Somerset have tentatively announced that they have secured the services of South African all-rounder Vernon Philander as their overseas player for the first two months of the 2012 season. Philander's availability is dependent on him not being selected to play in the Indian Premier League.
The county season will get underway earlier than ever in 2012, with the traditional Champion County curtain-raiser scheduled to begin on 27th March in Abu Dhabi, and the first of the university fixtures set to kick off on 31st March.
Plus news of the Gloucester festival and Nottinghamshire's trip to Barbados in today's County Cricket Round-Up.
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has announced that The England and Wales Cricket Trust has invested in grassroots projects with capital costs totalling over £52,000,000 in the last financial year.
The Trust along with Sport England has directly invested over £11,600,000 and attracted partnership funding of over £40,000,000 to 699 projects in 2011.
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has announced that Investec, the international Specialist Bank and Asset Manager, has agreed to become the new title sponsor of Test Match cricket for the next ten years.
The sponsorship, which will run until 2021, is the longest sponsorship agreement secured in ECB's history.
Former ECB chairman David Morgan handed his long-awaited report on the "business of domestic cricket" to the ECB at its board meeting at Lord's today. Morgan was tasked with conducting an extensive review of the county game earlier this year and has canvassed for opinions widely over the summer.
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) 2011 Groundsman of the Year Awards have been announced.
Andy Fogarty from Headingley Carnegie is the winner of the four-day category with David Measor of Emirates Durham ICG and Steve Birks of Trent Bridge sharing the runner-up prize. In the one-day category, the winner is Steve Birks with the runner-up prize awarded to Andy Fogarty.
News from Kent, Lancashire, Hampshire and Sussex in today's County Cricket Round-Up.
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has reiterated its commitment of zero tolerance towards corruption in the game following the conclusion of the hearing into the spot-fixing case involving Mohammad Asif, Salman Butt and Mohammad Amir.
All three men face sentencing having been found guilty (in the cases of Asif and Butt) or pleaded guilty (Amir) to charges of conspiracy to cheat and conspiracy to accept corrupt payments.
News from Surrey, Yorkshire, Northamptonshire and more in today's County Cricket Round-Up.
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has named a 14 player squad to represent England Learning Disabilities in a Tri-Series Tournament in South Africa.
The squad is led by wicketkeeper Gavin Randall and will play four 40-over matches against South Africa and Australia with the two teams who amass the most points playing in the Tournament final on Saturday 26th November.
Ravi Bopara, Jade Dernbach and Craig Kieswetter have all been awarded increment contracts by the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) for the next 12 months.
The three players will be contracted by England for the period from 1st October 2011 to 30th September 2012 after all becoming regulars in England's limited overs squads.
The England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has named its Performance Programme Squads for the 2011/12 season which will undertake training blocks in Loughborough, India, South Africa and Sri Lanka.
17 players have been selected in the England Performance Programme (EPP) squad which will undertake a three-week training programme at Loughborough in November and training camps in South Africa for fast bowlers and India for the other squad members.
Cricket-mad family the Birminghams picked up a national award at a glittering event last night, at Manchester's Test Match ground, Old Trafford.
The Birminghams, from Wakefield, were presented with the Clydesdale Bank 40 (CB40) Family of the Year award by England Test Batsman, T20 World Cup winning captain and Clydesdale Bank Ambassador, Paul Collingwood.
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has announced the appointment of Carl Crowe, Barry Hyam, Paul Jarvis, Ali Maiden and Cookie Patel as Lead Specialist Coaches to work across women's and girls' cricket.
The ECB has decided to take heed of the advice from its own cricket committee and abandon its experiment with the controversial Tiflex ball.
