I've just spent a pleasant few minutes stats-watching and in doing so it has become clear why Derbyshire are an improved side this season.
I alluded to it earlier in the week, but this Derbyshire side really plays as a team. Take a look at the Championship batting averages at:
http://stats.espncricinfo.com/derbyshire/engine/records/batting/highest_career_batting_average.html?class=4;id=2011;team=955;type=season
ELEVEN players averaging over 25 with the bat, ten of them around, or over 30. When one considers that our current overseas player isn't among them (but surely will be by season end) it is a remarkable feat and shows a collective responsibility towards putting a total on the board. In previous years we appeared too heavily dependent on the overseas player for most of the runs and to be fair had generally less gifted players too.
The same goes for the CB40. While Martin Guptill's first appearance in the format was marked by a century today, thus far we have been carried by Messrs Durston and Madsen, for who today was more or less their first failure. Wes averages 49 and Wayne 45, but there have been contributions down the order, as you will see at:
http://stats.espncricinfo.com/derbyshire/engine/records/batting/highest_career_batting_average.html?class=5;id=2011;team=955;type=season
Meanwhile in the T20, six players averaged in excess of 20, with Guptill and Park over 30 and Whiteley over 50. These are good solid statistics in all forms of the game and the players have done a fine job.
As for the bowling, all the bowlers are going for less than 5.5 an over in the CB40, but only Tom Knight and Chesney Hughes of the regulars managed under 7 an over in the T20, an obvious factor in a less satisfying campaign. Nonetheless, with Tony Palladino, Tim Groenewald, Jon Clare and Greg Smith all taking their wickets at good averages in the Championship, we are much less reliant on individual brilliance than has been the case for many seasons. The team is the thing.
The emergence of young players such as Dan Redfern, Ross Whiteley and Tom Knight under Karl Krikken can be no coincidence and that emergence has put pressure on established players to perform and keep a place in the side. A year on, in addition to Chesney Hughes, we may see the likes of Tom Poynton, Paul Borrington, Peter Burgoyne, Alex Hughes, Atif Sheikh and Ben Slater push for a regular berth. It is good to see - I just hope that there is some young seam talent set to break through as that is the area that concerns me most in the short to medium term. We have Jon Clare, Mark Footitt, Tony Palladino and Mark Turner, but replacing Steffan Jones and Tim Groenewald (if he goes) will be the winter challenge. I think Greg Smith will go too, but for me Ross Whiteley is a ready made replacement as a batsman. Perhaps Burgoyne could emerge as an off-spinning all-rounder in 12 months time?
These are good days to be a Derbyshire fan. It is hard to believe that the Morris/Brown departures were actually this season. Few, myself included, can have expected the team to respond so impressively to a change of leadership and everyone involved deserves hearty congratulations.
Whatever happens from here, and as George Dobell said on cricinfo last night, this season may be too early for Derbyshire, the future looks rosier than it has for some considerable time.
Good times!
Guptil batted well yesterday and Smith batted and bowled well. I hope that we can make a good offer for Smith to stay. If the club have suddendly got lots of money to throw about on the 'landmark' deals then I would hope that some is offered to Smith. He is a decent player who we would find hard to replace.
ReplyDeleteRe your 'the reason why' I would agree that despite a drastically reduced budget John Morris has left us with a potentially good side with lots of decent youngsters just behind the first team. Hopefully Krik can continue the good work.
ReplyDeleteThere is much to be pleased about peakfan and certainly far more positives than we have seen for some considerable time. The team has moved in the right direction this season,much more rapidly than i would have thought.
ReplyDeleteTo be a successful team it is always important to look at positives in defeat and negatives in victory. There is always room for improvement,no matter how good a team may be. So long as people can see improvements i don,t think there can be too many complaints. We all know this is a work in progress and our ultimate objectives may take three or four years to achieve.
The team as a whole has made good progress. We need to see a few more of our batsmen contribute on a more consistent basis. Whilst it is nice to see the lower end contributing runs,we have had to rely on this a little too often for comfort in recent times. I know life can be difficult sometimes for top order batsmen,but that,s why they are top order batsmen,with ability to handle variable batting conditions.
We don,t want too many 39 for fives.
On the bowling front we have done fairly well,particularly when one considers the obvious weaknesses we have. The situation will be compromised even more with the loss of Jones and Groenewald. Maybe we should consider an overseas bowler for next season. I know we,ve said it many times before,but we must make every effort to sign a good spinner. This department may be well catered for in the future but we must also think of the here and now.
The other area where we need to improve is catching. Our ground fielding has been very good on the whole ,but far too many chances have gone begging this season. It,s hard enough taking ten wickets,without the handicap of spilling four or five catches per innings. Must do better here.
I don,t think i will ever be as optimistic as you are peakfan,but im certainly far more optimistic than i have been for years.
Has palladino played any 1 day cricket this season for us. I can't recall it, maybe morris only gave him a contract for the four day games? Does anyone know if this is the case?
ReplyDeleteFalcon_Ram
Palladino must be given a chance in the one dayers. Yesterday we were a bowler short and got away with it. Against the decent sides in the 20/20 we didn't get away with it. To omit Palladino from all 16 of the 20/20 games was pure pig headedness from who ever is picking the team given that he has been our best bowler all season. In the 20/20's we were crying out for an opening bowler and we had Palladino sitting in the stands. If we were winning every 20/20 I could have understood but we were 'poor' in them.
ReplyDeleteFron what i,ve heard Palladino was carrying a strain and they didn,t want to risk him in case he aggravated it. I agree we could have done with him but given our shortage of bowlers it was probably a wise decision not to risk it.
ReplyDeleteOptimism is my middle name Marc :-)
ReplyDeleteAs for Dino, he's played one CB40 match this season, but as Marc says, he's carried an injury for a lot of it and presumably the requisite diving and chasing might have ruled him out of the Championship stuff.
If Palladino was injured for all of the 20/20 games then someone from the club should have informed the fans.
ReplyDeleteThat i do agree with. The level of communication between the club and supporters is still woefully inadequate. It,s something that needs to be addressed. I don,t think it would do any harm for Sutton and/or krikken to do something like a monthly report on the website. I thought things were changing under the new regime,but sadly,that does not seem to be happening.
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