County Cricketers Abroad Part III

County Cricketers Abroad III

Owais Shah has been in good form for the Cape Cobras of late.

©REUTERS/Action Images

With many of England’s county cricketers now heading home from their off-season destinations in time for Christmas, we take our monthly look at how they have been performing for their franchises or states so far in the 2011-12 season.

Part One | Part Two 

New Zealand’s domestic season has so far seen four rounds of the Plunket Shield, their first-class competition, with Northern Districts comfortably topping the points table. The Ford Trophy got underway at the end of November, with Auckland in first and Northern Districts in last. Both competitions now take a break for around a month as the HRV Cup, a twenty 20 competition, takes centre stage.

Andre Adams (Nottinghamshire and Auckland)
2011 First-Class Season: 551 runs at an average of 24, 67 wickets at an average of 22.6.
2011-12 Domestic Season: 156 runs at an average of 39, 22 wickets at an average of 11.09.
Adams best performance since last month’s 11-wicket haul against Northern Districts is his five for 29 in the one-day match against Wellington. He also hit a typically brisk 79 from only 54 balls in the Plunket Shield fixture against the same opposition.

Mitchell Claydon (Durham and Canterbury)
2011 First-Class Season: 28 wickets at 29.43.
2011-12 Domestic Season: six runs at 6, one wicket at 84.
Claydon has returned to New Zealand after spending the winter their last year. So far he has played in only the Ford Trophy and has hauls of none for 55 from 10 overs and one for 29 from six overs to his name.

Hamish Marshall (Gloucestershire and Northern Districts)
2011 First-Class Season: 401 runs at 21.11, five wickets at 53.2.
2011-12 Domestic Season: 346 runs at 57.67, one wicket at 31.
Marshall has joined his brother James at Northern Districts and got off to a terrific start with an innings of 134 on his 2011-12 Plunket Shield debut. Since then he has also recorded half-centuries in the Ford Trophy against Auckland and Wellington.

Steven Finn (Middlesex, England and Otago)
2011 First-Class Season: 41 wickets at 24.2.
2011-12 Domestic Season: 21 runs at 5.25, nine wickets at 36.22.
Finn’s month-long stint in New Zealand has now ended and he is preparing for England’s tour of the UAE in January. During his stay he played four Plunket Shield matches for Otago and was consistent throughout. Despite not taking any match-changing hauls, his economy rate of just 2.52 was impressive on some flat pitches.

Jeetan Patel (Warwickshire and Wellington)
2011 First-Class Season: 114 runs at 28.5, 17 wickets at 20.24.
2011-12 Domestic Season: 125 runs at 20.83, 15 wickets at 24.6.
Warwickshire’s newly-signed overseas player has been in good form for Wellington since arriving in his native New Zealand. His haul of five for 39 against Auckland in the Plunket Shield is the highlight to date, but his economy rate of 2.48 from three Shield and three Trophy games demonstrates his excellent control.

Martin Guptill (Derbyshire, New Zealand and Auckland)
2011 First-Class Season: 537 runs at 38.36.
2011-12 Domestic Season: 751 runs at 62.58, two wickets at 34.5.
Guptill has been in prolific form with the bat since returning to his native New Zealand. He averaged 79 on the Kiwi’s tour of Zimbabwe in October and has a highest score of 195 not out for his state against Canterbury in the Plunket Shield. His tour of Australia was slightly less productive – he scored 134 runs in six innings.

Zimbabwe’s domestic season has been dominated by the Stanbic Bank T20 over the past month with many county cricketers, such as Peter Trego, Andrew Hall, Ned Eckersley and Phil Mustard, involved in the event. Please click here for details.

Australia’s season has just begun its break for the inaugural Big Bash League – an event that sees Michael Lumb, Abdul Razzaq, Jade Dernbach, Luke Wright and Paul Collingwood represent the county game. Before that the Sheffield Shield and Ryobi One-Day Cup got underway.

Phil Jaques (Yorkshire and New South Wales)
2011-12 Domestic Season: 127 runs at 18.14.
Yorkshire’s new signing has struggled so far in the close-season, with his 67 against Western Australia the only time he has passed 50 in six matches.

Simon Katich (Hampshire and New South Wales)
2011-12 Domestic Season: 488 runs at 32.53, 10 wickets at 20.40.
The story of Katich’s season so far has been the regularity with which his left-arm spin has been used by New South Wales. With the bat, his best innings of the past month is his 125 against Western Australia, while with the ball he has taken two three-wicket hauls.

Marcus North (Glamorgan and Western Australia)
2011-12 Domestic Season: 422 runs at 32.46, three wickets at 45.33.
North’s best performance of the past month came in the second innings of the Sheffield Shield match against New South Wales. He hit 73 from number seven. Overall he has only one century so far this season – his 119 in October against South Australia.

Phil Hughes (Worcestershire, Australia and New South Wales)
2011-12 Domestic Season: 362 runs at 27.85.
Hughes began the winter well with an innings of 96 against South Australia, but has since been dropped from the national side following a poor tour of South Africa and an even worse one at home to New Zealand.