Quick snippets

OK, I lied.

Hot from seeing the best little musical in town, I'm back to dash off a quick piece before bed time.

What a great show at school tonight. Those who continuously chunter about teenagers should have been there to see a whole host of really talented kids putting on a terrific show. I've paid £20 for a ticket to something and not enjoyed it so much. But enough of watching our Twenty/20 campaign...

Yes, Hairspray was excellent and even contained a song for Leicestershire - "You can't stop (getting) beat...

On to cricket matters and there's a nice piece on In Morris We Trust that highlights the gulf between Minor Counties and First Class cricket. Hassan Adnan finished top of the averages, with 76 runs per innings, while Ben Spendlove was second, with Ben France tenth.

The latter two never really cut it at top level, though I had high hopes of Adnan when he first came on the scene. He looked a good accumulator of runs, yet never kicked on and seemed to grind to a halt mid-innings, as well as being one of the worst runners between the wickets I've seen at Derbyshire. If he didn't run himself out he managed to do it to a team mate and he was no Garry Park in the field either.

"Just wondering" the correspondent is absolutely right. Every step up in cricket is huge, but between that level and first class must be the biggest of them all. I was a decent club player in my prime (settle back and listen to granddad now...) and played for my Polytechnic 1st XI. I did OK there, but we were drawn in a cup match against a side who had several players with County 2nd XI experience. The bowlers were better than I'd faced before and while I could stay in, I could hardly get the ball off the square. Our Minor Counties player made a lovely 50 in no time, but my 14 runs was the second top score. It highlighted to me how good these top players must be, when the lads we played looked pretty good when you were at the business end...

There I suppose is the difficulty of taking a player with minimal experience from one county and hoping they can cut it at top level. In spotting the talent in Garry Park, Tim Groenewald and Wayne Madsen at lower levels, John Morris did a good job, but an even better one in nurturing them to be good, or very good county players. Madsen, the scorer of all those runs at club level took Second and then First Eleven in his stride. Maybe next year he'll be found out a little, but I think he's set for a good career.

Elsewhere, Stephen Moore has left Worcestershire and is looking for another county. I'm with a contributor on here today in thinking he's a good player, but his hopes of serious money from another county haven't been helped by his only averaging 27 this year in Division One. Quite a few will fancy him, but in answer to your unspoken question - no, I don't think he'll come to Derbyshire. We're in Division Two - albeit only for one season.... I reckon he'll be at Lancashire before long.

Meanwhile Simon Jones has joined Hampshire, as Kabir Ali hopes to. If they get them both fit they'll have a potent attack as Worcestershire did, but they may well need a good reserve attack just in case.

Finally, there'll be a few eyes on India as Somerset start their World Twenty/20 campaign. With Steffan Jones set to play for them, as well as the hoped-for Derbyshire target Wes Durston, a few of us will hope they do well. Mind you, not too well. I'd like to see both at Derby and if they did well out there the Somerset team may rethink their strategy...

Until tomorrow, adieu.