Favourite cricketers 12 - Kim Barnett

It is strange that I have left "Sir" Kim Barnett to number 12 of my favourite cricketers as he is up there at the top.

Derbyshire fans are divided on the contribution of the wonderfully talented opening batsman to the club over the 1980's and '90's. On the one hand he gave the innings an attractive and brisk start on many occasions and there was always great value in any innings when Barnett stayed for long. On the other, he was reckoned to be a major factor in the high profile departures of many other fine players in that era.

It is not for me to comment on what may or may not have happened in a dressing room. We all have our foibles and some people do take some getting along with. I can only say that on the occasions that I met and enjoyed conversations with Kim Barnett he always struck me as an extremely personable man and someone who was fully committed to the cause.

He signed my copy of the Derbyshire Club History by John Shawcroft twice, the only player to have done so. Inside the front and the back, and he was fascinated to see the names in there and pointed out he'd already signed. I simply told him he was twice the player the others were, which he found quite amusing "I don't know about that" he laughed, but signed anyway.

On the face of it, someone seeing him for the first time would not have been impressed. Although he started with a fairly orthodox technique, over the years it mutated into a guard well outside leg stump, with a pronounced shuffle across the stumps as the bowler ran in. On occasions he would be lbw, and it offended the purists, but Barnett scored a lot of runs - latterly for Gloucestershire but mainly for us - and there is no denying that it worked for him.

Nearly 30,000 first class runs, 61 centuries and over 15o half centuries tell the tale. An average a shade over 40, but lets not forget that in Kim Barnett's era the wickets were prepared to suit a battery of quick bowlers as good as we have had since the Jackson/Gladwin era. Holding, Bishop, Malcolm, Mortensen, undersung heroes like "Jack" Warner and Paul Newman, they all reaped the benefits of wickets that were usually only marginally different in colour from the rest of the square, while captain Barnett's policy of resting and rotating them lengthened their contributions to the cause and their careers. Many was the time that Derbyshire's attack would rip out the visitors in no time, then the skipper would go in and carve the ball around to make batting look the easiest thing in the world.

His cover driving was superb. His stance meant he was usually going to have room to swing his arms and play through the covers, but his footwork enabled him to get the ball away even on pitches offering extravagant movement. The batting line-up that saw Barnett and Bowler followed by John Morris and Chris Adams was my favourite, three of them home grown. He was a fine fielder, and the only regret was that he was sometimes loathe to use his own leg spin or seam up as much as he should have, around 300 wickets in his career around 30 each testifying to ability.

"Kim Barnett, Kim Barnett, Kimmy-Kim Barnett

He's got no hair but we don't care

Kimmy-Kim Barnett"

That was the song that accompanied many Derbyshire wins in one day cricket in that era, including Sunday League and Lords success. Victories that were built on parsimonious bowling, tigerish fielding and batsmen encouraged to go for their shots. The skipper had been given the job at the tender age of 22 and thrived under the tutelage of coach Phil Russell and the behind scenes efforts of former skipper Guy Willatt, with whom he enjoyed an excellent relationship. When Russell moved to South Africa and a successful career out there, things were never quite the same and the problems, and departures started.

His ultimate departure was inevitable but any improvement in dressing room morale wasn't emphasised by performances. He moved to Gloucestershire and was a major part of their all-conquering one day side, giving them the sort of start he'd given us so many times. I remember a televised one day game saw him bat throughout the innings for just over a century to give them a score of around 200. Several of the "experts" suggested in the interval that he'd been playing for himself and they'd not scored enough. Only South African Barry Richards read things correctly. "I think" he said "that this was a superb innings and they will win the game easily".

Right in one Mr Richards, the opposition never got close and Barnett was a landslide man of the match.

On his retirement he moved back to the Staffordshire League and it was no surprise to see him continue to score heavily in Minor Counties cricket. We read of him hitting nine successive sixes in a Staffordshire League game (unusual, because he wasn't a prolific six-hitter) and then saw him play for the PCA side in last year's end of season competition involving Derbyshire.

He still looked as good a player as there was on show. At 47.

I just hope that someone, somewhere has approached him about an autobiography or biography. There are a lot of tales to tell and I'd be first in the queue to read that one.

And yes, I'd get his autograph again...