Thoughts on the season to date

If he was honest (and he usually is), John Morris would probably admit that things have not gone according to plan this season.

I don't mean on the pitch, where the club have made, all things considered, a decent start. More with things off it. First he lost strike bowler Charl Langeveldt to the IPL and has had to watch as he is a mere peripheral figure in his native South Africa, failing to gain selection for the side despite being regarded as one of the world's best bowlers in the one day game, especially under home conditions.

Then the visa problems Chris Rogers has encountered scuppered his plans for the first rounds of the Championship and extended to his missing the first three FP trophy games. Stuart Law nobly offered to replace him but then suffered a broken finger that set him back and caused him to miss a match.

So where now for Derbyshire? Well, we sit top of the Championship despite all of the above, so well done to all concerned for their efforts thus far. I would expect us to remain a threat and be a competitive outfit in the long form of the game once the overseas stars return, which means that the main need for attention is in the one day game.

There's really not that much wrong. As I said yesterday, the main thing we need to do is win the toss and that's an obvious 50/50. Early and late season tracks are always awkward first thing but generally roll out well thereafter. At Old Trafford and again yesterday we were put in and had to negotiate some difficult conditions before accelerating to post a good total by the end of the innings.

Both were in stark contrast to some of last year's one day batting and the players are to be applauded for using a little common sense in their approach to an innings. For me we need to get a few more shots played at the top of the order as the season progresses and it is perhaps asking a lot of Dan Redfern, great talent that he is, to be the hitter at the top of the order. The arrival of Rogers should help, but he too is more of an accumulator than a destroyer of bowling. Perhaps we need to look at batting Greg Smith at the top of the order in one day matches? The plethora of all rounders at our disposal means we bat low anyway. Glamorgan chased down 290-plus against Essex thanks largely to the lightning start given to them by Mark Cosgrove's assault on the bowling in the first ten overs which laid down a marker. With Smith and Rogers to open, Law and Hinds at three and four with Park and Redfern to follow, there's plenty of batting and if the dashers failed, the latter two could play themselves in. If they came off, Park and Redfern could pace the last few to the target, safe in the knowledge that there would still be Pipe, Wagg and Groenewald to come.

The two spinners have yet to finalise their battle for the ascendancy but at the moment Mark Lawson seems to be the preferred candidate. It would be expecting a lot of a leg spinner to thrive on April/May wickets but Lawson has done pretty well and bowled on the whole with greater accuracy than many of his kind. Needham has time on his side, like the former Yorkshire bowler, but I'm very much of the old (Yorkshire?) school that believes the ball turning away from you is harder to play than the one coming in - unless the ball coming in has been bowled by Muralitharan of course!

Tomorrow (weather permitting) Derbyshire start a three day game against Bradford/Leeds UCCE at Derby. They've named the following 12:

Steve Stubbings
Dan Redfern
John Sadler
Dom Telo,
Wavell Hinds (captain)
Jonathan Clare
Tim Groenewald
Tom Poynton
Jake Needham
Ross Whiteley
Mark Lawson
Atif Sheikh

Plenty for them to play for and good impressions to be made. The result is immaterial to a great extent but I hope to be able to report on a decent display over the coming days.