Kiwi County Tour: County Chapionship #11
We're all about enjoying the present moment on the Kiwi County Tour bus, although after the latest round of cricketing funk in England, Warwickshire vs Kent in the next round will put Jeetan Patel up against Matt Henry for the Division Two championship. It's hard not to get a fizz going for that from a KCT perspective and two of the best Div Two bowlers this winter, were near their best in the most recent round of action.
Matt Henry - Kent vs Glamorgan
The best bowler in County cricket and the bloke hitting his Canterbury comrade Gary Stead on the Whatsapp line every day, is Matt Henry. Henry took another casual 8 wickets in Kent's hefty win over Glamorgan, splitting them with 4w in either innings as Glamorgan were rolled by an innings and 172 runs.
Henry took 4w @ 2.47rpo in 18.1 overs to lead the Kent bowlers in dismissing Glamorgan for 186 first up and Henry then showed his class with 31 off 31 balls batting #11 as Kent managed 436 in reply. Henry wasn't the star of the show in Kent's second dig with the ball, that honour went to 42-year-old seamer Darren Stevens who took 5w @ 1.80rpo in 13.2 overs, with Henry doing a fabulous supporting job; 4w @ 3.53rpo in 15 overs. Glamorgan were all out for 78 and given a hiding by Kent.
8w all up keeps Henry at the top of the wicket-taking rankings in Div Two and he's got 78w @ 14.67avg/2.99rpo. Henry is still highly efficient in his work as he's the the only one, of six bowlers who have takent 55+ wickets in Div Two, to play just 10 games and Henry is the only Div Two bowler with a trio of 10w games.
Further funk; Henry has taken 1+ wickets in each of his last 6inns and he has taken 4+ wickets in 5 of those 6inns.
Jeetan Patel - Warwickshire vs Sussex
Lord Jeetz wasn't quite as dominant for Warwickshire, nor were his Bears as they played out a draw with Sussex. Jeetz chimed in with 1* batting #10 with Warwickshire putting up 440 in their first innings and Jeetz then took 2w @ 4.04rpo in 21 overs to help restrict Sussex to 343 in their batting innings.
Not required to bat in the Bears' second innings and with the game wrapped up as Jeetz hit the declare button, there was no further involvement from Aotearoa's greatest County cricketer. 2w for Jeetz takes him up to 55w @ 21.81avg/2.93rpo and remember what I said about Henry's efficiency? Jeetz has taken his 55w in 13 games, which is more a nod to Henry's nek level excellence than taking anything away from Jeetz.
Lockie Ferguson - Derbyshire vs Middlesex
Lockie Ferguson was back in action for Derbyshire after missing the last round's action and while Middlsex strolled to a 117-run win, Ferguon put up a typically solid KCT performance. Although both his wickets were tail-enders, Ferguson still took 2w @ 4.34rpo in 26 overs to help keep a lid on Middlesex's first innings as they were all out for 423.
Derbyshire replied with 295 all out, Ferguson adding 16 off 12 balls at #11 and he then took 1w @ 5.50rpo in 10 overs with Middlesex declaring on 199/7. Derbyshire were again unable to do much with the bat and Ferguson couldn't save the day as he managed just 2 off 5 and Derbyshire were all out for 210 in pursuit of 328.
It's a stretch to suggest that Ferguson has been fire emoji for Derbyshire in County cricket this winter; 13w in his last 8inns, he has taken 1+ wicket in 7 of those 8inns. What intrigues me though is Ferguson's workload and having followed Ferguson closely in Aotearoa, Ferguson is slept on as a Plunket Shield bowler who dominates via wickets but also how many overs he can bowl.
Ferguson got through 26 overs in the first dig of the loss to Middlesex, which was second-most. Here are the number of overs Ferguson has bowled in each innings; 26, 10, 31, 4, 12.3, 13, 26, 10.
Those first innings numbers are another example that Ferguson continues to build on his steady Plunket Shield work and is getting those reps in as a fast bowler. This note is specific to Ferguson because he's bowls heat and kiwis tend to stereotype Ferguson as a hard and fast bowler, which hasn't been the case for a number of kiwi summers and isn't the case on the KCT.
Jeet Raval - Yorkshire vs Hampshire
Jeet Raval's weird KCT continues as Yorkshire and Hampshire played out a fairly mundane draw. I'll save you the details of the overall game and focus on Raval's scores; 8 and 9.
This was Raval's third game opening for Yorkshire and in 5inns, he is yet to pass 20. So far he has put up scores of 15, 8, 10, 8 and 9. I'm not overly fussed by Raval's failures in England thus far though as County cricket is a difficult proposition for an opener, epecially this late in the season when summer has switched to autumn and conditions are juicy. Last week I compared Raval's work to the kid he replaced at Yorkshire Kane Williamson and unlike Williamson, Raval is trying to suss out County cricket and score runs at the same time; Williamson's an OG.
However, dig a little deeper and Raval is sitting in a wee run-scoring slump.
The Blackcaps Test opener had scores of 3, 5 and 17 in the two Tests vs England. Prior to that, he scored 7 for Aotearoa XI vs England and in the two Plunket Shield games before that, Raval had scores of 0, 17, 20 and 0 for Auckland. Those are literally, Raval's last eight games of cricket, not just First-Class, or long-form cricket. Again, for simplicity...
Raval's last eight games; 0, 17, 20, 0, 7, 3, 5, 17, 15, 8, 10, 8, 9.
Ol' mate Jeet might want to find some form soon.
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Peace and love 27.