County Cricket News / Updates Thread - 2016 Season

Warwickshire have reported a record operating profit for 2015.
Edgbaston's return to England's home Test match schedule helped the county turn in a profit of £2.266m.

 

Marcus Trescothick has resigned as Somerset captain after six years in charge. The 40-year-old former England batsman's decision to stand down was "mutually agreed" with the club.
Ex-Australia batsman Chris Rogers will take over in the County Championship, while Jim Allenby will captain the side in limited-overs cricket.

 

Ian Bell has been named Warwickshire captain for the 2016 season after Varun Chopra stepped down from the role

 

Former BBC TV cricket commentator and Warwickshire seam bowler Jack Bannister has died at the age of 85.
I always liked him as a commentator/summariser - nice bloke and a sad day

 

Glamorgan have signed Craig Meschede from Somerset on a permanent deal after he was released from his contract at Taunton. He has signed a three-year deal and will report for pre-season training this week.

 

County champions Yorkshire have re-signed New Zealand batsman Kane Williamson for part of the 2016 season.
He will be available for three Championship games, eight in the T20 Blast and three in the One-Day Cup between 9 June and 18 July

 

Somerset have re-signed West Indies batsman Chris Gayle for six matches in this summer's T20 Blast competition.

 

England one-day wicketkeeper-batsman Sam Billings has signed an extension to his contract with Kent.

 

New Zealand fast bowler Adam Milne has signed a deal to play for Essex in seven 2016 T20 Blast group games.
The 23-year-old has played 29 one-day internationals and 14 Twenty20 internationals for the Black Caps, taking 18 wickets at an average of 20.83 in the shortest form. Milne took 3-8 against Pakistan last week and will join at the end of June.

 

Surrey head coach Graham Ford is leaving the county to return to the Sri Lanka national team.

 

Essex have named Ryan ten Doeschate as their new Championship captain and Ravi Bopara as limited-overs skipper.
Ten Doeschate, 35, steps up from one-day captain to replace James Foster, who held the role for five years.
England all-rounder Bopara, 30, has been with Essex since 2002.

 

Surrey have signed Australia batsman Aaron Finch as cover for Kumar Sangakkara while he is at the Caribbean Premier League. Finch, who has previously played for Yorkshire, is expected to be available from July 2, when Surrey begin a Championship fixture against Warwickshire.
Sangakkara is Surrey's main overseas signing for 2016 but has been named as one of the marquee players in this year's CPL draft, which will be held next week. The CPL is due to run for six weeks from the end of June until the beginning of August, a particularly busy time of the English season when Surrey have fixtures in all three formats.

 

Surrey have signed West Indies allrounder Dwayne Bravo as one of their overseas players for the NatWest Blast. He will be available for six Blast matches in June.

 

Glamorgan have added to their seam bowling attack for the start of 2016 season by confirming a loan agreement with the Middlesex pace bowler Harry Podmore.

 

Durham have enquired about the availability of South Africa fast bowler Kagiso Rabada for part of the 2016 season as cover for John Hastings

 

All-rounder Azhar Mahmood is to return to Surrey for the forthcoming season as the county's T20 player-coach.
The former Pakistan international, who turns 41 this month, took nine wickets in the T20 Blast for Surrey last season at an average of 26.22.
He will join up with the county in May and be available for selection in all T20 Blast games.

 

New Warwickshire skipper Ian Bell has been chosen as MCC captain for the champion county match in Abu Dhabi.
England batsman Bell will skipper the team against Yorkshire in the annual four-day game, starting on 20 March.

 

Glamorgan have signed Netherlands international bowler Timm van der Gugten on a three-year contract.
The 24-year-old Australian-born seamer has previously represented New South Wales and Tasmania

 

Former England spin-bowler Robert Croft has been appointed Glamorgan's new head coach on a rolling contract.
The 45-year-old succeeds Toby Radford, who left in December, 2015 - a little over two years after taking charge

 

Middlesex have re-signed Australia batsman Adam Voges as their overseas player for all formats in 2016.
The 36-year-old, who has had spells at Lord's in each of the last two seasons, has committed to spend two periods of the campaign in north London.
Voges will captain Middlesex in the County Championship.
Meanwhile, the club have announced Dawid Malan and James Franklin will skipper the side in the T20 Blast and One-Day Cup respectively