Smith's my pick - View from the Lumley End
9:52am Friday 26th September 2008
BY the time you read this, the destination of the County Championship may well be nigh on decided, therefore you, the Durham faithful, could be in a state of nervous excitement or refreshing the internet browser viewing the seeming inevitability of Nottinghamshire taking the title.
In addition to needing to win the game against Kent, a huge favour is required from Hampshire, the team who Durham's failure to beat put them with only an outside chance of the championship going into this final round.
It must also be said that the sheer volume of cricket lost this summer means that could we have even scraped together a few more bonus points, the table could have been a very different proposition.
No matter what the outcome is of this week's games, it looks increasingly likely that the match against Kent will be Dale Benkenstein's last as captain, having intimated in the press that now would be the ideal time to go, with a young group of players beginning to mature and while perhaps wary that the tide seems to have turned against Kolpak players, not just in the hyperbole of the press but with the lawmakers of the land.
While Durham have at times exploited this loophole to bring in genuine talent with the likes of Benkenstein, Gibson and Pollock, they've generally been experts at bringing in players by means of the EU passport, something which football has long since exploited, whereby many a South American import has embraced their Spanish heritage to avoid the tricky issue of a work permit.
Although the obvious aim of the County Championship is to prepare players for the international arena, the Kolpaks have raised the standard of the domestic game.
It may not allow as many youngsters through, but if we are to lose the Kolpak influence then I would hope the number of genuinely quality overseas players would again increase.
There is a fine balance between playing English qualified players simply for the sake of it and at the same time ensuring they are allowed to learn from greats of the world game and simultaneously provide a spectacle.
Who replaces Benkenstein is a matter for much debate, with the man himself favouring Will Smith, a player who has finally started to fulfil some of his early promise, rather than an older established player such as Michael Di Venuto.
Giving the captaincy to a player such as Smith who has only consistently excelled in one season could be the making or the breaking of him as a player, especially if he is given the opportunity to take part in the England Lions tour this winter.
It would be a gamble of sorts, but Smith seems to have a the quiet air of authority associated with a Vaughan or a Gower, rather than the flamboyance of a Pietersen, and if we are to embrace youth and the counties role as providing preparation for Test cricket, then there is no better candidate.