Wright back with leaders

Date: Tuesday 27 July 2010

The LV=County Championship leaders are in town this week as Michael Yardy’s Sussex arrive at Grace Road on Thursday (11am start) for an important match.

It was somewhat of a shock to see Sussex suffer relegation last season but little surprise to see them going well this season.

With a batting line-up that includes prolific trio Chris Nash, Murray Goodwin and Ed Joyce and a bowling unit which has the talented trio of Corey Collymore, Yasir Arafat and Monty Panesar, Sussex were always a safe bet to be around the upper echelons of the league.

All-rounders Rana Naved-ul-Hasan and Robin Martin-Jenkins also put in strong performances during the first half of the season and although they are no longer available along with Matt Prior, who is on England duty against Pakistan, Sussex have strength in depth and reason to put in a display.

The Sharks will no doubt be smarting from their Friends Provident t20 exit on Monday evening at Nottinghamshire and will be looking to consolidate their position at the summit as well as erasing memory of their loss.

County also have plenty of incentive to register victory. The team are unbeaten in four games and sit in fifth place in the table after a good run of form which has not been affected by the two blocks of t20 cricket inserted between games.

Following the draw at Swansea last week, Leicestershire remain 17 points behind Glamorgan in second place, so both sides will be looking to register plenty of points to boost their promotion chances.

A win, naturally, would also close the 28-point gap Sussex has over the team at the moment.

With Gloucestershire and Glamorgan going head to head at the wonderful Cheltenham College in a game that starts on Friday, four of the top five are meeting so it could be a big week in determining where sides may finish.

As well as the aforementioned names, Sussex also include current internationals in former Leicestershire man Luke Wright and Yardy, and it will be good to see Wright back at Grace Road.

A vigorous all-rounder who gives everything to all three dimensions of the game, Wright has impressed with bat, ball and in the field this term and is a key part of England’s one day plans.

His century in the draw against Middlesex last week also showed he can compile a longer innings and he has generally been in good form this term.

Wright will also hope to occupy the test role that Andrew Flintoff possessed for England at some stage and there is every chance he will get an opportunity at some stage.

Yardy is an astute cricketer and intelligent leader and his rise to fame saw him become a pivotal part of England’s World t20 win alongside Wright.

Wrongly labelled as a bowler of left arm ‘darts’, Yardy varies his pace intelligently and spins the ball when the surface and situation allows him too.

The skipper also opens the batting in four-day cricket while playing a floating role in the one day arena and his unorthodox methods make him extremely difficult to bowl at and set fields to.

You know you’re facing a real competitor when against Yardy in the middle and his role is increasingly important now under-rated all-rounder Martin-Jenkins has retired from cricket to pursue a career as a teacher.

He does not bowl so much in the four-day game as he has Panesar, Ollie Rayner and Will Beer available, as well as Nash’s accurate off breaks.

Panesar needs no introduction and his fall from the test scene has been a disappointment for the many aficionados of spin bowling in this country.

A slow left armer who bowls with his heart on his sleeve, Panesar’s spells for England were always an enjoyable watch - and his wicket celebrations demonstrated his passion for the game!

Rayner is a tall off-spinner who extracts turn and bounce and is a more than useful batsman, while Beer is a diminutive leg spinner who gives it a real rip.

Beer is often utilised in one day cricket given the form of Panesar and Rayner and the options Yardy and Nash provide. But he will have learnt plenty of Indian leg spinner Piyush Chawla last season and will get his opportunities in the future, there is no doubt about that.

The battle of the spinners could be key at Grace Road as Claude Henderson and Jigar Naik have been in great form for Leicestershire.

The duo snared fifteen of the twenty wickets to fall in the win at the Oval, chipped in with valuable contributions during the success at Worcester and then claimed nine of the ten wickets during the Swansea draw last week.

Those two wins and a stalemate, of course, came away from Grace Road and it seems an age since Leicestershire last played at home in the Championship.

In fact, I had to check my facts were right before compiling this! It was of course the rain-affected draw against Middlesex, where James Taylor and Andrew McDonald shared a record-breaking stand for the fourth wicket.

The fixture list determined the team has not been at home since the end of May, so the side have gone two calendar months without a four day match at Grace Road; a frustrating scenario for everyone.

The London bus nature of the scheduling means the team now plays for eight out of nine days at home in the Championship and it is fair to say that everyone is relishing the prospect of seeing four-day action.

It’ll certainly be a tough challenge against a Sussex side who look set for a return to Division One at the first time of asking.

The first encounter went the way of Sussex, with the home side producing an excellent all-round performance and Leicestershire suffering with the late withdrawal of Matthew Hoggard from the XI.

Hoggard picked up a virus on the morning of the game which meant McDonald became the second cricketer this season to make his debut for the team as captain.

It was certainly a baptism of fire for McDonald, who was coming up against a fellow in-form side as he tried to adapt his game to English conditions. Since then, McDonald has gone from strength to strength and made his return to the side as a batsman at the weekend following a shoulder injury.

The Australian international will be hopeful of now making a return to the Championship side and there is certainly plenty of competition for places at the moment.

James Benning and Nathan Buck missed out in the last game, while Greg Smith is back from university studies at Durham and McDonald should be fit to return too.

Harry Gurney is also fully fit again after missing the trip to Worcester with a flu bug and with Dan Masters and Joel Pope also given opportunities in the CB40 game at the weekend, everyone is champing at the bit to be involved.

County will be buoyed by the fact bottom side Middlesex beat Sussex earlier this term and came away with a draw last week, so it all points to an intriguing encounter in an ever-tight division.