch it not be conducive to pace. Not to mention what Andre Nel brings to the table.

The key will be Tremlett staying out of the physio's room ,should he manage that, it may well prove a vital signing for Surrey.

Durham C.C.C. Transfers

PLAYERS COMING IN

There has been limited activity so far at the Riverside, not necessarily a surprise when one considers the strength of the squad already plying their trade in the North-East.

England Under-19 international Ben Stokes has signed a two-year professional contract with Durham, having featured for the Academy and second XI sides since 2007.

Born in New Zealand, Stokes, 18, made his limited overs debut for the Durham first-team last season in the Friends Provident Trophy against Surrey at the Brit Oval. His first victim was the run machine himself, Mark Ramprakash, he also cleaned up Matthew Spriegel, and finished with figures of 2-22 off five overs to go with his 11 not out.

He played one further FP Trophy game in 2009 and made a debut appearance in the Pro40 format but is yet to make his debut in the longer form of the game.

Stokes has just competed in the Under-19 World Cup in New Zealand, where he averaged in excess of 40 with the bat (thanks largely to an outstanding hard-hitting 100 against India), and took seven wickets at 19.57.

This is no doubt this is the next step in his development, and while he may be restricted to a few limited-overs appearances, his time will surely come.

Durham have also signed young wicket-keeper batsman Michael Richardson, son of former South African keeper Dave, who is now the ICC General Manager for cricket. Michael spent 2009 with MCC Young Cricketers, and is expected to be back-up for Phil Mustard now Lee Goddard has moved back to Derby.

One position still vacant is that of the overseas player. It was West Indian Shiv Chanderpaul that Durham opted for again in 2009, but his participation was limited to just five County Championship matches, of which he typically made the most of, with scores of 0, 41*, 117*, 109*, 4 and 201*. A tough act to follow with Chanderpaul very unlikely to return.

The question is whether Durham settle for a player of lesser quality that is available all summer or simply make do with fleeting visits of fully fledged international cricketers, whose availabilty make it difficult for anything other than that.

Australian Mike Hussey had been mooted, but his spare time is extremely limited with the hectic international schedule.


POTENTIAL TARGETS

Rumours of interest in Matthew Hoggard were perhaps wide of the mark due to the depth of quality Durham have in the pace bowling department.

Michael Di Venuto shouldered much of the batting burden, along with Dale Benkenstein, in 2009, and perhaps a partner for Di Venuto may be high on the list of targets for Geoff Cook, unless faith is shown in Kyle Coetzer. Mark Stoneman and Coetzer shared the duties alongside Di Venuto in 2009, with neither making an exceptionally strong case to keep that position for this season.

There are few weaknesses in this Durham squad, but the best time to strengthen is when you are at the top.


CONTRACT EXTENSIONS

Two key players of the last few years, quick bowler Steve Harmison and keeper-batsman Phil Mustard have both extended their stay at the Riverside.

Mustard has added a further year onto his contract, meaning he is scheduled to remain at the club till the end of the 2012 season.

With impressive performances throughout 2009, Mustard will no doubt have his eye on Matt Prior's position with England, especially in the shorter forms of the game.

The value of having a genuine match-winner in the form of Steve Harmison in the side is clearly invaluable, so there must have been many happy faces around Durham when he penned a new four-year deal, extending his stay with Durham till at least the end of 2013.


LEAVING DURHAM.....

The Durham squad will have a most familiar look about it in 2010, as mentioned earlier, Lee Goddard, the reserve keeper whose opportunities have been limited due to the excellent form of Mustard, has returned to Derbyshire.

The experienced New Zealand spinner Paul Wiseman has called time on his playing career to take on a coaching role within Canterbury cricket.

Derbyshire C.C. Transfers

PLAYERS COMING IN

Unquestionably Derbyshire's finest piece of business following the close of the 2009 season, was luring back their Australian captain Chris Rogers to lead the side once more and continue the excellent work he put in last season.

Derby missed out on promotion only on the penultimate day of the season, and it was Rogers' 1461 County Championship runs that made them so difficult to beat. He has carried that form back to his homeland, where he has currently made 456 runs at 65.14 in the Sheffield Shield.

To complement Rogers, Derbyshire's Head of Cricket John Morris, has swooped to bring in another player with international pedigree in South Africa's Robin Peterson, who has been signed as a kolpak player. Peterson,30, has represented the Proteas in six Test matches, taking 14 wickets at 35.50, but featured more prominently for the ODI side where he appeared 35 times.

The canny left-arm spinner and powerful striker of the ball will be an excellent addition to the one-day side, but should also play a part in the longer format. His experience of playing at the top level will add more know-how to the ranks.

If there was a relatively obvious weakness in the Derby side of 2009, it was the lack of genuine matchwinning firepower to propel them to more outright victories. So aswell as making Steffan Jones a more permanent fixture at the club, after he put pen to paper on a two year deal following his successful loan spell for the second half of last season, he has also swooped for Notts paceman Mark Footit.

Footit, now 24, is still a novice in terms of first-class experience, with only nine appearances to his name, and was restricted to mainly second XI cricket last season. But with that in mind he will bring with him a desire to succeed at his new county, and firstly forge a place in the starting XI to get a chance he may believe he never fully received at Trent Bridge.

Injuries have undoubtedly played their part, and when fully fit is capable of hurling the ball down at decent speeds, with a hint of swing from his left-arm action. At 6'2" he will also hope to extract a fair amount of bounce from receptive tracks.

Returning to the County Ground is wicket-keeper Lee Goddard, who after leaving the club in 2007 served as Phil Mustard's understudy at Durham without a great deal of first-team action. Back at Derby he will hope to claim the keeping gloves and will relish some first-team action.


CONTRACT EXTENSIONS

Bowling trio Tim Groenewald, Tom Lungley and Ian Hunter have all penned deals to remain at the club. Groenewald led the way last season topping the bowling averages with 34 wickets at 27.08.


LEAVING DERBY...

West Indian batsman Wavell Hinds has not had his contract renewed, with the Kolpak rulings become stricter and the penalisation of the number of kolpak players involved, Derby decided not to renew Hinds contract.

Leg spinner Mark Lawson has also been released along with Stephen Stubbings, Dan Birch, Dom Telo, Charl Langeveldt and Stuart Law, while Jamie Pipe has retired.

ABOUT THE BLOG

There is constant speculation surrounding the way in which cricketers are allowed to move counties. There is no official transfer system in place, but we have seen with the recent moves of Rory Hamilton-Brown (from Sussex back to Surrey) and Kabir Ali (Worcester to Hampshire), to name a couple, that players are now being allowed to leave clubs despite still being under contract to their current county.

It was widely reported that Worcestershire were not prepared to simply let Kabir Ali leave without a suitable compensatory figure being paid, that figure was alleged to be around £60,000. It is so far unclear whether Hants met this figure, or whether Worcester lowered that figure due to the urgent need to offload another high earner following their financial losses in 2009. Kabir's apparent unwillingness to remain at New Road was further evidence Worcester would be advised to let the player leave.

Rory Hamilton-Brown was publicly courted by Surrey, led by their supremo Chris Adams, and the offer of taking up the captaincy role no doubt had the young all-rounder eager to hear what Surrey could offer. He too had another year to run on his contract, but was allowed to talk to Surrey about the move, and no doubt the move was sanctioned on the proviso Sussex were well compensated.

You certainly cannot blame the selling counties for seeking the best financial return they can get, if the players have head their heads turned by a fresh challenge. In Kabir Ali's situation, Worcester had helped develop him into the player he is today, having spent 10 years at the club, they invested plenty of time and money on his development, it is only fair that they are paid well due to him still being under contract. It may be fair to say that he has repaid Worcester over the years with consistently high performances, fair point, but they are still losing a fine player, and surely this should be recognised in the transfer fee.

It is when players are out of contract that the counties losing the players inevitably lose out. The football comparison is where a tribunal takes place. This happens for footballers under the age of 24, that run out their current contract with their employers and are then free to join another club. Chelsea's Daniel Sturridge is the most recent case. The clubs could not agree on a suitable price they should pay, and so the tribunal decided that Chelsea pay £3.5m up front, and if certain stipulations are met, the fee could rise to £6.5m. It eliminates the clubs losing their young talent that they nurtured, for nothing.

Such a ruling brought into cricket would mean the counties that have placed faith and money in a young player's development, would receive some form of monetary reward. It stops the young player simply running out his contract and leaving to join a bigger county, paying more, and offering a greater chance of silverware, or international recognition. There is nothing wrong with a player wanting to take his game to the next level, and having ambition, but the county that put his name on the map deserve greater financial compensation.

In my opinion, with the greater influence of agents these days, an official transfer ruling is surely imminent, if only on a trial basis.

With that in mind, this site aims to bring you all the latest speculation on who is going where, and what players certain counties are looking at. There is also contract extensions, the loaning of players, and overseas signings to discuss, without mentioning the thorny issue of the 'Kolpak' players that will also produce countless talking points throughout.

There has already been plenty of action between the close of the 2009 season and now, and in my first few posts I will run the rule over all the signings that have taken place, and ones that may still be happening before 2010 gets underway in April.

In the months to come I also hope to have a look at how things work in other cricketing countries around the world, and bring you any news, and opinions, on any transfers happening there.

Everyone loves speculation on who's going where, but I will not be delivering far fetched unfounded rumours, I hope to give you an insight, and discuss the realilty of any potential moves.

Happy reading folks! Look forward to any comments.