Thoughts on the boards

It has been interesting reading some of the thoughts on the message boards in the light of the signing of Robin Peterson.

The most pleasing aspect is that the majority of people are delighted with the signing. There's the odd WUM (wind-up merchant) on the BBC site which is annoying as always, but by and large the real fans seem very pleased with this capture.

Why shouldn't they? If you cannot see that Robin Peterson for Mark Lawson isn't an improvement in the side then you really shouldn't be allowed out unaccompanied. I'm sorry, but it is patently obvious that an experienced international spinner who can contribute with bat and ball improves the balance of our side immeasurably. I suggested James Middlebrook would have been worth a punt, but am delighted to concede that John Morris has trumped that suggestion and then some.

One of the contributors says that Peterson "must" score 600 runs and take 30 wickets in both one day AND four day cricket to be worth the expense and justify stopping the progress of Needham and Hughes.

Hmmm. That's daft. If the top order bat like they did last year he'll get few opportunities to score 600 runs. If the tracks favour seamers, his role will be to keep one end quiet while they have a breather. To set targets is silly. What we need from Robin Peterson is a player who will score runs when we need them, take wickets when conditions are in his favour and keep the opposition quiet when they're not.

Some say we need him to do an Ant Botha. This bloke is better than Botha - he's an international, which Botha isn't. If he proves his ability next season it will go a long way towards making it our best for some time.

As for stopping the progress of Needham and Hughes, the latter is one for the future and unlikely to play much apart from an occasional T20. Surely it will help his spin to work with an international with 400 first class wickets? Same goes for Needham, who will have a specialist to help him recover his mojo.

Regular readers will know I've mentioned Bob Swindell and Geoff Miller in the past and how their progress was hindered by the signing of Venkat. That situation was completely different to this one. For one thing we needed a batsman or a strike bowler at that time more than anything else and the two best young talents in the club were those lads as spinners. This time it is patently obvious that we need a spinner as the current ones are simply not ready. I could see Needham and Peterson bowling in one day games if Needham gets his rhythm back, as the key to T20 success is mixing up the pace of the ball and taking it right off on occasions. They may bowl in tandem at Cardiff too, but Jake needs to do a lot of bowling to get his loop back. I watched him at the end of the season for Ockbrook and it was nowhere close to the bowler I've been impressed by in recent seasons. I hope he gets it back and the best chance of that is if he can work with someone who bowls in a similar style and can relate to his problems.

Finally, there's the usual idiots claiming we're a Kolpak side. I am prepared to be corrected, but with Greg Smith qualified next year and in possession of a British passport, the only non-qualifieds we have are Wayne Madsen (who plays on an Italian passport) and Chesney Hughes (who has a British passport but needs to qualify through residence.) With Chris Rogers as the overseas, Peterson is the only Kolpak.

If you're going to moan, at least make it justifiable guys!