County Championship team of the week: Who joins Tom Curran in our XI?

Each week The Cricketer picks a team of the round from the LV= Insurance County Championship

Mark Stoneman (Middlesex)

Emilio Gay was among the candidates for this spot in the XI after scoring 145 (189) for Northamptonshire against Surrey. However, Mark Stoneman gets the nod for his anchoring role in Middlesex's first innings. Stoneman scored 128 runs off 203 balls (15 fours, one six) and batted for over four-and-a-half hours to help his side to 390 – a lead of 176 – after earlier slipping to 92 for 4. Stephen Eskinazi (31) was the next highest scorer among the top five. Stoneman and Sam Robson chased down 45 in just 5.2 overs in the second innings.

Jake Libby (Worcestershire)

Jake Libby posted the highest individual score of the round, scoring 215 runs off 294 deliveries against Sussex as Worcestershire declared on 438 for 5. His knock included 25 fours and one six and lasted for 398 minutes. His notable partnerships included a 195-run opening stand with Ed Pollock, 106 runs with Jack Haynes for the third wicket, and a brisk 79 runs (59 balls) with Brett D'Oliveira for the fourth.

Hashim Amla (Surrey)

It may come as something of a surprise but Hashim Amla's century against Northamptonshire was his highest score in the 2022 LV= Insurance County Championship. The veteran South Africa international scored 133 runs off 278 balls – only 32 of which came from boundaries – and rather like Stoneman, held his side's innings together (at one stage Surrey were 80 for 4) before receiving support from the middle order. A textbook red-ball knock.

^{Hashim Amla [David Rogers/Getty Images]}

Rob Keogh (Northamptonshire)

Another fine performance from Rob Keogh who has probably been Northamptonshire's best allrounder in 2022. Against Surrey, he scored 123 runs from 180 deliveries at No.5 in the first innings, including sharing a 155-run stand with Gay, while with the ball, he returned match figures of 4 for 58 (4 for 51 in the first innings) from 20 overs. Keogh now has 771 runs at 36.71 and 29 wickets at 29.06 for the season.

Tom Alsop (Sussex)

Tom Alsop has been a red-ball revelation since joining Sussex. Against Worcestershire, the wicketkeeper-batter scored 137 not out off 228 balls in the second innings to secure a draw for his side. He now has 915 runs at 50.83 in 2022 while his haul of four centuries is bettered by only teammate Cheteshwar Pujara in Division Two.

^{Tom Alsop [Mike Hewitt/Getty Images]}

John Simpson (Middlesex)

The wicketkeeper-batter had a strong all-round outing for Middlesex against Glamorgan. With the bat, Simpson scored 76 runs off 165 balls in the first innings and shared crucial middle-order partnerships with Mark Stoneman (134 runs) and Ryan Higgins (69 runs) following his side's rocky start. Behind the stumps, he had a hand in seven dismissals, five of which came in the first innings alone.

Saif Zaib (Northamptonshire)

Young Saif Zaib only had one first-class century to his name prior to this round of matches and didn't make the ideal start against Surrey, falling for just four in the first innings. However, he bounced back in style, striking 124 runs off 204 deliveries, including 10 fours and two sixes, in the second. His stands with Ricardo Vasconcelos (127 runs for the sixth wicket) and tailender Lizaad Williams (71 runs for the eighth) were integral in Northants securing a draw.  

Tom Curran (Surrey)

Things couldn't have gone much better for Tom Curran during his first first-class outing since April 2019. Walking out to the middle on day three, Curran, batting at No.8, wrapped up his maiden career century off 85 balls before lunch. He was eventually dismissed for an aggressive 115 (93), including 15 fours and three sixes. With the ball, he chipped in with 22 overs and posted figures of 0 for 66, including six maidens.

^{Saif Zaib [David Rogers/Getty Images]}

Shane Snater (Essex)

Pace bowler Shane Snater ripped through Yorkshire's middle order in the first innings, picking up 3 for 39, but made a far bigger impression at Headingley with the bat. In Essex's first innings, he scored 46 runs off 48 balls and shared a 75-run seventh-wicket stand with Dan Lawrence to help his side recover from 105 for 6 to 225 all out. In the second, he struck a match-winning 65 not out off 51 deliveries to see Essex to a one-wicket win as they nearly threw away a routine chase of 162. Alastair Cook (35) as the only other player to pass 15 with the bat.

Sam Cook (Essex)

This was another position with considerable competition, with honourable mentions for Toby Roland-Jones, who picked up seven wickets against Glamorgan, and Yorkshire's Steven Patterson, whose second-innings five-for took his side to within one wicket of victory over Essex.

But Essex's Sam Cook pips them both into this XI. He didn't have a particularly standout week with the ball, taking 3 for 31 and 2 for 45. He did, however, reach 200 first-class wickets and became the first English bowler for more than half a century to do so at an average under 20. His 203 wickets have come at 19.59. Derbyshire's Alan Ward was the last player the achieve the feat, doing so in 1971.

Matthew Potts (Durham)

Back in Durham colours for the first time since July 25 and only the second time since making his England debut, it was like Matthew Potts had never been away. He dominated Leicestershire with the ball, taking 6 for 52 in the first innings and 7 for 49 in the second to finish with career-best match figures of 13 for 101. Tailender Michael Finan was the only Leicestershire player not to fall to Potts in either innings.