Derbyshire v Surrey day 4

After several strong and consistent performances, Derbyshire slipped below par today and were soundly beaten by a decent, but not brilliant Surrey side.

It again highlights that we simply have to be at our best to compete in every session of every day of every game. Only the very best players can drop in standard and still contribute. This was a salutory lesson as we go into the T20.

The moaners were naturally out in force and it is disappointing how people keep suggesting that we bring John Morris back. Speaking as someone who was and is a fan of what he did for the club, it isn't going to happen. John made a good contribution, but his day at the club is done and it is now someone else's turn. Saying that this wouldn't have happened under John is silly - it did, plenty of times, as it did in the days of other coaches over the years. To say that we're now in for three and a half months of rubbish is a knee-jerk, ill-thought out comment. We'll lose a few, quite possibly in this tournament, but it shouldn't detract from the fact that the first part of the season has been more encouraging than many of late.

Still, tomorrow is another day, or more accurately, evening. Lancashire visit and we need to raise our game considerably to make a match of it. We can do it, as we've shown already this season and must do so again.
We will be doing it, as highlighted in the DET this morning, with only one overseas player and I'd back that decision 100%. Why bring over someone when it will take to the mid-point of the competition to get him a visa? You can't lay any fault at the feet of the club committee or chairman, as Khawaja's exit was unexpected and unfortunate.

I know Kent have signed Charl Langeveldt, but Langers last year was a shadow of previous campaigns. While he can still bowl a decent ball and over, he's lost a yard or two of pace and is more hittable than he was in his pomp. I'm quite happy with Martin Guptill and I hope we play around him and work to a plan of him batting through an innings. He is a naturally quick scorer and we need him to lead us to competitive scores.

Changing tack, the other evening Notoveryet made an excellent suggestion that we could perhaps better reward our star players to retain them, rather than bringing over an overseas player of modest reputation. Given that we can't sign the likes of Chris Rogers and Michael Di Venuto any more, excellent players who simply can't get into a strong Test side, it has some merit. With star players either priced out of the market or too heavily committed to international fixtures, it could become reality. The Sunday Times figures he quotes for Martin Guptill and Usman Khawaja are not too accurate, but the concept is a fair one.

It will depend on the overseas market and availability, as well as continued strong performances from our better players. We need to build around Madsen, Hughes, Groenewald and Smith, but their rewards should be commensurate with performance. Get us a thousand runs and you get a small bonus on top of the basic. 1500? That'll do nicely. The same should go for 40 wickets, or 60.

As long as we don't pay above the odds for mediocrity I can follow the logic. Want to know what I mean? Graham Wagg completed a game from hell for Glamorgan today: 0-95 and a pair. He now has a batting average of 23 and 13 wickets at 51. It's not great, but even worse when you've paid a fortune for the player. I hope it works out for a guy who gave us solid service, but right now he's in danger of making Rikki Clarke look like Sobers...