Perhaps, of all the marks, Bozza's is the one most worthy of revision. He only had the two end of season matches, as I pointed out, but he was the only player to make runs - good runs against a promoted side in an important match - on a pitch that became far from easy to bat on.Today he made his NINTH century of the season for Ticknall and finished with 1668 runs and an average close to 100. By any standards that is a remarkable effort and I suspect that the new aggregate he has set will stand for many years.
It is easy, as Master Villain suggests tonight, to decry the performance that it was 'only' against league bowling, but that is a long way from the truth. No other Derbyshire player, with the exception of Matt Lineker, has come to terms with the bowling in the Premier League. Even Wes Durston, our player of the year, had his struggles, while others had only sporadic success.
Chesney Hughes? He scored just 87 runs in nine innings for Sandiacre, which works out at less than ten runs per innings...
Borrington's feat is extraordinary and he has won an award for being the top scoring league batsman in the country. That has never gone to a Derbyshire batsman before and is a reflection on a season of excellent personal achievement. His success has been the result of an excellent technique married to increasing power of stroke.
I have every confidence that he will continue to work at his game and next season I hope to be able to report on a season of senior success for him.
Don't bet against it.
No, you have got that wrong Peakfan. I am not decrying the lad's performance, but it is not correct ot compare his success with those achieved in 1st class cricket. Period.
ReplyDeleteOnly time will tell if he converts his form in the league to the county arena.
As for betting, no, it is a mugs game.
It is a highly unusual achievement but it,s still a long way short of county cricket as Mastervillain points out.
ReplyDeleteI hope the lad makes the step up as we all do,but as you already know Peakfan,i have my doubts. He,s been around for a few years now and has shown little to suggest he can cut it at this level. I accept he made his debut at a young age but he,ll be 24 next year and time is starting to run out.
The other problem he has,as i have touched on before,is the fact he cannot be seriously considered as a one day player.At least not at the moment. Redfern is currently in a similar position and whilst this MAY change in the future for both of them,i feel it probably has to.
In the longer term i don,t think Derbyshire can afford players who only specialise in the four day game or vice versa. The days of your one run an over batsmen have all but gone and are unlikely to return. Both Borrington and Redfern are small and lack the physical power some of our other youngsters are gifted with. That in itself is a big minus point and i think they may be superceded by those coming behind them with more all round abilities. Next year is an important one for both Borrington and Redfern. For their own sake they have to stay ahead of the pack.
It's not unreasonable to think that if Hughes can't make runs in the Premier League and Borrington can, it's only a matter of time and patience before the latter matches Hughes' achievements at first class level. Unfortunately, you can look at it the other way. For whatever reasons, some top League players can't adjust to first-class cricket - John Owen and Dan Birch spring to mind - and I'm worried that our opening batting options are harnessed to two players who might fall into the same category. Conversely. some very capable players can't adjust back to league cricket quickly after playing at first class level.
ReplyDeleteI recall playing in the same very modest evening league team as a young Mick Newell who had just joined the Notts staff (his dad was the connection in case you're wondering why he was slumming it) and watched in amazement as he struggled to score against worse bowlers than me. At the same level a few years later, I bowled half a maiden over to Gordon Greenidge before he laid a bat on me just after his retirement from Test cricket (some vague Nottingham City Council connections explained his presence there), and he managed only a very scratchy twenty or so before he was out (sadly not to me). Our bar banter afterwards was that he couldn't have been as good as his record suggests, but the reality is that even the best players have to adjust to totally different environments before their class tells.
Unfortunately, the reverse is also true, and Borrington (and Lineker) may be in this category.