As you may already know, the second round of the 2021 LV= County Championship came to a thrilling conclusion at grounds across England and Wales over the weekend, but which South African stars stood out from the crowd in this week’s round of games?
Well in order to answer that question, here are 3 players who I believe really stood up to the plate and made their mark for their respective counties in the second round of the 2021 County Championship:
The round ran from 15th-18th April.
Simon Harmer – Essex
It should come as no surprise that the leading wicket-taker in the 2019 County Championship and 2020 Bob Willis Trophy would be amongst the wickets yet again for Essex in 2021. After the defending champions were bowled out for a dire total of just 96 runs in their first innings, things looked somewhat hopeless until the spin wizard of Chelmsford spun his magic again and took figures of 5/79 from 34 overs to bring his team back into the game in style.
As if this impressive 5 wicket haul wasn’t already enough, Harmer then carved through the Durham batting line-up once more in the second innings to ultimately bowl out the valiant North-Eastern side to a total of 123 runs and secure the most incredible of comeback victories for the defending champions by a comfortable margin of 44 runs.
Dane Paterson – Nottinghamshire
Unfortunately for Notts, the search for that elusive first Championship win since 2018 continues after a stunning 3 wicket defeat to Warwickshire at Trent Bridge but one massive positive for the East Midlands side to take away from this week was the performance of Dane Paterson.
Making his County Championship debut, Paterson’s line and length started off slightly inconsistent but after taking his first red-ball wicket for Notts, that of former England all-rounder Tim Bresnan in the 69th over of the Bears first innings, his confidence began to grow exponentially and as a result, the consistency of his line and length improved massively.
After taking a valuable 3 wicket haul in the first innings, Paterson then followed this up with impressive figures of 3/77 in the second innings, which included an absolute ripper of a delivery to remove Matt Lamb’s off pole in the 71st over. If he can replicate these kinds of performances over the course of the next few games, Dane will certainly emerge as a player to keep a close eye on for the duration of the tournament.
Marchant de Lange – Somerset
Although Somerset finished on the wrong side of the result in this week’s ‘Cider Derby’ against local rivals Gloucestershire down in Taunton, Marchant shone like a beacon in this particular crunch match, with his fiery spells against the likes of Chris Dent and West Indies Test captain Kraigg Brathwaite providing viewers of the live stream with a truly fascinating contest between bat and Dukes ball.
In addition to a strong showing with the ball in hand, with which he took impressive match figures of 5/76 from his 27.1 overs, Marchant also provided a valuable riposte for his side alongside Scottish seamer Josh Davey, blasting a quickfire 37 from just 26 balls in a vital 48 run 9th wicket stand to take the Wyverns past the 300-run mark.
Providing an extra element of pace and zip to an already formidable seam battery which includes the likes of Craig Overton, Lewis Gregory and the aforementioned Davey, I thoroughly recommend that you pay close attention to Marchant’s exploits in this year’s Championship as he could prove to be an extremely valuable asset for the South-Western side with both the bat and ball in hand this season.
