My predictions for the county championship 2022
As the days grow longer, the sun becomes more frequent and the daffodils begin to appear on the grass, that can only mean one thing that the cricket season is upon us. Now, for many budding young and old and any age cricketers out there as well as professional cricketers alike the cricket season never really stops however, there is a massive difference between an indoor training in a sports hall with variable bounce on a rainy Wednesday night and a sunny spring morning down by the nets with the smell of freshly cut grass filling your nostrils. With spring here and summer fast approaching it seems only right to look ahead to the England cricketing summer and launch my predictions for who will be taking the prestigious county championship crown this year. Now, as we all know, a mighty Warwickshire team stormed past Lancashire to win the Bob Willis trophy last year and to get to the final they stormed past every other of the 18 counties in the league to claim at yet another county championship title for the mighty men in blue. Will this be the same this year? Well, let’s find out.
I’d like to start up in the north and in Division One where a team that I fancy their chances of title this year is Yorkshire. A team captained by Adam Lyth with Gary Balance Dawid Milan, Joe Root Harry Brooke, Matthew Fisher, David Willey and on bass that it is a team stacked with English test capped players and onto the list recently test capped Matthew Fisher, all of a sudden you have a very strong star-studded line up. This is a team that pushed the county championship right to the end last year with some big wins and if they can just keep a regular starting lineup keep the rotation good then they could very well have another county championship to add to their very long list. Second in the county championship last year, which earned them a spot on the Bob Willis trophy final unfortunately they lost the game early that morning after losing a flurry of early wickets, however they will be coming back fighting this year knowing what they can do and knowing that they can prove their worth with the likes of Phil Salt, Liam Livingstone, George Balderson, Jos Butler Tom Hartley, Jack Blatherwick and Tom Bailey completes a full list of exciting players if they get James Anderson fit and Saqib Mahmood and Matt Parkinson both on the West Indies tour at the moment with the likes of Luke Wood who’s also an experienced pace bowler that is a very very good lineup they could do damage early on an innings with Keaton Jennings, Phil salt and Liam Livingstone at the top of the order and later down the likes of Josh Butler and George Lavelle could really provide danger having Saqib Mahmood partnered with Matt Parkinson, James Anderson, Tom Bailey Jack Blatherwick and Luke Wood this is an incredibly dominant side and I really do fancy their chances at taking this one deep.
Northamptonshire aside who scraped their way into Division One by the skin of their teeth however, looking at their side there is a lot of potential here. Emilio gay is a very competent batsman Rob Keogh and Ben Curran also could be added to this list of run scorers also if people like Luke Procter Tom Taylor can repeat the form these guys have shown in the limited overs of the game and can bring their relative experience to the longer format. Further down the list of players Freddie Heldrich and Sanderson Nathan these guys are that kind of county championship journeyman that not the average person has heard of however, I believe that if they could string a few wins under their belt there’s a chance that they could go far. I don’t see them as title winning side though. Will smeed Tom Abel, Tom Lammonby, Lewis Goldsworth and Ben Green are some of the most exciting young players in the county championship line up this year and the crazy thing about these guys is that they all play for the same team that is Somerset County Cricket Club. Partnered with the more experienced roster of Lewis Gregory, Craig Overton, Jack Leach, Peter Siddle and Marchant de Lange this could be a very destructive side in this year’s county championship however, failure to keep all their experienced players when international cricket comes begging. As well as a very tricky ground to play at as their home ground Taunton. Historically low scoring in the county championship producing tricky seamer friendly green wickets and failure to take control of these could lead to early losses and a failure to string together enough wins to win the county championship. Surrey Cricket Club is a team I have always had my eye on. They produced some of the best wins in the county championship and have some of the most exciting young talent around with Will Jacks, Laurie Evans, Ben Gettys, Ollie Pope and Tom Lawes are all very experienced but also young talented players. The likes of Chris Jordan, Rory Burns, Jason Roy, Ryan Patel, Sam Curran, Jamie Overton add a bit more experience to the side which is needed for the longer more harder wins. Ben Foakes is collecting a lot of valuable test experience down the West Indies at the moment and also the likes of Dan Moriarty, Amar Virdi, Reece Topley all offer destructive wicket taking bowlers on their day. Now we come to the reigning champions Warwickshire county Cricket Club, now Warwickshire didn’t need any new signings this year with the likes of Matt lamb and Don Sibley who has less international appointments this year and also will Rhodes, Michael Burgess, Alex Davies and Chris Benjamin who are all very young exciting but also just destructive players who can take games out of the hands of the opposition they have run scorers in Sam Haynes and Dom Sibley and wicket takers with the likes of Ethan brooks Chris woakes and Oliver Hannon Dolbyby they have added someone and that someone is the amazing test experience incredibly talented Carlos Brathwaite. He is a destructive and incredibly competent batter who scores a lot of runs with them was also having the opportunity to take a lot of wickets, as well he could really be that deciding factor in bringing them back-to-back championships.
Who out of all those stars studded young talented incredible line up will win the county championship this year? Well, in Yorkshire I see a lot of experience and a lot of run scoring talents however, I see an overly international players dependant team and as you go down the stretch you will lose a lot of these players to international games I see loads of exciting young talent in Somerset however I don’t see the consistency and experience required to last over the long county championship season and bring a trophy back to Taunton. Lancashire pushed the county championship far last year however, I always saw a man of inconsistency amongst that lineup not all players always available and not all players always firing in. It’s the type of lineup that needs every player on point in order to win the big games and I don’t think they’ll have that for long enough which means I don’t see them winning it either. Northamptonshire are one of my favourite teams in the county championship, I love the players and the production that they’ve got going on down there however, they kind of scraped their way into Division One of the county championships and therefore I don’t see them quite having the chance to go all the way and win it this year but I would like to see them not relegated. Kent is a team I didn’t look at in too much detail I see a good side there however, I don’t think they have what it takes to win and I do fear they might end up in a relegation battle against Northamptonshire. So for me my two topics at the moment are Surry County Cricket Club and Warwickshire county Cricket Club. The Reigning champions have been there and done that and know what it takes to win a county championship however Surry County Cricket Club put them very close last year and I believe they have the right mix of young talent and experience in their ranks to maybe force an upset and take the trophy home for themselves back in London. So, my county championship winner prediction is Surrey will win with Warwickshire for second I can’t promise whether or not Surrey, Warwickshire or anyone else in Division One will win however, I can promise that will be an exciting action packed season captivating from moment one and that you better watch it or else you will miss out.
What are your predictions this year?
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