Derbyshire - the one day season preview

It was very thoughtful of John Morris to sign Loots Bosman just before I did my preview of Derbyshire's one day prospects for 2010, as there can be few doubts that it changes a few things.
I can just visualise the scene on his debut at Derby in June. We have a capacity crowd on a glorious evening, in the light of our encouraging, one hundred per cent start to the competition. The local faithful, in a manner reminiscent of the fans at a Bruce Springsteen concert, are shouting "Loooooooooots" as he goes in to bat with Chris Rogers, chasing a modest total after a fine bowling display. Meanwhile, Keith Loring, looking out at all of his new seats filled, is shouting the same, but perhaps dropping the letter "s"…

OK, back to reality. Or something like it, as a few weeks ago I watched a DVD with my family titled Coraline, about a young girl who passes through a hidden tunnel to find another, more sinister version of her family in a parallel universe. It reminded me a little of Derbyshire, as last year in particular there was little resemblance between the one day and four day sides. While the latter battle hard and are difficult to beat, the one day side were all too often a less robust outfit that leaked runs and lost more matches than was good for them, or their fans.

In the light of the signings of Robin Peterson and Loots Bosman, I will be very disappointed if 2010 doesn't mark a change in our T20 fortunes. The reorganisation of the competition means we face some different opposition for a start, but the Derbyshire side looks to be better equipped than it has for some time.

It will be interesting to see if we follow the trends of the IPL, where five of the top six most economical bowlers are spinners. There is little doubt that taking the pace off the ball helps bowlers to both get wickets and keep it tight. Any bowler worth his salt has a decent slower ball, while some of the better seamers have now cultivated a slow bouncer to go with the usual quick one.

I'm really looking forward to seeing John Morris' selection for the T20 competition. One would assume that Bosman and Rogers will open, with Madsen, Smith and Park offering fine fielding and potential bowlers below them. Presumably Goddard, Peterson and Wagg are sure to play, so the rest of the side will be anyone's guess.

Does Morris play John Sadler, as a good one day finisher? Does he play Dan Redfern as a batsman and potential bowler, or Chesney Hughes for much the same reason? I'm assuming, perhaps wrongly, that Paul Borrington will play little of this format, but then he did well in Barbados.

Then there's the seam attack. I think that Mark Footitt is likely to be kept for the Championship and maybe the FP40, but Groenewald, Hunter, Jones, Lungley and Clare could all be in contention, as of course could Jake Needham, if we want to use more spinners.

It will be dictated by fitness, form and the wicket, of course, but the likelihood is that we will play most matches with anything from eight to ten batsmen AND bowlers, thanks to the rich array of all rounders in the squad. Or at least batting bowlers and bowling batsmen, if you're less convinced by some of the all round credentials.

While Bosman and Hughes will be unable to play in the 40 over season, there should still be enough to play some good cricket. There will again be competition for places and we should at least be capable of a top half finish.

Last season we saw a more mature approach to one day batting from Derbyshire and I hope to see that extended this year. With the addition of Bosman and Peterson we have introduced a more explosive element to the side that can only be good, while the additional experience of Messrs Madsen, Park and Smith should be invaluable.

The key to improvement in results will undoubtedly be if the bowlers, whoever plays, put it in the right areas on a regular basis. The IPL has highlighted that length bowling travels a long way and any batsman given a bit of room will usually be looking for boundaries with few concerns.

Assuming that we get decent totals and the bowlers can find their line and length, I think that this Derbyshire side can be competitive this year and win a lot more one day games than those of recent vintage. While any expectation of silverware may be premature, as long as we don't place the burden of expectation on any one player and produce some good, solid team efforts, I think we could get to September and reflect on a year when Derbyshire's promising young squad finally came of age.