Something for the weekend

Double good news for Derbyshire fans in the past few days, with news that cricket will be played at Chesterfield for the next five years, followed by the announcement that Derek Morgan will be club President for the next two seasons.

The Chesterfield news comes on the back of the announcement of the fixture at Leek this year and reaffirms the club's commitment to take cricket around the catchment area where possible. We'll never be back at Buxton, Ilkeston or Heanor as the facilities simply aren't up to it, but at a time when several counties are concentrating their cricket on the county headquarters, Derbyshire's move is a refreshing one.

Of course, I'm biased and can think of nowhere I'd sooner watch Derbyshire than Chesterfield (except maybe Scarborough.) Despite that, I realise that they have to play at Derby for a range of reasons, not the least of which is that they haven't spent all that money doing the place up to take cricket elsewhere.

As for the news about Derek Morgan, it is an admirable choice as he was an admirable cricketer. Below is an article on him that I first wrote in August 2008 under the banner 'Derbyshire Legend'. This seems an apposite time to run it again:
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Derek Morgan (standing rear left in this shot of the 1950s Derbyshire side) was perhaps the greatest British-born all-rounder to play for Derbyshire.


He had some good opposition for that role, with such luminaries as Les Townsend, George Pope, Stan Worthington, Geoff Miller and Graeme Welch all worthy and fine servants.

Yet Morgan's statistics speak for themselves. In a career that lasted from 1950 to 1969, he scored over 18,000 runs at an average of just under 25, took 1248 at 25 runs each and held 573 catches. He also captained the county with a good deal of common sense in a period when, during the late 1960's, we were not overly blessed with players of obvious class.

He was a functional rather than flashy player and few would have watched him and waxed lyrical, especially those who watched him bat. I saw him on several occasions and one never felt about him as you felt when watching a Peter Gibbs, a Chris Wilkins or a John Morris.

Yet Morgan had shots and on occasions showed them. They were often subjugated to the greater need, that of the team grinding out the runs to force a win. Fancy shots might get a few runs, but Morgan was astute enough to realise that a hard-fought 50 was more value than a flashy 20 and he often came up with the goods, especially against the quickest and most dangerous bowlers.

In the legendary game against Hampshire that started and finished in a day on a Burton "minefield", only one player made more than 19 in the match, Morgan's 46 in our second innings being an innings of unbelievable value and worth many a century in better conditions. You have to bear in mind that wickets in his era were mainly left open to the elements and batsmen were exposed to "sticky" tracks on which only those with good defensive techniques, considerable skill and a great deal of bravery could survive. He had all of these in abundance and on eight occasions passed a thousand runs in a season.

As a bowler he was both fortunate and unfortunate to play in the same side as Les Jackson and Cliff Gladwin. Fortunate because he learned from them the merits of line and length and keeping batsmen under pressure and also because, as he openly admitted, batsmen often took a chance against him when they'd barely had a loose ball from the opening pair. At the same time, there were occasions where he never got on because the legendary pairing ran through sides and had no need for back up. Early in his career he was a typically Derbyshire fast-medium, but as he got older he dropped his pace and moved it around. His mixture of late outswing, coupled with an ability to bowl off-cutters made for a potent mix and on 35 occasions he returned five wickets in an innings.

As a fielder, he was beyond compare in a generally sound fielding unit. Alan Revill and Donald Carr were brilliant close fielders, but Morgan, in the words of my Dad, "caught swallows". He could field anywhere with distinction, but as a backward short leg to Gladwin and Jackson he held half-chances and on occasions some that would not have been considered a chance to most.

His fielding was so good that he was England's 12th man on five occasions, yet he never gained selection for the national side. The presence of Trevor Bailey was the main problem, but Morgan, born in Middlesex, is another who may well have got the nod had he stayed down south with one of the more fashionable counties.

The other factor with Derek Morgan is his resilience. If one goes through the seasons that he played, he missed precious few matches and was as great an advert for the solid county professional as could have been wished for.

There have been bigger names in the club's history, ones who produced brilliance over a few seasons, but on a pound for pound basis, over a twenty-year career Derek Morgan can be compared with and can stand alongside anyone. They named a suite after him at the County Ground, which is a worthy tribute, but he is well deserving of that brief but all important three word accolade.

He could play.