Warwickshire bowler Josh Poysden picks his top XI
Welcome to our expanded, illustrated presentation with statistical summaries of the selected players
1. Brendon McCullum
Opening the batting is the great man, I played a little bit with him in 2015 and I played in the game where he got 158 off not many. He was brilliant off the field, literally didn’t hit a ball in training but he was a good lad and a really nice bloke to have around the team and a great team man.
2. Sam Hain
He’s only played one season of T20 cricket but at the end of the day he’s my mate so I want him in there. I should explain here, we’re playing a t20 game on a used wicket at Edgbaston which is why Jonathan Trott, Tim Ambrose and Mark Wood haven’t featured in the XI.
3. Ian Bell
An England and Warwickshire legend and although some may say T20 is not his best format you look at the way he went in the Big Bash with the Perth Scorchers so he’s made the cut. He’s quite a big practical joker so you have to watch your back when he’s around, and I find the best way to fight fire is with fire.
4. Luke Ronchi
Luke played at Warwickshire last year and absolutely whacks it. Out of everyone I’ve bowled at in the nets he hits the ball the hardest and he’s an absolute legend. A very good golfer too, he’s got the quickest routine and swing I’ve ever seen which is the opposite to Hain so we’ve got good balance if we play golf before the game.
5. Brad Haddin
We played together at Northern Districts and he can give it a good whack. I’ve decided to give him the gloves over Ronchi too, maybe if Luke works hard in training he can reclaim them.
6. Chris Woakes
He’ll probably take the new ball for me but is a good death batter too. He’s done it before for Warwickshire and you’ve seen him do it for England in 50-over cricket recently too so he’s in there.
7. Zafar Ansari
We played together at university and he’s in to offer the side a bit of balance because he can bat and clear the ropes at the end and is a third spin option. It may surprise your readers that I wasn’t at Cambridge University but at Anglia Ruskin and we played for Cambridge MCCU together.
8. Rikki Clarke
Rikki is proven with the new ball in t20, he does a great job in the powerplay where he is a very accurate and very skilful bowler and another batting option. It’s a long batting line-up I’ll admit.
9. Josh Poysden
At nine we’ve got the captain which is myself. If it’s my team I want to lead the boys out onto the field. Some people may think that nine is a bit high for me but as it’s my team I’m going to bat up the order, I’ve been working on my T20 and hitting some big bombs in the nets so now I want to do it on the big stage and I feel that in this team I can do that.
10. Jeetan Patel
He’s the king, what he’s done in English cricket has been pretty special and winning the MVP award so he’s a good option. And he’s batting at ten but he can clear the ropes so we’re going to come hard as a batting unit.
11. Oliver Hannon-Dalby
He’s a very skilful T20 bowler who can swing the ball up front and on a used wicket he’s got good slower balls and cutters. He’s also one of best yorker bowlers in England.