This week sees the end of the first quarter of the season completed - and a dramatic one it has been. With the Summer Tests and domestic tournaments over on the other side of the equator at an end and the IPL about to start, it seems a good point to take stock, not only of where the players are but also where they will be heading in the coming weeks.
In an age where many cricketing cynics say that the County Championship is dying, it is perhaps pleasing to see so many of our top players about to start their season in that illustrious competition. Two players that will hope to hit the ground running are Jeetan Patel, this week's cricketer of the week, and Simon Harmer. I feel that over the last few weeks I have been bracketing these two bowlers together to their detriment. They are both outstanding bowlers in their own right who have been toiling away for Wellington and Warriors respectively. Patel is defying Old Father Time and becoming Mr Five-fer this year. His five wicket haul against Auckland was his fifth in as many matches and, as mentioned last week, has seen him rocket up the table. The New Zealander is now set to travel the twelve thousand miles from Wellington to Birmingham where he will represent Warwickshire. The veteran bowler will fancy his chances at extending his haul of wickets against some Division Two batting line ups and helping his team back up into Division 1. Harmer, keen to extend his run of good form, has taken advantage of the fact that the Sunfoil Series wrapped up a week ago to already make the journey over to England and is currently representing Essex in their warm up game against Cambridge MCCU. The challenge for Harmer is to keep up the sparkling form that has seen him top the wicket taking league in the last two tournaments he has played in. Such a gargantuan effort would be more of a challenge of focus and stamina than it would be talent but it seems Harmer does not lack in any of those disciplines. He finishes the first leg of 2018 in second place overall being one of only two players to break the 2000 point mark.
Had Joe Root got his way he would have been getting on the plane in New Zealand and hopping over to India to represent one of the franchises in the IPL. Instead the England captain is heading back to Yorkshire to represent his home County. Going against those In the ECB as well as his better instincts that have told him to remain wary of the cash cow in previous years, he put his hand up for the tournament and remained unpicked. Whilst this may have aggrieved him short term, the batsman finds himself short of runs - despite the fact he finished third in our weekly rundown of players and fifth overall. For the last two weeks Root has got more points from fielding and bowling than he has from batting. In fact his entire tour of Australia and New Zealand sees him with an average of 40 and a high score of 82. Root is off the pace with his batting and this is something that the IPL would probably have exacerbated rather than cured. A return to an arena that he fells more comfortable in and with more parochial batting conditions may help him return to form with the bat and keep his top ten position.
In the IPL this year it is expected that overall table topping Rashid Khan will slot back into the Sunrisers Hyderabad team and be a pivotal member of their campaign. He has been rested since mid March and the miracle escape job Afghanistan pulled off in the World Cup Qualifiers. Despite his team's early season stutters, Khan was able to regularly pick up wickets in the 50 over games. In his return to his more favoured T20 format, the nineteen year old is likely to go from strength to strength. His position at the top of our overall table seems relatively comfortable for the time being.
The last four players are expected to pick up more points in the coming weeks but the only player that features in both our weekly and our overall rankings is not in action in the IPL or the County Championship. Nathan Lyon's performances have been one of the only silver linings from a very dark cloud of a series for Australia. He has chipped in with regular wickets, got hatloads of maidens with low economies and also contributed with the bat in one innings. All this being said, Lyon might appreciate a rest, coming, as he has, off the back of an Ashes summer, straight to the BBL and straight over to South Africa. He currently sits in third place but with those representing IPL franchises or County Championship teams below him, he could find himself sliding down the rankings.
One thing that is very clear from the players who have stood out in this first chapter of 2018 is that spin is king. With Patel, Harmer, Lyon, Khan and (at a push) Root all in the mix, it is clear that spin is the way to go.
Week
Jeetan Patel - 313
Nathan Lyon - 277
Joe Root- 186
Dean Elgar - 150
AB De Villiers - 105
Quinton de Kock- 93
Mitchell Marsh - 79
Hashim Amla - 53
Shaun Marsh - 33
Kane Williamson - 22
Shakib Al Hassan - dnp
Ravi Ashwin- dnp
Jofra Archer - dnp
George Bailey - dnp
Jos Buttler - dnp
JP Duminy- dnp
Aaron Finch - dnp
Rashid Khan - dnp
Simon Harmer - dnp
Ravi Jadeja- dnp
Virat Kohli - dnp
Sunil Narine- dnp
Steve Smith - dnp
David Warner - dnp
Overall
Rashid Khan - 2078
Simon Harmer - 2011
Nathan Lyon - 1789
JP Duminy - 1671
Joe Root - 1615
Sunil Narine- 1450
Mitchell Marsh - 1425
Jeetan Patel - 1414
Virat Kohli- 1231
AB De Villiers- 1100
Kane Williamson -1080
Jos Buttler - 1026
Aaron Finch - 999
Dean Elgar- 932
Quinton de Kock - 881
Ravi Ashwin - 878
David Warner - 752
Hashim Amla - 723
Steve Smith - 706
Shakib Al Hasan - 662
George Bailey - 631
Shaun Marsh- 565
Jofra Archer - 550
Ravi Jadeja - 412
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