Money, money, money

There are some interesting and pertinent comments from the chief executive of Warwickshire CCC, Colin Povey today. As the club tries to work out how it can pay back a £20 million debt to the Council for ground improvements in the light of no Tests in 2013 and 2014, his comments are expecially valid.

"We want to bring our own cricketers through when we can, not least because that means they are good value cricketers. If Chris Woakes, for example, came in from somewhere else he would be a lot more expensive.

As for overseas players, I think we are happy with not bringing hired guns for a few T20s. I don’t see the value in paying Kieron Pollard to come and play four or five games and then not be available if you get to the Champions League.

The overseas-player market is lower-cost now simply because most of the top players are not available. During my time here we signed Dale Steyn – what would he cost now? It’s irrelevant because he is not available full-stop. But someone like Shiv Chanderpaul is good value because, while he is top quality, he is no longer centrally-contracted, so a period in English cricket is a good proposition for him."

It is hard to argue, even if the club has a far greater budget than Derbyshire. By the same token, we don't owe £20 million to anyone and have good people at the helm of the club, people who, if they stay in post will ensure Derbyshire as a club remains both competitive and solvent.

The two major points are obvious. The first is that it is crucial for club's to identify, develop and encourage their own young talent, exactly as Derbyshire are doing. Not all recruits to a county Academy will progress, for a variety of reasons, but if enough of them do it will be enough to keep things ticking over nicely as a viable concern. I am very optimistic over Derbyshire's current crop and feel that we have the right people in place and the right environment for them to prosper.

Secondly, the days of the big-name overseas player have largely gone. Eddie Barlow was the best paid overseas player in the country when we signed him, earning more than Sobers, yet the modern value of his salary (around £80K) wouldn't interest anyone in the light of IPL. Thus the days of the £150K overseas player have gone and in their place are the next level of player down, still good, though commanding lower salaries. The problem there, however, is finding one who :

A - is available for the full summer, or at least enough to make it worthwhile

and

B - has the requisite recent international experience to qualify for a permit.

That's not to mention...

C - they are fit enough and in good enough form to be worth the effort, as well as being able to work within a team ethic.

It can easily backfire, as Essex found out last season with Tsotsobe. Read this, if you didn't at the time, to find out how it can all go horribly wrong.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/counties/8536766/Essex-terminate-Lonwabo-Tsotsobes-contract-after-South-Africans-criticism-of-club-on-Twitter.html

Derbyshire struck gold last year with Usman Khawaja and Martin Guptill, Up and coming players with the right attitude. Yes, both would have liked more runs than they ended up with, but there were enough encouraging signs and noises from both sides to suggest that the experience could well be repeated.

"Hope to be back soon" said Guptill on Twitter, while Khawaja welcomes Ross Whiteley to a winter in Adelaide in a Sydney stopover. For me, it sounds like we could well see two eminently likeable and talented young men back at the County Ground in 2012. Maybe my old deerstalker isn't what it once was, but if I was a betting man I'd be putting some on them being back next summer.

That's a result as far as I'm concerned.