County Championship 2012: Craig Kieswetter hopes his Somerset stint earns him a Test cap – Cricket News Update
England’s wicket-keeper for One-day Internationals, Craig Kieswetter, is determined to perform well for Somerset in the County Championship 2012, as he hopes that it will earn him a Test cap.
Kieswetter, the 24-year-old cricketer from Transvaal, South Africa, has been part of England’s ODI circuit for quite some time but till date he is yet to make his Test debut. The wicket-keeper batsman in an interview to the BBC reiterated his desire to play
Test match cricket for England.
He said, “I want to be playing Test match cricket. And the first couple of months are an ideal opportunity to string some performances together to get noticed.”
The England cricket team is currently on tour in Sri Lanka, where they will play two Test matches. As Kieswetter was not picked for the Test team, the right-handed batsman will get a chance to play for Somerset in their opening game of the championship.
The County Division one schedule is such that there will be only four-day games in the month of April, before the one-day tournament, Clydesdale Bank 40 starts in May. Kieswetter was happy with the fixture list and held that it will give Somerset a chance
to focus on the Championship in entirety.
He said, “One month of Championship cricket and no one-day [games] to focus on is certainly good for us. It means we can put emphasis on that first month and put in some good performances.”
Somerset has never won the Championship but Kieswetter was positive of his side’s chances. The wicket-keeper batsman said, “It's a great squad, and quite young. We're full of talent and confidence, obviously we're led really well by Tres [Marcus Trescothick]
and a lot of the senior guys are pushing the younger guys in the right direction.”
Somerset’s opening match of the County Championship Division One will be against Middlesex at Taunton. The four-day match will start from Thursday, April 5, 2012.
Somerset Squad for County season 2012: Marcus Trescothick (captain), Craig Kieswetter (wicket keeper), Max Waller, Peter Trego, Alfonso Thomas, Arul Suppiah, Vernon Philander, Albie Morkel, Craig Meschede, Steve Kirby, Chris Jones, Gemaal
Hussain, James Hildreth, James Hayman, Calum Haggett, Lewis Gregory, Chris Gayle, George Dockrell, Adam Dibble, Nick Compton, Jos Buttler, James Burke, Alex Barrow