Monday 20 June 2011

Monday musings

Well that last piece got you talking! Thanks for all your comments, even those that didn't agree with me...

There's plenty of opinions and that's what its all about. As someone posted last week, ask everyone who reads this blog to pick their first choice team and you'd get plenty to choose from. At the end of the day, we're all Derbyshire fans and simply want the best for our club. Some are just less patient/tolerant (delete as appropriate).

Anyway, no news today on the county front so time for some comment on Warwickshire's proposed poaching of James Taylor from Leicestershire. That is what it amounts to, with Uncle Ashley supposedly offering a player in exchange to soften the blow of him leaving mid-contract. What is this, Cash Converters?
Taylor is a contracted player and as such should be left to play at the county until he enters the final year of that deal. Then, as we've seen with Tim Groenewald and Greg Smith, he is free to explore his options before seeing if his club can match what is on the table elsewhere.

I am increasingly of the opinion, with this following close on the heels of the Nottinghamshire nonsense (good name for a T20 side, that...) reinforces my opinion that the ECB should get their act together and slap a few people rather hard. One assumes that Ashley Giles in his wholly unfair twin role as county coach and England selector will be having a conversation with James Taylor along these lines sometime soon:

AG - Come and play for me, my son and I will give you international status and recognition beyond your wildest dreams. I'm a selector you know. Nudge, nudge, wink, wink...say no more...
JT - Like you did for that nice man Rikki Clarke?
AG - Exactly like it...no, you know what I mean. I told Rikki I would make him an England player again and it will happen. OK, in Old England benefit matches, twenty years from now. You'll have grown up by then. What are you now? 14?
JT - I'm 21. Weren't you going to make Boyd Rankin an international?
AG - And I did. He was at the World Cup you know...
JT - With Ireland...
AG - See? Told you, stick with the King of Spain and I'll see you right. Guaranteed England Lions tours till you're 35. Or 5'4". Whichever is the sooner. Now, sign on the dotted line. I need to go and speak to Rikki Clarke urgently.
JT - Are you going to tell him I'm signing?
AG - No, I'm going to tell him he's off to Leicester in part exchange for you.
JT - But what about getting him into the England set up?
AG - Think on lad! England train at Loughborough don't they? How much closer can I get him to the England setup than Leicester? Wait...what do you mean you'll stop where you are?

I jest. But then again it is a joke. Giles should be an England selector or a county coach. Definitely not both.

In closing tonight, congratulations to Howard Dytham for his ECB award. Have a look at the Derbyshire Cricket Board website to see the fantastic work that is going on with youngsters. Some of these have already started to come through and there are signs that youngsters such as Alex Hughes, Peter Burgoyne and Greg Cork could be among the next batch to emerge.

Well done Howard!

8 comments:

  1. There's an interesting point in the comments to the previous post - who is picking the team?

    There seems to be a tendency to describe Krikken as the head of cricket. He isn't, he's the head coach, and I've assumed that first team selection and tactics are the captain's responsibility, with advice from the head coach and others.

    This was never entirely clear in the Morris era, largely because of his habit of talking as if he picked the team, called the toss, decided on tactics, determined the bowling changes, and then blamed the players for not executing his masterful strategy. But I suspect he really did make the key decisions - hence my view that he couldn't shuffle away from responsibility when it went wrong.

    My triumvirate management team proposed a few weeks ago was based on one man responsible for spotting, bringing in, and developing the talent, and the general strategic direction of the playing side of the club (the head coach); one responsible for deciding when and how they are deployed on the field and the tactical approach (the strong captain); and one to motivate, model and support the development of good professional habits on the field (the landmark signing).

    I'd kind of assumed that Chris Grant had completed two-thirds of this idea (me second-guessing rather than him following my advice!) and the possibility that Karl krikken was doing the JM job at a cut price hadn't occurred to me. I hope it's not right, as it's not a model that has ever worked for us - our best days (and I'd venture the same goes for most successful teams) have been with a strong captain and an influential coach who can work together - but it would be interesting to find out if anyone actually knows.

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  2. You,re right notoveryet,he is head coach, but as i suggested in an earlier post its no more than a play on words. To all intents and purposes, Krikken is the new John Morris and will presumably be taking over many of his duties. I suppose the main difference is Krikken will be following a pre determined plan,whereas Morris was free to formulate his own.

    Im sure Krikken ranks above Sutton,though the latter will be heavily involved in team selection and tactics. Once on the field its down to Sutton as by this stage Krikken will be a mere speck on the horizon.

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  3. Now come on peakfan, you,ve been around long enough to know what our mates at the ECB will do to Giles. Precisely nothing. They don,t do anything to anyone called Giles!. A test ground county "coach" and an England selector,all rolled into a nice neat bundle. Conflict of interest!. You can say that again. Thinking about it,he is hardly on his own in that respect. Cricket is up to it,s eyeballs in people with dual roles and double standards.

    The ECB is only interested in the elite test ground counties. They want to see the top players at these counties and dont care what means they use to procure them. Blind eyes are constantly turned until one of the smaller counties trangress. Then you can get ready. The various committees will awaken from their slumbers,clear their throats and begin wielding the sword of justice. The ECB will no doubt claim to be fair when it comes to dispensing "justice". But then they would do ,wouldn,t they. They are incapable of seeing their own failings and inconsistencies,probably believing others are as stupid as they are and wont notice.

    There have been umpteen examples in the past,some of which have applied to us, where lesser counties have been dealt with in a completely different manner to those with more clout and influence. Warwickshire themselves docked 8 points for a pitch rated as "poor", when it should clearly have been rated "unfit" and 24 points the penalty. This type of "justice" has happened time and again. Had it been our pitch,i,ll bet a pound to a pinch of s..t the verdict would have been unfit.

    Look at the wickets tumbling at Lords this week. The standard of the pitch has been brought into question. I dare bet,here and now,nothing will come of it. Good grief, we can,t upset the members at Lords,can we?. The last thing we want is to have them all choking on their prawn sandwiches.

    Those that dispence "justice" would do well to pick up a dictionary and look at the meaning of the word. If they can stay awake long enough.

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  4. I'll not have anything bad said about the ECB, look at them clamping down on serious issues

    http://blog.thecricketer.com/?p=26135

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  5. Just read it Chris. Need we say anymore!.

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  6. Thoroughly deserves everything he gets. Thank God someone's maintaining standards. Orange boots with navy blue and lime green? Shameful. Now if the lime green had been a complementary shade of deep olive green...but then that wouldn't have gone with the navy. Perhaps daffodil yellow, dark olive trim and orange boots?

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  7. I think that last colour scheme is without doubt the best. You are obviously not a man to be messed with when it comes to fashion.

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  8. Peakfan's Sharp Dressed Man blog is coming soon....
    Yes, you can rely on the ECB to be ruthless on things that 'matter'.

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