Five county cricketers we were looking forward to watching

The English season was due to get under way in Sri Lanka this week with the MCC’s traditional curtain-raising fixture against champion county Essex.

The trip to Galle never took place due to the escalating coronavirus crisis and now all cricket has been suspended until May 28 at the earliest.

Here, the PA news agency looks at some of the best and brightest prospects who might have been wrestling for their share of the spotlight in the coming weeks.

Dan Lawrence (Essex)

Haseeb Hameed (Nottinghamshire)

Ollie Robinson (Sussex)

Things might not have happened in a hurry for Robinson, who first emerged several years ago as a white-ball specialist at Yorkshire under the guidance of his step-father Paul Farbrace, but the momentum is picking up sharply. On Jason Gillespie’s watch he has become a consistent wicket-taker for Sussex, taking 137 championship scalps in the last two seasons. Division Two players can often find it hard to get the ear of the national selectors but the decision to bring the 26-year-old on the Lions tour of Australia this winter paid dividends as he bagged a match haul of seven for 147 in Melbourne. His next challenge is to prove he has sufficient pace and guile to take the step up and he may need to spearhead a promotion push to do so.

Brydon Carse (Durham)

The ECB’s desire to build up their stocks of quick, aggressive bowlers in a bid to reclaim the Ashes Down Under is well known. Saqib Mahmood, Craig Overton and Olly Stone have already been handed central development contracts but the search for more will continue and do not be surprised if Carse joins their ranks soon. Born in Port Elizabeth, South Africa but qualified via residency and his father’s British passport, the Durham seamer likes to hit the deck hard and has won admiring glances from none other than Ben Stokes.

Hamidullah Qadri (Kent)