News today

Middlesex sign Adam Gilchrist for the Twenty/20, while being linked with signing Sachin Tendulkar as their second player. The IPL hits English cricket with a vengeance.

Given its capacity for generating income that is way ahead of any other form of the game, the Twenty/20 may well see counties putting increasing money towards it in the hope that speculation leads to accumulation. There is little doubt that Gilchrist and Tendulkar as a pairing would generate huge crowds for Middlesex and also for any ground on which they played. Sadly they’re not in our group as Keith Loring’s additional seating would have been filled quite nicely by that duo.

The last that I heard was that there would be no restriction on the use of players in the twenty-over thrash, so counties would effectively have carte blanche to play whoever they wanted, so long as they could afford to do so. The congested international calendar brings its own restrictions and the recruitment of recently retired players of top quality such as Gilchrist is one way to get around that. Matthew Hayden and Andrew Symonds may generate interest too, although the salary demands of such players will be considerable. We could also see those who have the resources perhaps bring in a Kolpak specifically for Twenty/20 AS WELL as the second overseas player. There appears nothing to stop it bar lack of funds, as far as I can see.

Steve Rhodes at Worcestershire strikes me as one of the more honest and straightforward men in the game and speaks quite frankly today about the financial difficulties they face. They hadn’t budgeted for an overseas player this year because of severe cuts to their playing budget – this despite losing almost all their bigger names. The unexpected departure of Stephen Moore has given them a little more scope, but the news comes as a surprise.

Or does it? Several counties are expecting to announce big losses this season, which makes the management of finances at Derbyshire all the more laudable. There are fans who expect us to sign everyone who comes on the market, which is unrealistic. We are living within our means and are slowly but surely moving in the right direction.

For me, Derbyshire cricket was in decline and had been since the Dean Jones era. It is impossible in any organisation to arrest such a decline, one that had taken place over a fifteen-year period, in a couple of short years. They have done remarkably well to streamline the commercial operations at the club in an attempt to increase the playing budget. Intelligent use has been made of club reserves and if success comes on the field – or continued improvement at the very least – the club could be one of the few in the country with a viable economic future.

Speaking of which it was refreshing to see Monty Panesar donate £10,000 to Northamptonshire on his departure to Sussex, thanking them for their role in his development. It was a decent gesture by an honourable man. For the good of English cricket we should hope that he rediscovers his mojo on the south coast.
Sorry about the lack of a blog last night, but it was a quiet day for news and my mother-in-law’s birthday, so we took her for a meal. See how I continue to build up these brownie points?

Finally in my lunch hour, the fixtures are out! We start at the Oval and finish in Cardiff, where we will doubtless celebrate the winning of Division Two of the Championship…

In between we have a lot of cricket and I hope to see a few games next year, all things being equal. At this stage I’m cautiously optimistic about our fortunes, though my expectations will increase if a certain South African signing is finalised in the coming weeks and months. Whether the gentleman concerned is a catalyst to great things is one that the future will tell, but the completion of his signing would give Derbyshire a balanced looking side for the first time in a long while.

That can’t be a bad thing.