First up tonight, warm congratulations to Mark Footitt on his selection for the England squad for the fourth Ashes Test at Nottingham.
Whether he plays is in the lap of the Gods, but I am sure that there would be cheers the length and breadth of the county should he get a call that is well deserved. Mark's performances over the past few seasons are the equal, at least, of any bowler in the country and there will be few batsmen around the circuit who would admit to enjoying facing him at the business end of the wicket.
The first Derbyshire player to be named in an England squad since Dominic Cork in 2002, he is in the squad for Guildford tomorrow and will hope to impress against Surrey. With Scott Elstone retaining his place after a fine century for the seconds this week, the final selection will come in the morning when we see the wicket.
Surrey are flying high in the table and have a lengthy batting line up headed by the evergreen Kumar Sangakkara. Their squad:
Gareth Batty (capt)
Zafar Ansari
James Burke
Rory Burns
Sam Curran
Tom Curran
Steven Davies
Jade Dernbach
Ben Foakes
Tim Linley
Jason Roy
Kumar Sangakkara
Gary Wilson
They will be a strong test for us, in a side without an overseas player, but I expect a battling performance from our side, if only to help erase the awful memory of the championship meeting between the two sides at Derby. That was the nadir of our season and things have steadily improved since then.
More from me tomorrow.
On the Footitt selection which counties have NOT had a player play a Test match for England since Derbyshire?
ReplyDeleteLeicestershire and Northants off the top of my head? Glamorgan perhaps.