SAM MORSHEAD selects a side made up of players who have performed consistently and excellently over the course of the past 10 years. How many of the selections do you agree with?
9,243 runs @ 42.99 (26 100s, 41 50s)
How could it possibly be anyone else? Marcus Trescothick retired from international cricket in 2008 and set about making the County Championship his playground. By the time he finally decided to hang up his bat this year, he had spent a decade accumulating nearly 10,000 runs with his trademark powerhouse cover drives.
And while the body might have made life in the field more comfortable on his knees at short gully, he remained hugely influential at the crease for Somerset right up until this season. The county have named a stand at Taunton in his honour, just as they did for their other great son, Ian Botham. And that encapsulates his impact succinctly.
7,673 runs @ 44.61 (15 100s, 41 50s)
The Surrey opener is not in the top 10 of Championship runscorers in the 2010s - in fact, he is 16th overall - but Burns’ performances in the back half of the decade cannot go unrewarded.
To rack up five successive 1,000-plus run hauls in first-class cricket, in an era where matches have been moved into times of year when batting has been fraught with risk and pitches suited perfectly to seam bowling, is an astonishing feat.
His average is bettered only by Gary Ballance among the leading 20 runscorers over the past 10 years, and through sheer weight of runs he forced himself into the England side, where he is now established. A very fine, thoroughly old-fashioned cricketer.
Rory Burns in action for Surrey
9,603 runs @ 38.72 (25 100s, 49 50s)
By plying his trade at unfashionable Derbyshire, and for the vast majority of the decade confined to the surroundings of Division Two, Madsen’s talent has been regularly underappreciated.
The South Africa-born batsman - eligible and willing to play for England - has accumulated more runs than anyone bar James Hildreth in the Championship these past 10 years. As captain, in his first season at the helm in 2012, he led Derbyshire to promotion - their first honour in 20 years. A fine decade.
9,709 runs @ 40.96 (28 100s, 41 50s)
It is one of the peculiarities of the cricketing decade that this man was never given a chance in an England shirt.
The most prolific runscorer in domestic first-class cricket since 2010, Hildreth has made more County Championship centuries than all bar Daryl Mitchell over the past 10 years. He is one of only three men to make more than 7,500 runs at an average of 40 or better since 2010. And he has done so with style and grace, particularly on the drive outside off stump.
Still, the selectors have overlooked him. Repeatedly. Perhaps a perceived weakness against the short ball counted against him, perhaps his real purple patch coming after his 30th birthday was to blame. Whatever the reason, it is a mighty shame. And a mighty relief for Somerset.
8,736 runs @ 39.35 (21 100s, 45 50s)
Reliable, consistent and wonderful to watch, Northeast’s work with both Kent and Hampshire might have brought him an England call were in not for ill-timed injuries towards the end of the decade.
His haul of 21 Championship centuries is bettered only by Trescothick, Mitchell, Madsen, Hildreth and Gary Ballance since 2010 - not bad at all, given he suffered a two-year drought between 2012 and 2014.
Much of his run-getting was achieved while juggling the Kent captaincy in 2016 and 2017, and while his first season with Hampshire - after a tempestuous transfer - was lean, he was approaching his best again this year. At just 30 years old, he has the potential to make the 2020s just as fruitful.
Sam Northeast during his Kent days
7,531 runs @ 36.55 (16 100s, 39 50s), 445 wickets @ 22.92
The older Stevo gets, the more influential he seems to become. The 2020 season will be the allrounder’s 24th in the County Championship, and yet he continues to churn out lower order runs and bamboozle batsmen with his scooter-shooter medium pace. No one else makes both the top 20 runscorers and wicket-takers lists for the past decade. Then again, no one is quite like Darren Stevens.
388 catches, 22 stumpings
On the face of it, this selection should not be contentious at all - Foster is widely regarded as the finest gloveman (perhaps even gloveperson - it’s a straight race between the former Essex man and Sarah Taylor) of the English game in the 21st century - but he does not sit atop the 2010s dismissal tree. That pride of place belongs to Middlesex’s John Simpson, with Warwickshire’s Tim Ambrose not far behind.
Both men are unassuming yet thoroughly dependable wicketkeepers, who contributed as much if not more with the bat than Foster over this 10-year period. Chris Read’s omission, meanwhile, may rile regulars at Trent Bridge.
But it is still very hard to look past Foster’s mesmerising ability behind the stumps, coupled with a whopping 410 victims (especially seeing as he did not play a great deal in 2018 and retired before the 2019 campaign). He was certainly a rare breed.
515 wickets @ 23.97
Few have mastered bowling conditions at Lord’s quite like Tim Murtagh. The Lambeth-born Irish international was a figurehead for Middlesex across the decade, taking 46 more wickets than anyone else in the County Championship.
His 25,701 balls bowled in that time is perfect illustration of his durability (the next most by a seamer in the decade is Darren Stevens’ 22,164). A title-winner in 2016, a pivotal figure in the Seaxes’ dressing room and ready to do it all again in 2020, after calling time on his Ireland career.
Tim Murtagh celebrates Championship title success in 2016
449 wickets @ 23.10
For Durham and Lancashire, Onions has provided a reliable option with the new ball season after season after season.
His 449 wickets across 10 years is the third most among fast bowlers - not bad at all for a man who was already 27 and making his way back from a career-threatening injury when the decade began. It remains something of a mystery that the seamer only received nine England caps.
469 wickets @ 22.88
A relatively late starter - Rushworth made his Championship debut for Durham at 23 in April 2010, having spent four years selling satellite dishes and working in a call centre following his release by the club in 2006 - the son of Sunderland has been a critical figure for his one and only first-class county every year since.
A major factor in Durham’s 2013 title, the following season he was named PCA Player of the Year after claiming a club-record 83 wickets.
And while he has not quite hit those dizzy heights since, Rushworth continues to put in shift after shift for the north east club. Only Murtagh has more Championship scalps in the 2010s, such has his impact been.
467 wickets @ 25.59
In an era dominated by medium pacers, Warwickshire’s Kiwi import stands alone. Patel is the only spinner in the top 20 Championship wicket-takers of the 2010s, his 467-victim haul more than all bar Rushworth and Murtagh.
He was a major part of the Bears’ Championship title charge in 2012 and established himself as a much-loved figure in the Edgbaston dressing room, going on to captain the team towards the end of the decade.
Unlucky to miss out: Daryl Mitchell, Gary Ballance, Jack Brooks, Chris Read
Disagree with Sam's picks? Name your Championship team of the decade in the comments section below.
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