Middlesex CCC

Ben Green has extended his contract at Somerset until 2021.

Middlesex 2nd XI Physio David Bartlett is moving to Gloucestershire.

James Vince has extended his contract at Hampshire until 2022.

Somerset have signed Jerome Taylor as an overseas player for their entire Twenty20 campaign in 2019.

Paul Grayson has been appointed as Yorkshire’s batting coach.

Boyd Rankin has left Warwickshire, so will concentrate on playing for Ireland.

Hardus Viljoen has left Derbyshire by mutual consent.

At Surrey, Ryan Patel, Scott Borthwick, Conor McKerr, Mark Stoneman and Amar Virdi have extended their contracts until 2021, while Ollie Pope and Will Jacks have extended their contracts until 2022.

Rob Newton has extended his contract at Northamptonshire until 2020.

Is there any news on if we are looking to recruit any new domestic/kolpak players for the new season? If financially viable I would like to see some fresh faces especially for the white ball competitions. Tia.

Most counties seem to announce signings of domestic players just before or just after the season finishes, which makes it doubtful that Middlesex will sign any such players now, as I would have thought that any players attractive to us would be contracted to another county, which would mean that surely making such a signing would require us to pay compensation to said player’s present county. However, now Stuart Law has begun his role, maybe he will identify an area of weakness and insist that we attempt to make a signing or signings.

If we try to make a Kolpak signing, that would mean we would probably not have to worry about the player being contracted to another county, but will instead probably have to worry about whether such a player is available and how easy it would be to convince them to give up their international ambitions (unless they have already given up international cricket).

James Franklin has been appointed as Durham head coach on a contract until 2020, so congratulations to him on receiving his first major coaching role. Neil Killeen and Alan Walker have extended their contracts there for undisclosed lengths, with Killeen working as bowling coach and Walker working as “assistant coach with a focus on second-team cricket”.

Pakistan’s Mir Hamza will play as Sussex’s overseas player for their first nine County Championship matches of 2019.

At Surrey, Tom Curran and Ben Foakes have extended their contracts until 2021, while Sam Curran has extended his contract until 2020.

Ryan Davies has left Durham for personal reasons.

Northamptonshire have signed Jason Holder as their overseas player for their first two County Championship matches and first six Royal London Cup matches for the 2019 season. As West Indies captain, he is about to serve a one-match ban due to his team’s slow over rate, so the fact his spell at Northants will include a Championship match at home to Middlesex means that perhaps we will be in the rare position of having less to worry about compared to our opponents when it comes to the over rate.

Matthew Maynard has been appointed as Glamorgan’s interim head coach for the whole 2019 season.

Matt Renshaw will play as an overseas player for Kent's first few County Championship matches and their whole Royal London Cup campaign in 2019.

At Surrey, Jade Dernbach has extended his contract until 2020 and Rory Burns has extended his contract until 2022.

Mohammad Amir will play as an overseas player in Essex's first eight Twenty20 matches in 2019.

Alfonso Thomas and ex-Hampshire player Jimmy Adams have been appointed as assistant coaches at Hampshire.

Derbyshire have appointed Dominic Cork as their head coach for their Twenty20 campaign. He will replace John Wright.

Andrew Salter has extended his contract at Glamorgan until 2021.

Kent have signed Adam Milne as an overseas player for their Twenty20 campaign for the third successive season.

At the conclusion of England’s tour to West Indies, Paul Farbrace will join Warwickshire as their sport director, which was the role Ashley Giles occupied before becoming managing director of England men's cricket.

I find the Farbrace news rather interesting. It seems he was offered the chance to take up the role after the Ashes, but turned it down, preferring to start imminently. Could there be less harmony in the camp than we think?

Longer term, I don't blame him at all. I have worked away quite a lot, although never for as long spells as an international cricket coach, nor in such glamorous locations! Although I enjoyed it, it does wear thin, constantly packing bags and turning up at different hotels and eating at tables for one. The appeal of a permanent base and a home life must be attractive to him.

Josh Cobb has extended his contract at Northamptonshire until 2020.

Martin Guptill will play as an overseas player in 11 of Worcestershire’s Twenty20 group matches and potentially the knockout stages in 2019.

At Hampshire, Mason Crane and Ian Holland have extended their contracts for undisclosed lengths.

Duanne Olivier has signed a contract as a Kolpak player at Yorkshire until 2021.

Sri Lanka’s Dimuth Karunaratne will play as an overseas player for Hampshire’s first 10 County Championship matches and their Royal London Cup campaign in 2019.