Bit baffled but more than a little pleased

Like most of you, I was concerned to see that Charl Langeveldt was in the original list of 111 players who were available for signing in the IPL.

I was genuinely concerned that our talismanic opening bowler would be lost to us for a fair chunk at the start of the season. Depending on who signed him and how well they did, we may not have seen him for the first month or so.

So I was pleasantly surprised to see that he had not made the short list of 43 from which teams can select and bid for players. This despite his generally being regarded as one of the best new ball bowlers in the world one day game and especially at 20/20. Indeed, only last year did he win an award for his 20/20 success, where he has returned some spectacular figures. 37 wickets at just 16 in this format suggests a bloke who can play a little, but hey - their loss is definitely our gain.

The remaining concern is that those sides who had Pakistani players signed up for three years (their players have been banned from playing by their government) may sign replacements from that original list. So don't relax just yet...

I was even more surprised to see who had made the cut. Aaron Bird of New South Wales? Brett Geeves, Daniel Harris, Bryce McGain, Shane Harwood, Steven Smith? Some of these guys are possibly not famous in their own houses. McGain has flirted with national selection but, be honest, if Derbyshire signed one of them you'd be underwhelmed...

Then there's Michael Dighton and Jon Moss. Both reasonable (but only that) cricketers who have played for Derbyshire in the past and had their moments. Again though, you'd not look back on their time with us as being golden moments in the club's history. Moss was a bits and pieces man, and we need and deserve more than that from an overseas import, while Dighton could bat explosively but not for long enough. He also bowled tidy wobbly medium pace, but nothing to write home about.

Indeed, while Dighton has averaged only 14 with the bat for Tasmania this winter, Moss has yet to appear for Victoria.

For that matter, I'd not be emptying the swear box to raise the cash for Shaun "Scattergun" Tait either. In fact, looking at the short list, the English players in there look like the auction version of Harrods as compared to the Pound Shop elsewhere. Were it to be the list of options for Derbyshire to sign from for this summer's 20/20, I'd reckon there'd be a short list of:

JP Duminy
Michael Clarke
Phil Jaques
Gulam Bodi

and that's it. Duminy looked a class act in Australia, Clarke is a fine player, Jaques a top bat and Bodi a top of the innings dasher. But that's it (English players apart)

Indian audiences, prepare to be disappointed...