NICK FRIEND looks ahead to the counties' 50-over competition, which begins on August 2 and takes place against the backdrop of The Hundred
The Royal London Cup gets under way on Tuesday (August 2), with the 18 counties vying for a place at September's Trent Bridge final and a shot at silverware.
The Cricketer takes a look at some key themes to keep an eye on...
Overseas involvement
It was meant to happen last year, when Lancashire announced the signing of Shreyas Iyer to a mixture of bemusement and fanfare: bemusement, because no one was quite sure at that point what the Royal London Cup was meant to look like in its first year without the bulk of the country's best limited-over cricketers; fanfare, because an Indian international was bound for county cricket for a month-long competition played out as the backdrop to The Hundred. One senior player told The Cricketer at the time of the announcement that Iyer would break records in a depleted competition.
As so often happens with best-laid plans, it never came to fruition. Iyer injured his shoulder during an ODI against England, and the deal was ultimately scrapped. There were still overseas players: Tim David, a late pick by Surrey due to Covid issues, smoked 340 runs and averaged 68 in the process – he hit a six every two overs.
But this year, in a world after bubbles and pandemic restrictions, there is an international flavour to a tournament still unfairly billed by some as merely a development competition. Worcestershire and Sussex have Azhar Ali and Cheteshwar Pujara pencilled in at No.3, while Lancashire and Warwickshire have a finger-spinning allrounder each in Washington Sundar and Krunal Pandya, whose signing – specifically for this competition – is perhaps more intriguing than any other.
Will Young, the New Zealand opener, will captain Northamptonshire – as he has done in the County Championship since Ricardo Vasconcelos was replaced in the role – while Kent have the unusual task of squeezing three overseas options into two, with Matt Henry, Navdeep Saini and George Linde all at their disposal.
At Gloucestershire, they will weigh up the inclusions of Marcus Harris and Zafar Gohar on a case-by-case basis: counties receive ECB payments for fielding at least 10 England-qualified players in the Royal London Cup. Middlesex, who are among the last teams to get their campaign underway, have Pieter Malan and Umesh Yadav in their plans. Yadav has been rested from their National Counties fixtures, the first of which they lost against Berkshire in a high-scoring encounter.
Somerset, missing several players to The Hundred, do at least have Australians Peter Siddle and Matt Renshaw at their disposal.
Washington Sundar is on Lancashire's books for the Royal London Cup [Getty Images]
The reigning champions have strengthened…
Glamorgan's triumph last year – their first in a knockout one-day final – was one of the stories of the summer: far from at full strength, they were without their wicketkeeper-captain, Colin Ingram, a high-class overseas batter, stalwart David Lloyd, seamer Timm van der Gugten and powerful allrounder Dan Douthwaite. In their place, Kiran Carlson was named as captain, while Andy Gorvin and Steve Reingold were picked up via Wales Minor County.
And against the odds, they made it to Trent Bridge, where they dismantled Durham, led expertly by Carlson, who saved his best display for the final, and Andrew Salter, the off-spinner who had been a losing finalist at Lord's eight years earlier when the tournament was a somewhat different beast.
A year on, they are missing just a single player to The Hundred – Michael Hogan, picked up improbably as a 41-year-old in the final year of his professional career. Fittingly, he was summoned as a wildcard selection by Southern Brave, the reigning champions. It means that Glamorgan are a talismanic seamer down but holders of perhaps the most daunting top six in the competition.
Sam Northeast was the eighth-highest run-scorer in the T20 Blast – only Steven Croft scored more runs without attracting a Hundred gig, while Lloyd, Ingram and Cooke will likely slot into the top six alongside Carlson and Billy Root. Potentially, it means that Joe Cooke – the leading wicket-taker in last year's competition – might well find himself with a fight for his spot.
Glamorgan are the defending champions [Getty Images]
New-look Surrey
Surrey are missing 13 players to The Hundred and have resisted the urge to recruit overseas reinforcements. Instead, Hashim Amla and Kemar Roach have been given the month off ahead of a blockbuster September, when the county will look to tie up a first County Championship title since 2018.
Rory Burns has made the rare switch from Hundred to Royal London Cup, allowed to play 50-over cricket given the unlikelihood of him being called upon by Oval Invincibles. It is believed that he will captain Surrey, though Ben Geddes, 21, has been named as the man in charge with Burns initially unavailable as he briefly recharges ahead of the title run-in.
Every county is playing to win, but not many are as inexperienced as the core selected by Alec Stewart and Gareth Batty for the next month. The 12-man squad to take on Leicestershire in their opener at Guildford possesses just 73 List A appearances combined, as well as an average age of 24. Wicketkeeper Josh Blake has a terrific story, having recently signed his first professional contract after four years spent working as a community coach for Chance to Shine and the Surrey Cricket Foundation.
Ryan Patel has established himself this season as Burns' red-ball opening partner, and it was in this competition last summer that he emerged as an aggressive opener, smashing a remarkable hundred against Nottinghamshire at Woodbridge Road. Cam Steel made a century in the pre-tournament defeat by Buckinghamshire and is a player of rare experience in a youthful line-up.
He described 18-year-old Yousef Majid to The Cricketer as "a real talent" after his registration in Surrey's squad for the competition. Remarkably, Amar Virdi is primed to make his white-ball debut, five years after his first professional appearance.
Rory Burns is available for Surrey [Getty Images]
Who to look out for…
So great is the depth of white-ball talent in the county game that 15 of the 70 English players to put themselves forward for the Big Bash's overseas draft don't even have Hundred deals. And by the same token, there are plenty of names in the Royal London Cup who, in any previous era, would likely have walked into a condensed T20 competition of the best limited-over ability.
Stephen Eskinazi was one of four players to reach 400 runs in this season's Blast yet not be afforded a position in The Hundred. He has been one of the circuit's dominant T20 openers for a significant amount of time and could reasonably be considered among the most unfortunate of those without a deal. Joe Denly is another – an England white-baller as recently as two summers ago – along with Croft and Northeast.
Gary Ballance is back in action at Yorkshire for the first time in first-team cricket since 2021 and the revelation of his name in allegations made by Azeem Rafiq. He smashed 95 off 25 balls in a warmup against Northumberland: 90 of those runs came in boundaries.
At Derbyshire, Mickey Arthur's first experience of the 50-over competition has seen a short-term deal handed to Mark Watt, the Scotland left-arm spinner, who was touted for a Hundred deal following his T20 World Cup appearances. His teammates, Brooke Guest and Anuj Dal, have quietly been two of the leading county cricketers in the country this year in the red-ball game. Tom Wood, the opening batter, is in line for his first appearance of 2022 after the conclusion of a backdated doping ban related to the use of an asthma inhaler.
Gloucestershire have England experience in James Bracey, as well as pedigree in Chris Dent and youth in both Bens Charlesworth and Wells. Charlesworth is back in action after breaking his foot in April, while Wells – a wicketkeeper-batter – has warmed up for this month with a century against Wiltshire. Bracey reached three figures in the same game.
The Royal London Cup begins on August 2 [Getty Images]
Matt Taylor's season-ending injury has ended the prospect of three sets of brothers turning out simultaneously for the same team, with the Charlesworths – Ben and Luke – and the Prices – Tom and Ollie – all contracted, along with Matt's brother, Jack, who has been named as Gloucestershire's 50-over captain in Graeme van Buuren's absence.
Paul van Meekeren, now on the staff at Bristol, took 14 wickets in seven games last season for Durham, before missing the latter stages of the competition for a surprise Caribbean Premier League stint. Durham's attack is once again led by Chris Rushworth, who picked up 17 wickets in eight matches in 2021. They are looking to blood 20-year-old opener Jonny Bushnell, of whom plenty is expected.
Essex are similarly offering chances to youth, including to Robin Das, who acted as twelfth man for England earlier this summer, becoming the first man of Bangladeshi heritage to represent England. He is only 20 but stands to feature in a side missing Alastair Cook to a back problem that is likely to keep him out until September. They also have Luc Benkenstein – son of Gloucestershire head coach Dale – in their ranks, as well as Charlie Allison – younger brother of seamer Ben.
Haseeb Hameed is due to captain Nottinghamshire, with Jonny Tattersall taking on responsibility at Yorkshire for the first time since Steven Patterson's resignation. Ollie Robinson – like Hameed without an England Test cap since the Ashes – is in Sussex's squad as his return to fitness ramps up, while Ben Cox returns for Worcestershire after taking a break from the game for mental health reasons.
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