Turned out nice again...

At the risk of sounding like George Formby (he does a lovely grill...) it has been a good week to be a Derbyshire fan.

After signing Mark Footitt from Nottinghamshire, the final piece of the jigsaw (in my opinion) was the signing of Robin Peterson, a very good cricketer who will add skill and balance to the county XI.

I've covered both signings at length elsewhere, but suffice to say that I'm quite happy with where we are at this stage of proceedings. If the club coffers can stretch to another overseas player in Twenty/20, I'd be cautiously optimistic about our prospects for next season, especially in the Championship.

To be honest I think that is where we're likely to see Mark Footitt, as a shock bowler who might get early wickets with the new ball. I wouldn't expect him to play as often in the one day stuff, but we've plenty of other options there and if Steff can show them the areas to bowl we should be OK. Peterson will also offer probing and accurate options in all forms of the game and we should be a stronger outfit than last year.

What I'm not sure of is how much of the one day cricket Paul Borrington will play. There's been discussion on In Morris We Trust about his position in the batting order and that will be John Morris' call. My suggestion would be he bats six in the Championship, so we have a man used to facing the new ball if the second one is taken. We'd also have Peterson, who has opened many times in one day cricket, so I'd fancy our tail to make the contributions we have become used to in recent seasons. Of course, Borrington could go three, or even open, but I don't see the point in splitting Rogers and Madsen, an excellent opening pair, while Garry Park made number three his own last season. With Greg Smith an ever-improving number four, there's a decent line up taking shape. Morris may choose to go with an extra bowler in the one day games, maybe even include Jake Needham as another spin option. I don't know because I'm not John Morris!

I've had a couple of e mails today about my Ockbrook and Borrowash comments yesterday. Just to clarify, I have absolutely no issue with O and B signing and playing whoever they want. I was merely using the analogy with regard to comments about our Kolpaks. The early votes on the poll suggest most of you agree with me that you'd prefer to see a winning Derbyshire team, or at least one that plays competitive cricket, over a team of local lads losing heavily. I'm sure the same goes for O and B. They could play youngsters and win less, but who's to say that they're wrong in doing what they do? It brings success and good luck to them. I know Matt Lineker is a fine player who was offered a county deal but preferred his professional career and they'll doubtless have some talent coming through. It's encouraging seeing the youngsters playing locally and I hope that they continue to thrive in the various clubs and percolate through to the county setup.

Finally, just to confirm what I posted on 606 tonight, I express MY opinions on this blog. They're not gospel and I don't expect people to agree with me all (any?) of the time. I don't carry personal grudges against individuals as I'm not that sort of guy, but I will tell it as I see it. That way I hope that the blog is worth a read. If I simply recounted the events I'd be replicating one of any number of sites out there.

See you soon and thanks for looking in!