Welcome to a new feature on CricketEurope – County Watch.

In this blog, I shall be keeping an eye on the exploits of the various associate players (and potentially in the future affiliate players) involved in English county cricket. More and more of them, especially Irish players, are attracting the attention of English counties.

The basic rule for inclusion on County Watch is that a player must have played for an associate country at some level and still be eligible to play for them. Former associate players who now play for England, such as Eoin Morgan and Amjad Khan, or potential future associate internationals, such as Hamish Marshall, will not be included. Yet.

If you spot any associate players who I have missed, please get in touch and let me know.

The English season of course actually started in an associate member of the ICC – the United Arab Emirates, with Durham and the MCC playing the traditional season opener in Abu Dhabi under floodlights and with a pink ball – the first first-class match played with the new experimental pink ball.

Scotland international Kyle Coetzer played for Durham in that somewhat historic match, and by scoring 172 in the Durham first innings has set the early mark for the highest ever first-class score with a pink ball, though he was beaten to the century mark by opening partner Micheal Di Venuto – who's elder brother Peter played for Italy. Batting at number seven in the second innings, Coetzer scored an unbeaten 52. He also took a catch in the MCC second innings as Durham secured a comprehensive 311 run win.

Two days later, in the somewhat cooler climate of England, the county season proper began.

Ryan ten Doeschate had a good start to his season for Essex playing against the students of Bradford/Leeds UCCE. In the first innings he scored an unbeaten 106, and again top scored in the second with 81. In the university's first innings he took 3-28, also taking a wicket in the second as the match ended in a draw. In the university team was a young Irish player – Bready batsman Christopher Dougherty, nephew of Dekker Curry – who scored seven in the first innings and two in the second.

Another young Irish player playing for a university side this year is James Shannon, who represented Ireland at the Under-19 World Cup in New Zealand earlier this year. He scored 33 in each of his two innings for Cardiff UCCE, picking up a wicket in the only Gloucestershire innings in the drawn match.

The next round of county matches was a good one for the two Dutch players involved in county cricket this year.

Against Hampshire, Ryan ten Doeschate scored 23 in the Essex first innings, and picked up the wicket of captain Nic Pothas in the Hampshire first innings. He improved in the second innings of the match, scoring an unbeaten 66 before ripping through the Hampshire tail with 5-13 in 5.5 overs in their second innings to help his team to a 62 run win.

Meanwhile, for Worcestershire, his Dutch team mate Alexei Kervezee played a key role in their match against Middlesex. Whilst recent England debutant Steven Finn played a blinder, taking 5-69 and 9-37, the Dutch youngster scored 44 and 43, top scoring in the second innings, allowing his team to win the match by 111 runs.

Last year saw Hong Kong's Jamie Atkinson play for Durham UCCE, and another associate player is in their side this year – Kenya's Seren Waters. In a drawn match in which Nottinghamshire dominated, he scored 18 and 4. He took a wicket in each Nottinghamshire innings, his first two wickets in first-class cricket. His team mate George Harper was born in Minnesota, and will no doubt attract the attention of the USA selectors should they progress to the 2013 World Cup Qualifier and his career equally progresses.

Occasional Malaysian international Arul Suppiah followed on from his excellent 2009 season with two disappointing knocks against Cardiff UCCE. He scored ten in the first innings and 19 in the second, picking up a wicket in the first Cardiff innings. Cardiff's Irishman James Shannon scored ten in the first innings and a duck in the second as Somerset beat the students by 385 runs.

Scotland's Dewald Nel had a rather strange debut for Kent in their first-class match against Loughborough UCCE. He didn't bat or bowl as his new county dominated a drawn match against the university side.

This brings us to the current ongoing round of matches.

At close of play on day two of the match between Durham and Essex, Kyle Coetzer is unbeaten on 34 in the Durham first innings. Ryan ten Doeschate was earlier out for just three in the Essex first innings, a rather disappointing performance considering he had just watched as Jaik Mickleburgh and James Foster put on 339 for the fifth wicket.

Arul Suppiah only managed five runs in Somerset's first innings against Yorkshire, whilst playing for Bradford/Leeds UCCE against Worcestershire, Christopher Dougherty scored 12 in the first innings and was out for a golden duck in the second. For Worcestershire, Alexei Kervezee has scored 13 and 4.

It's been an up and down week for the associate players in county cricket this week, with some good innings, and some bad ones. With the Irish team still in the West Indies, it's still a quiet period for associate activity in the county season. But there are still two Dutch players, one Scottish player and one Malaysian player playing for their counties at the moment, and three Irishmen and a Kenyan playing for the Univeristy sides.

The Malaysian player is Arul Suppiah, and against Yorkshire in a match that I mentioned briefly in last week's County Watch, he scored five in the first innings before bouncing back with 71 in the second in a match that Somerset lost by six wickets. In a two wicket defeat to Nottinghamshire that finished on Friday, he scored ten in the first innings and eleven in the second.

With Dewald Nel not having been picked for Kent since his strange did not bat, did not bowl debut against Lougborough UCCE, the lone Scot playing county cricket at the moment is Kyle Coetzer. In his most recent match, which concluded today, he scored 47 in the first innings against Hampshire before top scoring with 72 in the second to lead Durham to a five wicket win. Earlier in the week, a three ball duck in the second innings in a drawn match against Essex was a poor show after top scoring with 55 in the first.

His wicket in that first innings was taken by Ryan ten Doeschate, who took three wickets in that innings and one in the second, scoring three in his only innings. In the match against Lancashire that concluded a day early with a simple eight wicket win for Lancashire, he was one of the only bright sparks for Essex, scoring an unbeaten 55 in the first innings, the next highest score being 28. He was out for a duck in the second.

Meanwhile the Essex Second XI played a one-day match against Suffolk, who had Danish international Freddie Klokker in their line-up. Klokker, who was playing for Derbyshire last year, top scored for the minor county with 61, but that wasn't enough to prevent a seven wicket defeat. I am currently trying to find out if Klokker will be playing for Suffolk all season.

The other Dutch player playing this week was Alexei Kervezee. In a drawn match against Surrey that ended today, he scored 68 in the first innings and fourteen in the second. In Worcerstershire's three day match against Bradford/Leeds UCCE, he had a poor showing, scoring 13 and 4.

In that match, he came up against one of a number of Irish players playing for University sides this year, Chris Dougherty. Dougherty scored twelve in the first innings and was out for a golden duck in the second as Worcestershire won by 250 runs. He was out for a duck in his nest match, a drawn two-day match against Cardiff UCCE, who also have an Irishman in their line-up, James Shannon. He fared a little better that Dougherty did, scoring 23 and 12.

In a match that I missed last week, Shannon scored four for Cardiff UCCE in a drawn two-day game against Durham UCCE. They have Kenya's Seren Waters in their line-up and he scored 57 in his team's only innings. He followed this with six against Oxford UCCE.

Meanwhile, Ben Ackland made his first-class debut for Cambridge UCCE in their match against Leicestershire. After a duck in his first innings, he made a slow unbeaten 51 in the second as his team held on for a draw.

The one-day season starts tomorrow, and Alexei Kervezee may get a chance to impress in front of the Sky Sports cameras in Worcestershire's match against Sussex, who have Kenya's Ragheb Aga on their books again this season.

The county one-day season got started on Sunday, with a number of associate players in action.

Arul Suppiah had a poor start to his limited overs season and was out for a first ball duck in Somerset's match against Glamorgan. Alexei Kervezee didn't fare much better in Worcestershire's televised match against Sussex - he was out for a second ball duck. His Dutch team mate Ryan ten Doeschate scored eight for Essex against Yorkshire, also bowling six overs as Yorkshire chased down a target of 233 without losing a wicket.

Kyle Coetzer wasn't picked by Durham for their match against Hampshire, but there was one Scottish representative in the one-day matches. Dewald Nel, making a proper debut for Kent after not bowling or batting in their match against Loughborough UCCE, took the wicket of former England player Darren Maddy against Warwickshire, but he was expensive, going for 70 runs in 7.5 overs.

Four associate players were involved in the latest round of County Championship matches, many of which were effected by rain.

Somerset played Essex at Taunton, with both teams having an associate player in their line-up. Arul Suppiah was out for 7 in the Somerset first innings, with Ryan ten Doeschate taking 1-69. He then scored 21 in the Essex first innings, with Suppiah taking 1-29. The match ended in a tame draw, with Suppiah unbeaten on 47 at the end of the match.

After missing their first one-day game, Kyle Coetzer returned to the Durham side for their match against Yorkshire. Yorkshire racked up 610-6 before declaring in their first innings, and Coetzer then scored eight in Durham's first innings. Durham had to follow on, but the match ended in a draw with Coetzer unbeaten on 23.

Alexei Kervezee played in a match that did finish in a result, with Glamorgan beating Worcestershire by nine wickets inside two days. Kervezee scored six in Worcestershire's first innings and 27 in their second.

To university cricket now, which has a number of associate players involved this season.

In a match I've missed until now, Ireland's James Shannon scored 70 for Cardiff MCCU in their match against Glamorgan's Second XI on 13th April, but it wasn't enough to prevent an eight wicket defeat. In the BUCS Premier A League match against Durham MCCU the following day, he scored 55 - still waiting for exact details on that match.

Indeed, I have missed the entire BUCS Premier A League in County Watch. Here is a list of the associate player performances in that tournament so far:

• 10th April: Chris Dougherty (Ireland) - 13 for Leeds/Bradford MCCU v Exeter University
• 14th April: James Shannon (Ireland) - 55 for Cardiff MCCU v Durham MCCU
• 17th April: Seren Waters (Kenya) - 4 and 0-18 for Durham MCCU v Exeter University
• 17th April: Jamie Atkinson (Hong Kong) - 6 for Durham MCCU v Exeter University
• 20th April: Seren Waters - 100* and 0-32 for Durham MCCU v Oxford MCCU
• 20th April: Chris Dougherty - 85 for Leeds/Bradford MCCU v Cardiff MCCU
• 20th April: James Shannon - 45 and 2-46 for Cardiff MCCU v Leeds/Bradford MCCU
• 26th April: James Shannon - 44 for Cardiff MCCU v Oxford MCCU
• 26th April: Seren Waters - 25 for Durham MCCU v Lougborough MCCU
• 26th April: Chris Dougherty - 8 for Leeds/Bradford MCCU v Cambridge MCCU
• 26th April: Ben Ackland (Ireland) - 9 and 0-19 for Cambridge MCCU v Leeds/Bradford MCCU

In this week's MCC Universities Championship, James Shannon scored 9 and took 1-39 for Cardiff MCCU in their drawn match against Oxford MCCU. Durham MCCU beat Loughborough MCCU on first innings, with Seren Waters scoring 52 and taking 1-8 and Jamie Atkinson scoring two. Chris Dougherty scored 5 and 41 for Bradford/Leeds MCCU against Cambridge MCCU, whilst Ben Ackland scored 34 for Cambridge.

Now on to second XI cricket - Ireland's Andy Balbirnie is playing for the MCC Young Cricketers this year, and in the Second XI County Championship match against Warwickshire, he scored 55 in the only MCCYC innings. For Middlesex Second XI against Surrey Second XI, Stuart Poynter scored 3 and 51.

And finally, one minor counties match to report - Freddie Klokker played for Suffolk in their MCCA Trophy match against Cambridgeshire, but was without success as he was out for a duck in Suffolk's two wicket defeat.

This week we have seen a good performance from each of the two Dutch players in county cricket, a return to form for Arul Suppiah and the return of one of Ireland's World Twenty20 squad.

Arul Suppiah didn't do too well in Somerset's County Championship match against Lancashire, scoring just ten in the only Somerset innings in what was a rain affected draw. Alexei Kervezee, meanwhile, came close to scoring a maiden first-class century in Worcestershire's match against Leicestershire. After scoring 32 in the first innings, he reached 99 in the second before he was trapped lbw by England Under-19 international Nathan Buck. His innings did play a major part in his team's 173 run win though.

It wasn't as good an experience for his Netherlands team-mate Ryan ten Doeschate in Essex's match against Yorkshire though. He took three wickets in the Yorkshire first innings, bringing him to 146 career first-class wickets, level with Andre van Troost at second place on the Dutch all-time first-class wicket-takers list. Roland Lefebvre is top with 149. But Yorkshire racked up 516 and Essex lost by an innings, ten Doeschate scoring 24 and 35 in his two innings.

They were the only associate players in the county championship this week, and there weren't many more in a busy bank holiday weekend of CB40 matches, highlighted by a great innings from ten Doeschate. After taking two wickets as Derbyshire made 299-7 from their 40 overs, he came to the crease with Essex struggling in reply on 27-3. He won the game for his county, smashing an unbeaten 109 from just 62 balls with five fours and eight sixes.

Arul Suppiah returned to form for Somerset by scoring 80 against Lancashire. He then took 1-24 as Somerset won by 42 runs. Alexei Kervezee scored 39 in Worcestershire's 30 run defeat by Surrey, whilst Kyle Coetzer was selected for Durham in their game against Kent, but the contest was rained off.

With Ireland out of the World Twenty20, their county players will be back in action next week, but Niall O'Brien got an early return, playing for Northamptonshire in their CB40 match against Derbyshire on Friday. He top scored for his county with 52, but it wasn't enough to prevent a five wicket defeat.

To university cricket now, and there were two matches for university sides against the first-class counties.

Durham MCCU, with Kenya's Seren Waters and Hong Kong's Jamie Atkinson in their line-up, took on Durham, with Scotland's Kyle Coetzer in their line-up. Coetzer scored 22 in Durham's first innings, and Waters was unbeaten on 25 at close of play on the first-day, before rain wiped out the remaining two days.

Ireland's James Shannon played for Cardiff MCCU in their match against Glamorgan. He scored 32 and 15 in their 215 run defeat. Glamorgan's team had a possibly unique twist to it - Matthew Maynard returned to the side for the first time in five years, and was captained by his son Tom.

In the MCC Universities Championship, Chris Dougherty could only manage eight runs for Leeds/Bradford MCCU in their drawn match against Loughborough MCCU.

In the BUSA Premier Division, James Shannon scored 37 in Cardiff MCCU's 72 run win over Exter University, whilst Chris Dougherty scored 15 in Leeds/Bradford MCCU's four wicket win over Loughborough MCCU. One Irish player I've missed in university cricket is Michael OíHerlihy, who played for Ireland Under-19s back when Ed Joyce was captaining them. He scored an unbeaten 65 for Oxford MCCU against Cambridge MCCU.

Next week in County Watch, there will no doubt be a lot to report as the Irish World Twenty20 players settle back in with their county sides.

I'll take this oppurtunity to thank the people who have sent me information over the last couple of weeks, including Ger Siggins, Michael Lowe and Norman Shannon. If you know of any players I've missed, please get in touch!

The county players in Ireland's World Twenty20 squad have returned to county cricket, making for a busier week than recent weeks have been for County Watch. Ryan ten Doeschate has also continued his fine form, whilst a CricketEurope staff member made his first-class debut.

Niall O'Brien's return to County Championship action saw him score 49 and 33 in Northamptonshire's innings defeat at the hands of Glamorgan. His national team captain William Porterfield had a less successful comeback match for Gloucestershire, scoring 0 and 1.

The other three associate players in the County Championship this week were Arul Suppiah, who scored 27 in the only Somerset innings against Hampshire in a high scoring draw, Kyle Coetzer, who scored 3 and 45 in Durham's innings defeat to Nottinghamshire, and Ryan ten Doeschate, who had a good all-round match against Kent. He took 4-77 and 1-51, taking him past 150 first-class wickets in the process, and scored 66 and 13 in the drawn match.

Earlier in the week, he hit 84 from just 54 balls in the CB40 against Gloucestershire, also taking 1-33 to help lead his county to a 42 run win. His Dutch team-mate Alexei Kervezee scored 27 in Worcestershire's five wicket defeat to Glamorgan. Meanwhile, Malaysia's Arul Suppiah scored 36 for Somerset against the Unicorns, a team of un-contracted English players.

Boyd Rankin's comeback with Warwickshire saw him take 2-18 in a seven wicket win over Durham and then take 2-44 in a win over Hampshire by the same margin. William Porterfield was the other Irish player in CB40 action this week, and he scored 21 for Gloucestershire in their 77 run defeat by Middlesex.

University cricket now, and their were two county v university matches with associate player interest this week. Boyd Rankin took 2-28 and 1-26 in Warwickshire's draw against Bradford/Leeds MCCU, whilst the match between Cambridge MCCU and Sussex had a lot of associate interest. There were two Irishmen in the Cambridge side - Ben Ackland, who scored 5 and 37, and Michael Taylor, one of CricketEurope's statisticians and a former Ireland Under-15 international, making his first-class debut. Batting at number 11, he made 4 and 16 (beating CricketEurope Managing Editor John Elder's highest first-class score) but was wicket less whilst bowling. In the first innings he had to bowl to a returning Ed Joyce, who made an unbeaten 135. Joyce is hoping to be back for Ireland next year, but if he continues like this, the English selectors may get there first! Joyce shared in a 144 run unbroken sixth wicket partnership with Kenya's Ragheb Aga who made 66 and took 2-29 in the Cambridge first innings.

Michael has requested that I point out the performance that got him into the university side for the three-day game against Sussex – taking 4-25 in the BUSA Premier League against Bath University, the only match in that tournament this past week.

Finally, in minor counties cricket, Denmark's Freddie Klokker scored 23 for Sussex in their two wicket win over Lincolnshire in the MCCA Trophy.

The English domestic season continued this week with the associate player performances highlighted by a maiden first-class century for Dutch international Alexei Kervezee.

With Scotland and the Netherlands playing their first CB40 matches in the last week, there were of course many more associate players in county cricket action. This blog however concentrates on the associate players playing for the county sides, so the performances of the Scots and the Dutch will not be mentioned much, except to congratulate Scotland on their win over Leicestershire and the Dutch for running Yorkshire and Essex close.

As mentioned in my first paragraph, the top associate performance of the week was the maiden first-class century by Alexei Kervezee. He scored 130 in Worcestershire's first innings, enabling them to declare on 559-8. After Derbyshire managed to make Worcestershire bat again after following on, Kervezee hit the winning runs from his second ball.

For Durham, Scotland's Kyle Coetzer continued his bad run of form, scoring just 12 and 1 in his two innings against Kent. Malaysia's Arul Suppiah just missed out on a century, when he was out for 99 in Somerset's first innings against Yorkshire. He scored 16 in the second.

With usual first-team Surrey wicketkeeper Steve Davies on England Lions duty this week, Ireland's Gary Wilson stepped up to take his place against Middlesex. In a first innings dominated by Mark Ramprakash's 223, Wilson was the second highest scorer with 62, his highest first-class score. He was in good form behind the stumps too, taking five catches in the Middlesex first innings.

Wilson beat his fellow Ireland wicketkeeper Niall O'Brien in the runs count this week. O'Brien scored 22 and 24 for Northamptonshire in their match against Sussex. Boyd Rankin took 2-90 and 0-28 in Warwickshire's 65 run loss to Lancashire.

In CB40 action, the associate player highlight came from Boyd Rankin, who took 4-34 in Warwickshire's six wicket defeat of Kent, his best bowling performance in List A cricket. Alexei Kervezee scored 28 for Worcestershire against Lancashire, whilst Arul Suppiah could only manage one run for Somerset against Sussex.

Gary Wilson remained in the Surrey side for their day/night match against Glamorgan. He took two stumpings in the Glamorgan innings, but failed with the bat, being run out without scoring. Boyd Rankin took 2-32 for Warwickshire against Hampshire, whilst Ryan ten Doeschate, playing against his international colleagues at Amstelveen, scored two runs and took 1-42 as Essex scraped to a one run win over the Netherlands.

Onto university cricket now. There was one match in the MCC universities championship this week, with Cambridge MCCU drawing with Loughborough MCCU. Ireland's Ben Ackland scored 57 in the only Cambridge innings. he scored 3 runs in the BUSA Premier League match between the same two sides.

In the Second XI championship, John Blain is captaining the Yorkshire Second XI. They lost to Leicestershire this week, with Blain going wicketless. For the MCC Young Cricketers, Andrew Balbirnie scored 46 and took 1-54 as his team lost to Glamorgan Second XI.

In other news from the county scene, Guernsey international Tim Ravenscroft has signed up with the Sussex Cricket Academy. Congratulations to Tim, and County Watch will be keeping an eye on his progress.

Next week is the last week of regular county championship action for a while, as the Twenty20 Cup takes priority for the following few weeks.

That headline is slightly misleading, as there isn't any Twenty20 cricket reviewed in this edition of County Watch, save for a couple of warm-up games, but for the rest of June, it's pretty much Twenty20 all the way. A round of County Championship matches starts on Friday, but there will be no more until the end of the month.

The two rounds of County Championship matches since the last edition of County Watch have been a little light on associate player action though. In Durham's match against Kent, which they lost by an innings inside two days, Scotland's Kyle Coetzer managed only ten and four in his two innings, and was missing from the Durham side for their match against Warwickshire, who had Ireland's Boyd Rankin missing from their line-up.

Rankin did play in Warwickshire's match against Somerset, taking 1-27 in the only innings in which he bowled, an innings in which Malaysian international Arul Suppiah scored 64. Suppiah hit the winning runs in the second innings. The only other Irish player involved in County Championship action was Niall O'Brien, who scored 44 in each innings against Surrey for Northamptonshire.

The Dutch contingent had a decent week. For Essex, Ryan ten Doeshcate had a good all-round match against Lancashire, scoring 85 and 56 and taking 2-30 and 1-26 in a drawn contest. In a rain affected draw against Nottinghamshire, he scored 26 and took 1-5. His Dutch team-mate Alexei Kervezee scored 50 and 15 against Sussex and 57 in his only innings against Gloucestershire.

William Porterfield may be out of Gloucestershire's County Championship side, but he is still playing one-day cricket, and he made 25 against Northamptonshire in the CB40 before he became one of two catches for his Ireland team mate Niall O'Brien, who scored just three when it was his turn to bat. Fellow Irish wicket-keeper Gary Wilson played as a batsman in Surrey's 8 wicket defeat of Lancashire, but wasn't required to bat. Meanwhile, Alexei Kervezee scored 23 for Worcestershire against Somerset.

There will now be no CB40 action until 19 July, with Twenty20 taking over the limited overs function. In that regard, two counties had warm-up games against minor counties. Middlesex played Berkshire with Paul Stirling scoring 34 from 20 balls. Former Oman Under-17s player Jackson Thompson was in the Middlesex side, scoring 24, but he is no longer eligible to play for Oman. Somerset played Dorset, with Arul Suppiah scoring 8 and taking 2-11.

On to university cricket now, and in the last county v university match of the season, Stuart Poynter became the latest Irish player to play for Middlesex, making his first-class debut against Oxford MCCU. He wasn't required to bat in the first innings, but scored 42 in the second. He took three catches in the match behind the stumps.

In minor counties cricket, Denmark's Freddie Klokker finally came good for Suffolk, scoring an unbeaten 102 in their seven run win over Berkshire.

It's been Twenty20 all the way this past week in county cricket, with an injury to Ryan ten Doeschate the most notable (and unfortunate) event of the week as far as associate players are concerned.

That injury came in Essex's match against Somerset (for whom Arul Suppiah scored three) in Taunton, where ten Doeschate scored 48 before pulling up whilst taking a quick single. He had to be helped from the field and was later diagnosed with a torn calf muscle which is likely to keep him out for six weeks, thus missing WCL Division One and the Dutch ODI against Bangladesh. Earlier in the week he smashed 102 from just 54 balls against Middlesex at Lord's which wasn't enough to prevent Middlesex winning by five runs.

His Dutch team mate Alexei Kervezee scored 10 for Worcestershire against Nottinghamshire before becoming Stuart Broad's 50th wicket in Twenty20 cricket, and scored just four against Warwickshire.

Ireland were busy playing against Australia on Thursday, but two of their county contingent was still involved in county action this week. Captain William Porterfield scored 43 against Kent for Gloucestershire and 24 against Somerset before being run out for five against Hampshire. Niall O'Brien scored six in a 14 run Northamptonshire win over Yorkshire but didn't bat in their 10 run win over Leicestershire.

Onto university cricket now, with the semi-finals of the BUSA Premier League taking place this week, with associate representation in each of them.

Brad Kruger wasn't looked at in earlier editions of county watch, but as he has now played for the Netherlands, he does now. He took 1-32 for Bradford/Leeds MCCU against Loughborough MCCU. In the other semi-final, Cardiff MCCU beat Oxford MCCU, with Bermuda's Stefan Kelly taking 1-54 for Cardiff.

A pretty light edition of county watch this week, but it seems that a few associate players are either injured or out of favour with their counties as far as Twenty20 goes at the moment. There is another week of Twenty20 action next week, and County Watch will be back next weekend reporting on all the associate player action. 1 216 BERandr 1276331604 82.23.210.24 Andrew Nixon Plenty of Twenty20 andrew.nixon79@googlemail.com In the last week or so, Ryan ten Doeschate has continued his fine form, with some even questioning whether England recognition is round the corner. As a poster on CricketEurope's international forum once said, as a leading European associate player and as someone born in South Africa, he is ideally suited for England but, refreshingly, ten Doeschate has ruled that out.

He wasn't showing the form that has seen him top the ECB's "most valuable player" list in Essex's county championship match against Hampshire this past week. He scored six in the first innings and was out for a second ball duck in the second, whilst he only took one wicket in the match.

Only two other associate players were involved in the county championship matches played last week, both in the same match. Somerset's Arul Suppiah scored 2 and 8 against Warwickshire, for whom Boyd Rankin went wicketless.

Of course the main action in county cricket has been the start of the Twenty20 season, and it is in this form of the game that ten Doeschate played the best associate performance of the week. In a televised match against Kent he smashed 98 from 47 balls (his highest Twenty20 score) and took 1-18 from his three overs. He wasn't as good against Surrey, where he scored 10 and went wicketless. He recovered a little against Glamorgan, scoring 37 from 21 balls and taking 1-16 from his three overs.

His Dutch team-mate Alexei Kervezee has also been in Twenty20 action for his county, scoring 7 and taking three catches for Worcestershire against Yorkshire. He scored 8 against Nottinghamshire in a match where his team-mate at the 2009 World Twenty20, Dirk Nannes, became the first bowler to take 100 Twenty20 wickets.

Against Northamptonshire, he scored 19 in a match where Ireland's Niall O'Brien scored 31. O'Brien, who was rested from Northamptonshire's County Championship team, played in another three matches this week, scoring 29 from 14 balls against Warwickshire, 9 against Leicestershire and 18 against Lancashire. His Ireland team-mate Paul Stirling played in one match for Middlesex, scoring 2 against Sussex.

Ireland captain William Porterfield had a great match for Gloucestershire against Surrey, scoring 47 from 31 balls to lead his team to a ten wicket win that saw Surrey get booed off by the Oval crowd. He also scored 8 against Glamorgan and 18 against Sussex.

In university cricket, the last round of BUCS Premier League matches took place this week. For Cardiff MCCU against Loughborough MCCU, James Shannon was out for a duck, whilst for Durham MCCU against Cambridge MCCU, Seren Waters scored 10 before the match was abandoned due to rain. The match was associate player heavy with Hong Kong's Jamie Atkinson also in the Durham side, whilst Irish youth internationals Ben Ackland and Michael Taylor were in the Cambridge side.

In the quarter finals of the Second XI Knockout competition, being played under the 40 over split innings format that will be trialled in Australia's domestic one-day competition this winter, Kenya's Ragheb Aga took 2-34 for Sussex against Essex, scoring two when he batted. Calum MacLeod scored 5 for Warwickshire against Somerset, whilst Gary Wilson scored 46 from just 28 balls for Surrey against Leicestershire.

In the Second XI trophy William Porterfield, captaining Gloucestershire, scored 45 against Essex. There were three Irishmen in the match between the Middlesex and Surrey second XIs. For Middlesex, Paul Stirling scored 2 and Stuart Poynter scored 24, whilst Gary Wilson scored 33 for Surrey. He was out for a first ball duck against Hampshire.

Finally, onto Minor Counties cricket, where Denmark's Frederick Klokker is featuring for Suffolk. The Minor Counties Championship started this week, and Klokker scored 0 and 24 in Suffolk's drawn match against Lincolnshire.

It's been another quiet week as far as associate player action in county cricket goes, so apologies for this post being a little on the short side.

The highlight as far as this blog is concerned is probably William Porterfield captaining Gloucestershire in two of their Twenty20 Cup matches against Essex and Hampshire. He wasn't too successful with the bat though, scoring nine against Essex and just two against Hampshire. His Ireland team mate Niall O'Brien returned from a suspension to score 34 against Worcestershire and 37 v Durham for Northamptonshire.

The only other associate player playing in the Twenty20 Cup was Alexei Kervezee. He scored 17 against both Derbyshire and Yorkshire, but was not required to bat against Northamptonshire as Worcestershire won the match by nine wickets.

For county second XIs this week there were two associate players (that I know about!) playing. Arul Suppiah took two wickets in Somerset's defeat by the Minor Counties in the Second XI Trophy, whilst Kenya's Ragheb Aga took 4-27 and scored 29 against Northamptonshire.

Aga also took part in the final of the Second XI Knockout competition. A suspiciously strong Sussex team, featuring two England internationals in Ed Joyce and Monty Panesar, beat Derbyshire by 137 runs. Aga took one wicket in the Derbyshire innings.

In the Minor Counties Championship, Freddie Klokker scored 62 and 35 for Suffolk in their win over Cambridgeshire.

Next week there will be yet more Twenty20 Cup action, but there will also be a welcome return for the County Championship, with a handful of matches starting tomorrow. I'll be looking at all the associate player action in those matches next week, and also looking at how Mohammad Nabi and Hamid Hassan perform for the MCC against Pakistan. Join me next week!

For various reasons, I missed my county watch report last week, so this is a special bumper report this week. I'll also be missing next week - more on that later!

To start with, I'm going to look at the conclusion to the university season, including the Twenty20 Cup, and the annual Cambridge v Oxford match, both of which featured representation from associate countries.

The Cambridge v Oxford match these days takes the form of a one-day match at Lord's and a four-day match with the home side alternating each year. The associate player in both matches was former Ireland youth international - and CricketEurope statistician - Michael Taylor. He took 1-24 as Cambridge won by five wickets in the one-day game, and was part of a Cambridge attack that conceded a record 611-5 declared. He was by far the pick of the bowlers though, taking 4-161 in the only Oxford innings. With the bat he scored 10 and 12 as Cambridge lost by an innings.

Michael was one of a number of associate players involved in the University Twenty20 Cup. The six MCC Universities were joined by Exeter and Bristol Universities, along with the Durham Second XI for the two-day tournament at Loughborough University.

Michael took one wicket in the tournament, taking 1-25 against Exeter. He was wicketless against Bradford/Leeds MCCU, against Durham Second XI in the semi-final and 0-18 against Oxford MCCU in the third place play-off. His Cambridge team-mate and fellow Irishman Ben Ackland played twice in the tournament, scoring 10 in the semi-final and 4 in the third place play-off.

Dutch international Brad Kruger played for Bradford/Leeds MCCU in the tournament, and he scored 10 against Exeter University, 37 v Cambridge MCCU and 7 v Durham Second XI in the final. With the ball he took 2-26 against Exeter and 2-24 against Oxford MCCU in the semi-final. Seren Waters, a puzzling non-selection by Kenya for WCL1, was playing for Durham MCCU and scored 27 against Durham Second XI and 3 against Cardiff MCCU. His team-mate Jamie Atkinson, recently named in Hong Kong's Asian Games squad, scored 13 against the Durham Second XI and 51 against Cardiff. The Durham Second XI had an associate representative in the form of UAE international Rameez Shahzad. He had a great tournament, scoring 50 against Durham MCCU, an unbeaten 81 against Cambridge MCCU in the semi-final and taking 3-13 against Bradford MCCU in the final to help take his team to the tournament win.

Onto county cricket now, and this past fortnight saw the welcome return of the County Championship.

The associate player highlight in the two rounds of County Championship matches was the innings of 61 Scotland's Josh Davey made for Middlesex against Gloucestershire. He scored 9 in the second innings. Alexei Kervezee could only manage 1 and 8 against Leicestershire, whilst Gary Wilson scored 6 and 28 for Surrey v Derbyshire. His Irish team-mate Boyd Rankin took 1-44 and 2-58 for Warwickshire against Surrey and 1-73 & 2-33 against Yorkshire.

Despite the return of the four-day stuff, the seemingly never-ending Friends Provident Twenty20 is still going on. The associate player highlight this past fortnight was William Porterfield, captaining Gloucestershire, scored 65 from 27 balls against Glamorgan. He scored 8 against Middlesex and 1 against Kent. The other three Irishmen playing in the FP Twenty20 this past fortnight were Boyd Rankin (1-17 v Durham and 0-22 v Yorkshire), Niall O'Brien (26 v Yorkshire and 8 v Warwickshire) and Gary Wilson (1 v Somerset and 36 not out v Middlesex).

Another three associate players played in the tournament: Josh Davey was out for a second ball duck for Middlesex against Gloucestershire, Arul Suppiah scored 13 for Somerset against Surrey and 26 not out against Middlesex, whilst Alexei Kervezee had a busy time for Worcestershire, scoring 15 not out against Derbyshire, 19 against Lancashire and 4 against each of Leicestershire and Durham.

There was also associate - and affiliate - representation in tour matches against Bangladesh and Pakistan. Kenya's Ragheb Aga made a rare appearance for the Sussex first team in their win against Bangladesh, scoring 22, whilst Josh Davey scored 11 for Middlesex against the same opponents. Afghanistan star players Mohammad Nabi and Hamid Hassan played for the MCC in their Twenty20 match against Pakistan at Lord's, with Nabi taking 1-18 and Hassan taking 0-42. Dewald Nel returned from injury to play for Kent against Pakistan, taking 1-54 and 0-17.

In the Second XI Championship, Kyle Coetzer scored 59 for Durham against the MCC Young Cricketers and didn't bat in the second innings. William Porterfield scored 5 and 92 for Gloucestershire against Middlesex, for whom Stuart Poynter scored 28. Ragheb Aga, also mysteriously absent from the Kenya side, scored 72 and 71 as well as taking 2-8 against the MCC Universities XI. In the Second XI Trophy, Coetzer scored an unbeaten 62 against the MCC Young Cricketers, William Porterfield scored 22 against Middlesex, whilst Seren Waters scored 14 for Surrey against the Minor Counties XI.

And finally, in the Minor Counties Championship, Freddie Klokker scored 56 for Suffolk against Staffordshire. He wasn't required to bat in the second innings as Suffolk won by ten wickets.

The last fortnight of associate player performances in county cricket has been highlighted by a fantastic 155 by Dutch international Alexei Kervezee for Worcestershire. That innings, a career best, helped his team hold on for the draw against Derbyshire and came after he was out for 8 in the first innings. Two other associate players played in the four County Championship matches, with Arul Suppiah scoring 34 & 24 against Kent for Somerset and Boyd Rankin taking 2-49 against Nottinghamshire in the only innings he bowled in.

The Clydesdale Bank 40 competition returned after a two month gap this past week, with Kervezee scoring 13 against Sussex, whilst Ireland captain William Porterfield scored 38 for Gloucestershire against Derbyshire.

The FP Twenty20 group stage finally came to a conclusion last week after 144 group games - there were just 45 in the first tournament's group stage in 2003 - and five associate players took part in the last batch of matches.

William Porterfield smashed 64 from 32 balls against Middlesex and 37 against Surrey. The two Ireland wicket-keepers - Niall O'Brien and Gary Wilson - were also in action. O'Brien scored 17 for Northamptonshire against Nottinghamshire, whilst Wilson scored 14 not out v Gloucestershire and did not bat in an eight wicket win against Sussex. Alexei Kervezee scored 5 not out v Leicestershire and 35 against Warwickshire, whilst Arul Suppiah scored an unbeaten 19 against Kent.

There has been a lot of associate player action in Second XI cricket recently, with much of it coming from Scottish players.

In the Championship, Kyle Coetzer scored 57 & 88 and took 2-43 for Durham against Leicestershire, and in the Second XI Trophy, scored 135 and took 1-10 against Derbyshire, a match in which Matthew Parker took 0-19. John Blain has been captaining Yorkshire Second XI this year, and he took no wickets in their championship match against the MCC Young Cricketers. Navdeep Poonia showed up for the first time this season, scoring 23 & 3 for Derbyshire against Worcestershire. Callum MacLeod, still not bowling, scored 11 in the only innings he batted in for Warwickshire against Worcestershire in the Championship, but played well in the Second XI Trophy, scoring 47 against Worcestershire and 45 against Glamorgan.

Meanwhile Dewald Nel, playing for Kent in the championship, took 3-70 & 1-19 against Middlesex and 4-75 in an innings defeat by Hampshire. In the Trophy, he took 0-18 and 1-26 against the same two opponents. Josh Davey scored 45 & 11 not out for Middlesex against Kent in the championship, and 43 in a seven wicket win over the same opponents in the Trophy.

There were two Kenyans playing in Second XI cricket too - Seren Waters scored 36 & 0 for Surrey against Northamptonshire in the Championship and Ragheb Aga scored 39 for Sussex against Essex in the Second XI Trophy. Meanwhile, Alexei Kervezee played one match for Worcestershire Second XI in the Trophy against Warwickshire, and showed his all-round ability, scoring 53 and taking 3-46 to help win the game.

since my last County Watch report, for various reasons, so this will be an extra bumper edition of County Watch with three weeks worth of action to report on.

We'll start with the highlights of the last three weeks as far as associate player performances go, and that's the County Championship centuries scored by William Porterfield and Arul Suppiah. Porterfield's innings of 177 - a career best - came against Worcestershire and was accompanied by 33 in the second innings, but it wasn't enough to prevent defeat for Gloucestershire. Suppiah's 125 came in the first innings of Somerset's match against Kent, and he scored 28 in the second innings. In the pair's other matches, Porterfield scored 41 in both innings against Glamorgan, whilst Suppiah scored 30 against Nottinghamshire and 37 against Hampshire (he only batted in one innings in each game) also taking one wicket in each of those two matches.

The remainder of the associate players playing in the County Championship these past three weeks haven't played as well as those two though. Kenya's Ragheb Aga made a rare County Championship appearance for Sussex against Leicestershire. Sussex won by an innings, but Aga was out for a duck when he batted and went wicket less when he bowled. Scotland's Josh Davey played two matches - against Surrey and Leicestershire - for Middlesex , scoring 24 runs in three innings, whilst Boyd Rankin took 1-22 and 2-32 for Warwickshire against Essex. Dutch international Alexei Kervezee played three matches for Worcestershire. He scored 28 & 24 v Northamptonshire and 8 & 17 against Gloucestershire, before bouncing back with 72 & 45 against Glamorgan.

Porterfield also made the top score amongst associate players in the CB40 in the past three weeks, scoring 53 against Yorkshire. He scored six against Middlesex and 17 in another match against Yorkshire. His Ireland team mate Gary Wilson wasn't required to bat in Surrey's match against Glamorgan where they racked up a 40 over world record total of 386-3. He scored nine against Sussex. Boyd Rankin took 2-39 against Leicestershire, 0-16 (in one over) against Nottinghamshire, and 2-14 against Scotland.

Ragheb Aga played three times for Sussex, scoring 23* and 1* against Glamorgan and Lancashire respectively. He took 1-33 against Glamorgan but was wicket less against Lancashire and Surrey. Alexei Kervezee scored 15 in Worcestershire's defeat by the Unicorns, whilst Arul Suppiah played against Surrey for Somerset, but didn't bat and didn't take a wicket.

Suppiah had a busy time for Somerset in the Twenty20 Cup, which finally ended yesterday. In the quarter final against Northamptonshire he took a useful 1-14 from his four overs, whilst on finals day he took 0-9 in the semi-final against Nottinghamshire and 1-16 against Hampshire in the final, which Hampshire won of the last ball. Also on finals day, Dutch supporters would have been pleased to see the return to action of Ryan ten Doeschate for Essex, but he scored just one run against Hampshire in the the semi-final and didn't bowl.

On to Second XI cricket now, which has been seemingly dominated by Scottish players these past three weeks, with seven of them playing for county sides, four of them as captain.

Kyle Coetzer played three championship matches for Durham, scoring 4 & 21 against Derbyshire in a match in which he was captain. He went on to score 9 & 54 not out against Warwickshire and 14 & 36 against Worcestershire. In the second innings of the game against Worcestershire he was out to a very famous name in Worcestershire circles - a B D'Oliveira - namely Brett D'Oliveira, grandson of the great Basil. Coetzer took two wickets in his three championship matches. In the Second XI Trophy he scored 16 against Warwickshire and 22 against Worcestershire, also taking 1-23 in the latter match, in which he was again captain.

Calum MacLeod also found himself as captain of a second XI side, captaining Warwickshire in the Second XI Trophy against Durham, where he was out for a duck. He fared better in the championship against Glamorgan, scoring 95 and 24*, but only managed 3 and 11 against Durham. Dougie Brown also captained Warwickshire in two Second XI Championship matches, scoring 18 and taking 2-16 & 0-29 against Glamorgan, and scoring 56 & 23 against Durham. John Blain captained Yorkshire in their championship match against Worcestershire, taking 0-25 & 2-21. He took 2-27 in a Second XI Trophy match against the same opponents, this time not as captain.

The other Scots in Second XI action were Matthew Parker for Durham, who took 4-28 and 0-36 in a championship match against Derbyshire and 0-23 in a championship match against Worcestershire, taking 1-41 in a Second XI Trophy match, also against Worcestershire, and Dewald Nel, who took 1-45 & 0-59 against Sussex in the championship, and went wicket less in two trophy matches against the Minor Counties and Sussex. Not part of official Second XI cricket this, but one match had 14 Scots involved in it, as Scotland A took on Warwickshire. For Warwickshire, Dougie Brown scored 92 and 25*, helping to save a draw, Calum MacLeod scored 26 and took 2-12, whilst Freddie Coleman scored 49 in the first innings.

There were, of course, other associate players involved in second XI cricket the past three weeks.

Ragheb Aga scored 4 and 45 in a championship match against Gloucestershire and 5 & 4 against Somerset in a remarkable match that was scheduled for three days but completed in one. He scored 17 in a trophy match against Gloucestershire. Andrew Balbirnie played for the MCC Young Cricketers in their championship match against Derbyshire, scoring 11 & 6* and taking 2-53 & 1-45. Gary Wilson captained Surrey in three second XI matches, scoring 26 & 35 in a championship match against the MCC Universities and 16 against Hampshire, also in the championship. He scored just three in a trophy match against Essex. Also for Surrey, Kenya's Seren Waters scored 15* in the only innings in which he batted against the MCC Universities and 82 against Hampshire. In a trophy match against Essex he scored 13. Dutch international Brad Kruger made his debut for Kent Second XI, taking 5-45 in the first innings of a championship match against Sussex, and scoring 64 and taking 1-34 in a championship match against the MCC Universities. He wasn't as successful in his two Second XI Trophy matches, scoring 0 against the Minor Counties and 6 against Sussex, not taking a wicket in either match. Last, but by no means least, UAE international Rameez Shahzad scored 37* and took 1-44 for Durham against Worcestershire.

And finally, in the Minor Counties Championship, Freddie Klokker scored 30 & 12 for Suffolk against Northumberland.

Last week I had two championship centuries to report on for associate players, and this week is the same, with Porterfield scoring another century, this time being joined by Alexei Kervezee.

Porterfield's century for Gloucestershire came against Northamptonshire, making 150 in the first innings which he followed with 23 in the second. His Irish team-mate Boyd Rankin made 13 in Warwickshire's innings loss to Nottinghamshire. Not as impressive a knock as that of Porterfield but it was nevertheless his first-class best. He also took 3-66 in the only Nottinghamshire innings.

Kervezee's century was against Surrey. After being dismissed for a duck in the first innings, he bounced back with 150 in the second, passing 1000 runs for the season and 2000 runs for his career in the process. His Dutch team-mate Ryan ten Doeschate returned to championship action with 40 & 41 for Essex against Somerset, a match in which Arul Suppiah scored 4 & 0 for Somerset.

There were no associate players involved in any of the week's CB40 matches, so we now move on to second XI cricket. Not all scorecards for the week are available yet, though, so I'll come back to it next week. In the matches I do have scorecards for, Josh Davey scored 23* & 18 in a Championship match against Sussex, whilst Ragheb Aga scored 37 & 18 and took 1-36 & 1-30 for the opposition. Aga took 3-39 in the Second XI Trophy, also against Middlesex. John Blain captained Yorkshire in their trophy match against Durham, taking 1-16.

Finally, Freddie Klokker's Suffolk team ended their Minor Counties Championship season against Cumberland, Klokker scoring 11 & 31.

The county season has come to an end, with all the trophies being decided. Whilst the ECB get together with the counties and decide what format to use for next season (when was the last time two seasons had the exact same tournaments with the exact same formats?) County Watch reports on how the associate players fared in the last couple of weeks of county action.

It was a mostly unsuccessful week with the bat for the associate players in the County Championship, with William Porterfield's 54 for Gloucestershire against Surrey the highest score. He made seven in the second innings of that match, which followed a poor display of 5 and 1 against Leicestershire. His Irish team-mate Gary Wilson caught him out to end that innings of 54, and he made 34 in the first innings of that match. He wasn't required to bat in the second, and previously made 39 & 45 against Glamorgan.

Alexei Kervezee scored 5 in Worcestershire's first innings against Middlesex and was out for a golden duck in the second. He made 10 and 24 not out against Sussex. Arul Suppiah made 13 & 12 not out against Lancashire and 18 against Durham, not batting in the second innings of that match.

The associate player highlight of the conclusion to the season however came from Dewald Nel, who finally showed some of the ability that convinced Kent to sign him, taking a career best 6-62 in the first innings against Yorkshire. He took 3-57 in the second innings, taking him past fifty first-class wickets.

In the CB40, Ryan ten Doeschate scored 22 and took 1-66 in Essex's semi-final defeat to Somerset, for whom Arul Suppiah smashed an unbeaten 42 from just 20 balls. He then could only manage one in the final against Warwickshire, which Somerset lost.

In the Second XI Championship, Calum MacLeod had a good all-round match for Warwickshire against Nottinghamshire - scoring 81 and taking 4-30 in the first innings. He didn't bat or bowl in the second innings. He then played for Warwickshire in the final against Surrey, scoring 59 and 8 and taking one wicket in each innings as Warwickshire lost. George Dockrell prepared for Ireland's tour of Zimbabwe by playing in Somerset's match against the MCC Universities, taking 1-35 in the only innings.

It's the time of the year when the counties start releasing and signing players ahead of the following season, and this is no exception. County Watch will regularly update you with all the ins and outs other the off-season, whilst I will also report on how any associate/affiliate players perform in the non-English domestic competitions.

Ins and outs\n

cricket season has begun, and with it is some action from associate and affiliate players. But before I get to that, I'll give a brief summary of how some of the players did in domestic cricket outside of England.

The most active associate player over the English off-season was Ryan ten Doeschate, who played in the domestic Twenty20 tournaments of Australia, New Zealand and Zimbabwe, as well as being picked up in the IPL auction by the Kolkata Knight Riders. In Zimbabwe he played for the Mashonaland Eagles, who won the competition, but could only manage 66 runs and 1 wicket in 6 matches. His record in Australia, playing for Tasmania, wasn't much better, taking three wickets and scoring 75 runs

In New Zealand though, where he played for Canterbury alongside former Dutch team-mate Dirk Nannes, he played very well indeed, scoring 284 runs at 40.57 with a top score of 51 not out and took 12 wickets at 17.66. He was the second highest run scorer and fifth highest wicket taker in the tournament, so it was no surprise to see him named as the "Most Valuable Player" for the event.

Ten Doeschate's fellow Dutch international Tom Cooper also played in Australian domestic cricket over the winter, representing South Australia. In three Sheffield Shield matches he scored 269 runs at 44.83 with a top score of 63. In the Ryobi One-Day Cup, he scored 262 runs at 32.75 with a top score of 71 in eight matches. He was poor in the KFC Big Bash Twenty20 tournament, scoring just 15 runs in five matches.

The only other associate player I can find that played top-level domestic cricket over the English off-season (and I stand to be corrected!) was Canada's Ruvindu Gunasekera, who played seven matches for Badureliya Sports Club in Sri Lanka's Premier Limited Overs Tournament, scoring 180 runs at an average of 25.71 with a top score of 57. He also played for them last month in the Premier Championship match against Sinhalese Sports Club, scoring 1 and 17 in his third career first-class match.

Over the English off-season, Ireland skipper William Porterfield moved from Gloucestershire to Warwickshire. New on the county watch radar this season will be his Ireland team-mates George Dockerell, who will be playing for Somerset once he recovers from his shoulder injury picked up in the last game of Ireland's World Cup campaign, and Ed Joyce who is playing again for Sussex. He wasn't on the county watch radar last season as he wasn't eligible for Ireland. They will no doubt be joined at some point by Gloucestershire's Hamish Marshall if and when he makes his Ireland debut.

So, onto the start of the 2011 county season. Like last year, the curtain raiser to the season was played in Abu Dhabi under floodlights with a pink ball with the MCC taking on Nottinghamshire in a four-day contest. Afghanistan internationals Hamid Hassan and Mohammed Nabi were playing for the MCC in the match. Nabi scored 1 and 29, whilst Hassan clubbed a quick-fire 26 from 14 balls in the first MCC innings. With the ball, Nabi was wicketless in the first innings, but took 2-56 in the second. Hassan took 4-45 and 3-82, impressing many with his fiery bowling, leading to rumours of a potential county contract for 2011.

The Twenty20 tournament that followed was just a warm-up event and not part of the season, so it wouldn't normally warrant a mention, except to note that Hamid Hassan took 5-17, including a hat-trick, against Nottinghamshire in the semi-final.

Back in England, the season got under-way with the first round of MCC University matches against county sides, with associate players in action on both sides. Ireland youth international Ben Ackland impressed for Cambridge MCCU against Essex, scoring 63 in the first innings and 10 not out in the second as the game ended in a draw.

Fellow Irishman Andrew Balbirnie was in action for Cardiff MCCU against Glamorgan, as was Bermuda international Stefan Kelly. Balbirnie scored 50 in Cardiff's first innings, but could only manage three in the second. Kelly took 1-68 in Glamorgan's first innings and was wicketless in the second.

There wasn't any associate player on the Loughborough MCCU team, but there was one playing for their opponents Northamptonshire in the shape of Ireland wicket-keeper Niall O'Brien, who scored 35 from 31 balls opening the batting in the only Northants innings. Also scoring quickly was Netherlands international Brad Kruger, who scored 40 from 37 balls in the first innings for Leeds/Bradford MCCU against Worcestershire. He made 37 not out in the second at a much more sedate rate and he took 1-10 and 2-36 with the ball.

Playing for Worcestershire was his World Cup team-mate Alexei Kervezee, who was out for just five in the first innings but bounced back with 71 in the second. Last, but not least, is Hong Kong's Jamie Atkinson who is back playing for Durham MCCU. He scored 18 in the first innings and 34 in the second in their match against Durham, which the professionals won by an innings.

County Watch will return in about a week's time with reports on more university matches as well as the opening round of County Championship matches.

After last week's university matches, the county season shifted into higher gear this past few days with the opening round of County Championship matches, and three Irish players were in action in two matches.

Ed Joyce played for Sussex against Lancashire at Liverpool, scoring 84 in the first innings and 15 in the second as Sussex went down by an innings. His world cup team-mates Gary Wilson and Niall O'Brien were in action on opposing sides at the Oval as O'Brien's Northamptonshire drew with Surrey. Wilson was the top scorer of the pair, with 29 and 42 (and was caught by O'Brien in his first innings), whilst O'Brien was out for a duck in the first innings and scored an unbeaten 20 in the second.

In university matches, Ben Ackland scored 4 & 74 for Cambridge MCCU against Middlesex in a losing cause, whilst Hong Kong's Jamie Atkinson was the top scorer in Durham MCCU's first innings against Warwickshire with 31, but was out for a golden duck in the second as the students lost by an innings. Ireland captain William Porterfield made his Warwickshire debut in the match, but batted six balls for a duck.

Malaysian international Arul Suppiah had a good match for Somerset against Cardiff MCCU. He scored 75 in the first innings, sharing in a 152 opening partnership with Marcus Trescothick, and 54 in the second as Somerset twice scored over 400 in the drawn match. Ireland's Andrew Balbirnie was playing for the Welsh university, scoring 4 and 36. Finally from the university scene, the BUSA Premier League got underway this past week, with Brad Kruger scoring 5 and taking 0-12 for Leeds/Bradford MCCU against Loughborough MCCU.

In second XI cricket, an Irishman and a Scotsman played for Middlesex Second XI against Hertfordshire Cricket Board - Paul Stirling starred with 149 as Middlesex scored 335-8 in their 40 overs. Stirling then took 1-15 and Scotland's Josh Davey took 2-47 as they secured a 124 run win.

Outside of England, Canada's Ruvindu Gunasekera scored 9 for Badureliya Sports Club in their innings win over Colombo Cricket Club, whilst Ryan ten Doeschate became the first associate player to play in the IPL when he made his debut for Kolkata Knight Riders against Deccan Chargers today. He didn't bat and just bowled one over, which went for seven runs, but took a catch as his team won by nine runs.

It's been a busy fortnight for county cricket, with two rounds of County Championship matches and the start of the CB40 competition. The highlight of those two weeks as far as associate cricket goes was the Netherlands win over Yorkshire at Headingley on Easter Sunday, a match I enjoyed watching in person, but that's not it as far as associate performances go.

Player of the last two weeks was certainly Ireland's Niall O'Brien. He scored 71 for Northamptonshire in their innings win over his former county Kent, followed that with 96 in the only innings against Essex, before starting his one-day campaign with an unbeaten 94 against Leicestershire. His national captain William Porterfield started well enough with 45 in Warwickshire's innings win over Somerset, but followed that with 6 & 10 against Worcestershire and 5 in a one-day match against Hampshire.

Porterfield's Warwickshire and Ireland team mate Boyd Rankin took 5-57 and 1-43 in the match against Worcestershire, having earlier gone wicketless against Somerset. He also failed to take a wicket in the one-day match against Hampshire. Gary Wilson and Ed Joyce both played a Championship match each, with Wilson scoring 21 in Surrey's drawn match against Glamorgan and Joyce scoring 2 & 33 against Durham.

Finally on the Irish front, Paul Stirling played in Middlesex's CB40 win over Worcestershire, scoring 21 and taking 0-36. Dutch international Alexei Kervezee was on the losing side in that match, scoring 3. He earlier scored 2 & 65 in the championship match against Warwickshire.

Malaysia's Arul Suppiah is playing for a Somerset side that lost twice by an innings in the past fortnight. Against Warwickshire he top scored in the first innings with 62, but the entire team couldn't match that in the second, being bowled out for 50 with Suppiah scoring 1. He scored 14 & 7 against Lancashire, and took 2-20 in the Lancashire innings. He scored one run and took 1-21 in the CB40 match against Nottinghamshire. Finally, Kyle Coetzer was in the position of having to play against his international team mates when he scored 27 for Durham against Scotland.

Two associate players played in the university v county matches that took place last week. Andy Balbirnie played for Cardiff MCCU, scoring 36 and a decent 82 against Gloucestershire, whilst Guernsey's Tim Ravenscroft made his first team debut for Hampshire in their match against Leeds/Bradford MCCU. He struggled with the bat, scoring 1 & 3, but bowled well in the second innings to take 4-66.

Ben Ackland has been playing well for Cambridge MCCU this season. In a BUSA Premier League match against Southampton Solent University he scored 78, then scored 34 against Oxford MCCU in a drawn two-day match. Against Derbyshire 2nd XI in a one-day game, he top scored for the student side with 76, whilst against Nottinghamshire 2nd XI in a two-day game he scored an unbeaten 100 in a single session, but had to retire as he had an exam the next day.

The afore-mentioned Tim Ravenscroft played three matches for Hampshire Second XI over the last fortnight. He scored 47 against Southampton Solent University, 22 & 17 against Sussex 2nd XI and 11 against Doreset. With the ball, he took 2-25 in the second innings against Sussex. Scotsmen John Blain and Kyle Coetzer played for Yorkshire 2nd XI and Durham 2nd XI respectively in two one-day matches. Blain didn't bat in either match and only bowled in the second, where he took 0-23. Coetzer scored 68 in the first match but was out for a duck in the second.

Stuart Poynter played for the MCC Young Cricketers in a second XI championship match against Gloucestershire, scoring 27 in the first innings. He also played for the side against Norfolk, scoring 41. Ryan Watson and Gavin Hamilton played for the main MCC side in their match against Scotland, scoring 11 and 21 respectively.

In other news, Isle of Man international Dan Hawke, who captained the island's Under-17 side to victory in the European Under-17 Division Two tournament last year, will play two matches for Lancashire Colts in May. Bermuda's Demali Bell will be involved with the Kent academy for six months, and USA internationals Muhammad Ghous and Adrian Gordon are currently training with Nottinghamshire, with the potential of playing in a second XI match. Their places are part of a scheme set up by former Canada and England Under-19 coach Andy Pick, now an ICC Americas Performance Officer, and he hopes to involve other players from the Americas in a similar way.

That's all for this edition and I'll be back soon. If you know of anything I might have missed in this post, contact me through CricketEurope, or give me a nod on twitter @cecountywatch, where you can also keep an eye on associate player performances inbetween posts here

Two weeks on from the last County Watch post, and two County Championship centuries for Ed Joyce are the highlight in this edition of County Watch.

Those two centuries for Joyce came in the second innings of Sussex's match against Lancashire, when he scored 140 to add to his first innings 21, and in the first innings against Hampshire, scoring 103, followed by 14 in the second innings. He wasn't the only associate centurion in the County Championship these past two weeks though, as Alexei Kervezee scored 30 & 128 for Worcestershire against Nottinghamshire.

He followed this with 50 and a duck against Somerset. He was bowled in the first innings by Malaysian international Arul Suppiah, the first of two wickets in an over for the left arm spinner. He also took two wickets in the second innings against Hampshire, scoring 19 & 37 not out in that match. He scored 19 and 3 against Worcestershire.

Ireland captain William Porterfield continued what is a mixed start to the season for Warwickshire, scoring 87 and 10 against Durham and following that with 2 & 0 against Lancashire. His team mate for both Warwickshire and Ireland Boyd Rankin will have enjoyed taking 5-57 & 3-58 against Lancashire and 3-98 & 0-27 against Durham, but being a fast bowler will no doubt be talking about his batting performance in the first innings against Durham which saw him pick up a first-class best of 28. This earned him a move up the order to ten, but he could only manage four in the second innings.

Gary Wilson scored 0 & 18 in Surrey's match against Middlesex, which they lost by an innings, whilst Niall O'Brien scored 62 and 2 not out for Northamptonshire against his old team Kent.

In the CB40, Alexei Kervezee made the top score amongst associate players (not including the Netherlands and Scotland teams taking part) with 69 against Kent. This was closely followed by William Porterfield's 64 against Scotland, and he also scored 32 against Leicestershire, a match in which Boyd Rankin took 0-39.

Ed Joyce scored 37 against Derbyshire and 4 against the Netherlands, Niall O'Brien scored 7 against Durham, Gary Wilson did not bat against Scotland and was out for a duck against Hampshire, whilst Paul Stirling scored 45 and took 2-38 against the Netherlands and scored 17 against Kent.

Kyle Coetzer was out for a duck for Durham against Northamptonshire and scored 7 against Leicestershire, whilst Arul Suppiah scored 9 not out against the Unicorns. He also played against Glamorgan but was required to bat or bowl.

On the university cricket front, Hong Kong's Jamie Atkinson played for Durham MCCU against Yorkshire, scoring 5 & 17, whilst Brad Kruger scored one in Leeds/Bradford MCCU's only innings against Derbyshire.

In the MCCU Championship Atkinson scored 7 against Cambridge MCCU and wasn't required to bat against Oxford MCCU, whilst Ben Ackland, called up to the Southern squad for Ireland's inter-regional series, scored 66 for Cambridge MCCU against Loughborough MCCU and 4 against Durham MCCU.

In the BUSA Premier League, Ackland scored 22 against Loughborough MCCU, 21 against Cardiff MCCU and 12 against Durham MCCU. Another Irishman in university cricket, not considered due to exam commitments, is Andy Balbirnie, playing for Cardiff MCCU. He only batted in one of the three matches he played in the last two weeks, scoring 6 against Exeter University. With the ball he took 0-32 against Southampton Solent University, 2-14 against Cambridge MCCU and 1-10 against Exeter University.

His team-mate, Bermuda's Stefan Kelly, took 2-32 against Southampton Solent University and 1-26 against Exeter University. Brad Kruger, on a break from international duty, scored 35 for Leeds/Bradford MCCU against Oxford MCCU, whilst Jamie Atkinson scored 11 against Cambridge MCCU and Scotland youth player Paddy Sadler took 1-8 for Cambridge MCCU against Durham MCCU.

In Second XI cricket, scorecards are currently hard to come by, but in the Championship, Graeme McCarter took 2-40 & 0-39 for Gloucestershire against Glamorgan, also scoring 10 & 11 not out. Paul Stirling made a pair against Sussex, but followed that with 101 in the first innings against Essex. Josh Davey scored 29 & 28 for Middlesex against Sussex, whilst Gary Wilson scored 12 & 13 against Gloucestershire.

In the Second XI Trophy, Paul Stirling scored 4 against Essex and 23 against Sussex, Graeme McCarter took 0-10 against Glamorgan and Gary Wilson scored 28 against Gloucestershire.

In other matches, Guernsey's Tim Ravenscroft had a fantastic match for Hampshire 2nd XI against Worcestershire 2nd XI, scoring 115 & 126. Cambridge MCCU played against the MCC Young Cricketers with Ben Ackland scoring 8 and Paddy Sadler taking 2-32 for the students. Finally, Isle of Man international Dan Hawke played for the Lancashire Academy in their Northern Premier League match against Fleetwood, taking 1-25.

In other news, it appears that Ireland's hero against England Kevin O'Brien has signed for a county side, with Gloucestershire thought to be the one to sign the big hitting all-rounder.

Apologies for the long break since the last County Watch blog post, but non-cricket related pressures have got in the way. But with the English season about to start its annual Twenty20 jamboree, this seems as good a time as any to write a new post, summing up the last few week of county action from associate players.

The top associate player performance of the last few weeks in the County Championship came from Niall O'Brien, who scored 166 for Northamptonshire in their innings defeat of Gloucestershire, the county his brother Kevin has recently begun playing for. Niall's injury has prevented him from playing any further County Championship matches since then.

Another good performance from an associate player came from Malaysian international Arul Suppiah, who screed 95 & 67 for Somerset against Yorkshire, also taking 2-26 in Yorkshire's second innings. He twice shared in double century opening stands with Marcus Trescothick in the match, the second of which was unbroken as Somerset won by 10 wickets. His other two County Championship matches weren't as successful, with a duck against Durham and 31 and 38 against Sussex.

Ed Joyce played for Sussex in that match against Somerset, scoring 29 and 84. Prior to that he played against Nottinghamshire, scoring 38 and an unbeaten 88. Ireland captain William Porterfield had a less than successful few weeks with the bat (in the County Championship), scoring 21 & 4 against Worcestershire, 54 & 11 not out against Nottinghamshire and 4 in the first innings against Durham before he was substituted to allow him to captain Ireland against Pakistan. Boyd Rankin played in those three matches too, taking one wicket in each innings against Worcestershire and three in each innings against Nottinghamshire. He took 2-129 against Durham before he too was substituted.

Alexei Kerveee played three matches for Worcestershire, scoring 23 & 13 against Warwickshire, 1 & 17 in an innings defeat against Durham and 39 & 40* against Nottinghamshire. His Dutch team mate Ryan ten Doeschate returned from his sojourn in the IPL, scoring 44 and taking one wicket for Essex against Gloucestershire. In the IPL, playing for Kolkata Knight Riders in a play-off match against Mumbai Indians, he scored 70 from 49 balls, but that wasn't enough to prevent defeat for his team. In the IPL, he played six matches, scoring 107 runs at an average of 53.50, the joint fourth highest average in the tournament.

Finally in the County Championship, Scotland seamer Dewald Nel played his last match for Kent, taking 1-60 in an innings defeat against Glamorgan. He was later released by the county due to his injury struggles.

In the CB40, Niall O'Brien also has the honour of the top associate player performance, scoring 121, his first one-day century, for Northamptonshire against Hampshire. This followed an innings of 61 against Warwickshire, a match in which his Ireland captain William Porterfield managed just 10. He bounced back in fine style though with 95 against Leicestershire and 80 against Durham.

Niall's brother Kevin made his debut for Gloucestershire against Glamorgan, scoring 3 and taking 0-13. He scored 14 against Nottinghamshire. Paul Stirling scored 4 against Sussex, 41 against Worcestershire and an unbeaten 39 against the Netherlands in Deventer. Ed Joyce scored an unbeaten 47 against his former county Middlesex, 90 against Derbyshire and 14 against Kent.

When Scotland hosted Durham at Edinburgh, a Scottish batsman scored a century. Unfortunately for Scotland he scored it for Durham, Kyle Coetzer scoring 110 not out to help his county beat his country. Coetzer scored 15 against Hampshire and 7 against Warwickshire. Alexei Kervezee scored 12 against Derbyshire, 47 against Middlesex and 12 against Yorkshire. Finally, Arul Suppiah played twice for Somerset against Gloucestershire and Lancashire but wasn't required to bat and didn't take a wicket in either match.

In University cricket, Cambridge MCCU picked up a memorable win over Surrey, with Ben Ackland hitting the winning runs in the second innings to add to his 45 in the first. Scotland's Paddy Sadler bowled in both Surrey innings but without taking a wicket, whilst Gary Wilson picked up a pair for Surrey,

Ackland scored 45 for Cambridge against Cardiff MCCU in the MCCU Championship, but he was outplayed by Andy Balbirnie who scored 151 and took 4-59 in the same match. He later scored 27 & 0 against Durham MCCU. Bermuda's Stefan Kelly took 3-54 in that match after earlier going wicketless against Cambridge.

In the BUSA Premier League, Ackland scored 23 against Exeter University, whilst Balbirnie scored 49 against Durham. Stefan Kelly took 2-45 in that match, with Hong Kong's Jamie Atkinson scored 8 for the opposition.

Onto second XI cricket now.

In the championship, Josh Davey scored a pair for Middlesex against Somerset, following that with 8 & 3 against Hampshire. Fellow Scot Matthew Cross made his debut for Nottinghamshire Second XI, scoring 57 against Worcestershire. Guernsey's Tim Ravenscroft scored 34 & 0 and took 2-22 in the first innings for Hampshire against Middlesex.

Gary Wilson scored one in his only innings against Somerset, and Shane Getkate took 0-23 and 1-27 for Warwickshire against Yorkshire. Dougie Brown and John Blain are both captaining Warwickshire and Yorkshire respectively on occasion, but are playing more of an advisory role, rarely bowling.

In the second XI trophy, in a match I missed last time, Scotland's Freddie Coleman scored 62 for Warwickshire against Durham, with Kyle Coetzer scoring 91 for Durham in the same match. Coleman also scored 9 against Yorkshire and 25 against Northamptonshire.

Paul Stirling scored 11 and took 0-27 against Somerset, Kevin O'Brien scored 31 and took 1-39 against Sussex, Shane Getkate took 1-23 against Yorkshire, whilst Ben Ackland scored 21 not out for Northamptonshire against Warwickshire.

And finally on to the Second XI Twenty20! Kyle Coetzer twice scored 11 against Derbyshire, Tim Ravenscroft hit 53 from 33 balls against the MCC Young Cricketers and later scored 23 against the same opponents, Paul Stirling scored 4 and took 1-2 in the first match against Northamptonshire, following that with 13 in the second match against the same opponents and Josh Davey scored 49 not out against Northamptonshire, 9 in the second match against Northamptonshire and 36 not out against Unicorns A.

Kevin O'Brien scored 39 and took 1-25 in the first match against Worcestershire and scored 61 in the second match. His Ireland team mate Gary Wilson scored 4 and 9 in two matches against Sussex, Freddie Coleman scored 15 and 4 in two matches against Worcestershire and 31 against Somerset, Shane Getkate was wicketless in two matches against Worcestershire whilst, George Dockrell began his return from injury with two matches for Somerset Second XI against their Glamorgan counterparts, taking one wicket in each match. He has indicated on his twitter account that he played four matches, but I can't locate the scorecards of those other two as of yet.

As always, contact me either through the site or on twitter @cecountywatch with any tip offs. I'll be back, hopefully sooner rather than later, with a round up of how associate players are doing in the early stages of this years Twenty20 Cup. Join me then!