The Super Six?

Although international cricket has now become a year round affair, the English season still runs April-September and the county game creaked back into action today when 2006 champions Sussex took on MCC in the traditional curtain-raiser. I have already previewed the prospects of each team, noting players to watch out for. Those were exclusively young, up and coming players, and here is an alternate list of 6 to watch, comprising old, young, overseas and homegrown.

Ali Brown (Surrey): 15 years on from his first-class bow, "Lordy" may be entering his final season at The Oval, where Surrey have long benefited from his extraordinary strokemaking ability in view of his limited opportunities at international level. He still opens for them in one-day cricket, now accompanied by James Benning, something of a protege in the big hitting department, and one to whom England may turn in their search for an attacking opener. Hidden in the middle order behind fellow old lags Butcher and Ramprakash in the longer format, on his day Brown has it in him to shine even brighter, and it will be a sad day for fans of the county game when he is no longer around to entertain them.

Varun Chopra (Essex): Following in the footsteps of Alistair Cook as an early-blooming Essex opener, he made a century on his first-class debut last year while still in his teens. He is still not yet 20, and a further four half-centuries in his nine games last year showed that it was no flash in the pan. His chances of a consistent first XI place depend to an extent on whether Cook is selected by England, but it seems that he is not the type to waste an opportunity. A former England under-19 captain, he has one of the best mentors available in Graham Gooch, and in a few years when Strauss, Vaughan and Trescothick are finding the lure of the commentary box hard to resist, England could well have a ready-made replacement and a opening partnership for some time to come.

Saqlain Mushtaq (Sussex): The forgotten man of spin bowling, he was as influential as either of his two more illustrious partners in crime during his pomp in the late 1990s. It was him, not Muralitharan who brought the doosra to the game (although back then, it was just Saqlain's "mystery ball") and this brought him success at Test level, although it was in ODI cricket where he always prospered the most, often bowling at the death. Unfortunately for Saqlain, injuries, loss of form and the rise of Kaneira have all seen his international prospects decline, and he was finally discarded after a mauling at the hands of India in early 2004. In theory, the country he would now represent is England, with his British passport pending. Of course this will not happen; the England selectors may be prepared to accommodate an import like Pietersen, but there is no question of them considering someone who has already had a long international career for another country. Nevertheless, re-united with Mushtaq at Sussex, he could still have a major impact as he once did for Surrey, and a decade after the two twirled away in tandem for Pakistan, the prospect of them revisiting past glories will be more than appealing to Sussex fans eager for a third Championship pennant.

Graham Onions (Durham): Pacy and capable of extracting useful lift, he earned a call-up to replace the injured Darren Gough in England's one-day series against Pakistan at the end of last summer. He should see plenty of bowling, as Harmison and Plunkett will likely be summoned by England, and will want to build on his 50 wicket haul in 2006. With England looking to mould a new ODI side in the aftermath of the World Cup, there is a place or two up for grabs, although he will have to fight off the likes of Stuart Broad, as well as the more established Plunkett and Mahmood. However, if the men in possession continue to founder while he carries on supplying catching practice for Durham's appropriately named keeper Phil Mustard, there is a chance that they will turn to him; the fact he has started to be included of squads certainly indicates he is not far from the selector's thoughts.

R.P.Singh (Leicestershire): The latest in a long-line of Indian left-armers, he was one of the young players Greg Chappell attempted to bring into the Indian team, before the youth policy was discarded and with it the World Cup. Tall, quickish and capable of swinging the ball both ways, he would hope to have the same sort of impact as Zaheer Khan last year for Worcestershire. It is rare enough for county batsmen to have to face left-arm fast bowlers, and the better ones tend to prosper, as evidenced by the healthy returns of Khan, Ryan Sidebottom and Jason Lewry. The prospect of him opening the bowling with England hopeful Stuart Broad is an exciting one for the Grace Road faithful, and those two may need to be the key performers if the team is to do well. A county spell was the springboard for Khan to make a successful international return, and Singh will want to emulate him, his chances improved by the wind of change already uprooting trees on Indian cricket scene.

Adil Rashid: (Yorkshire): Something of a cliche for a list like this, but I'll include him anyway. Surely Yorkshire would not have known last season when they drafted him in for the injured Darren Lehmann to bat in the middle order and bowl a few overs of spin that they were in fact unearthing the great new hope of English spin bowling. Six wickets on debut created a predictable frisson, especially with the knowledge that he had been scoring centuries in almost equal measure for the 2nds. The batting never really materialised, despite one half-century, but he did carry on his bowling form, picking up 25 wickets at about that average. The worry about him being overbowled came to the fore when he suffered a stress fracture at the end of the season, which has led to a remodelling of his action. As rare as it is to bowl leg-spin on the English domestic scene, it is even more unusual to have another to bowl in tandem with. Yet this is a luxury Rashid enjoys, the performances of Mark Lawson being as crucial as his own in ensuring Yorkshire's survival last season. What sets Rashid aside from Lawson is his control and good economy rate (3.41 in first-class cricket); he is not the archetypal young leg spinner, magic balls buried beneath a mountain of long-hops and full tosses. What is paramount is that he must be given time. All talks of England are ridiculous as we stand; what he needs is a few full seasons in county cricket, learning his trade, and, equally importantly, working on his batting. After all, English spin is in the good, very large hands of Monty Panesar and there is no pressing need to rush Rashid. Possibly the best young talent in the English game, definitely the most hyped, all Rashid can do is perform for Yorkshire and a good second season, which tends to escape many promising players, will stand him in good stead.