According to Sporting Life the following New Zealanders are currently contracted to play in this year's county championship:
Andre Adams (Essex)
Scott Styris (Middlesex)
Stephen Fleming (Nottinghamshire)
Craig Spearman (Gloucestershire) is another, but he is not listed as he qualifies as a local. Under the new "Kolpak" system it is much easier for overseas players to obtain contracts, but it seems the counties are generally reluctant to start signing vast numbers of international stars. Apart from Australians that is - 14 Aussies have been snapped up despite the fact that the national team will be touring and will miss a big chunk of the season.
Interestingly both Adams and Spearman make Sporting Life's picks for players to watch this season.
Tuesday, 19 April 2005
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3 comments:
I think Styris will be a dark horse for us (Middlesex) this year. I was delighted when they'd signed him.
It will be interesting to see how Scott does in England. Many people here know that I rate him very lowly, and one of the reasons for that is his poor first-class record. It might make me uncomfortable, but I can understand picking a player with a poor record if he shows evidence of a good technique (like Hamish Marshall does). In my view Styris has a poor technique, a poor cricketing brain, a poor record and is coming off a bad injury. Having said all that though, he does have one very strong thing in favour of him having a decent county season - sheer bloodymindiness.
Will, do keep us informed about how Styris does. Opinion on Scott here is very much divided, so we'd appreciate more fuel for the fire.
I don't know if you are aware, but Styris was a dark horse when he began with the Black Caps. In his first innings he batted at 8 (scoring a century). He was promoted in his very next innings in the same test and ended up last season being New Zealand's second ranked player in terms of remuneration.
My assessment of him differs to Mike's. I think he has an excellent technique - he has one of the broadest ranges of shots in the New Zealand team. However, I think it is his bloodymindedness that is his weakness. He clearly suffered a form slump last summer, but seemed to be unwilling to recognise it.
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