Santa's coming!!

In a few short hours, the man with the long white beard (Santa, not WG Grace) will be winging his way across the skies bringing Christmas goodies to those that deserve them and have been good. Hopefully that includes me, but I'm sure it will include some Derbyshire players too. Here's what I think Santa will bring some of them this Christmas.

For Wayne Madsen it has to be a copy of Mike Brearley's book "The Art of Captaincy". If the new skipper can follow the England legend's lead we will do pretty well next season. Meanwhile, Wes Durston, Ross Whiteley, Tim Groenewald and Tony Palladino will get a copy of "Groundhog Day". If 2012 is like 2011 for those players we will have no complaints whatsoever.

Paul Borrington and Matt Lineker will get a year's extended warranty on the bats they used to such good effect  in the leagues and Second XI last summer, together with a stool to ensure that this year they genuinely make a step up. Chesney Hughes will be delighted with his dancing lessons from Aliona Vilani, the Strictly Come Dancing champion, which will ensure that he is as light on his feet as Muhammad Ali and twice the already very talented player he is because of it.

Dan Redfern will get a Paul McKenna hypnosis DVD, the consequence being that Redders will break through that century barrier and go on to become a run-scoring legend for the county. Tom Poynton might be a little disappointed with his large tube of superglue, but if he liberally applies it to those gloves next summer we will have few complaints about our new glove-meister...

Mark Footitt and Mark Turner each get a sat-nav to ensure that their deliveries always get to the intended destination by the best route, while both of them, together with Jon Clare  will get a copy of the new Steffan Jones fast bowlers fitness workout DVD, "I'm Tough As Nails, Me" to ensure their bodies are in sync with the demands of fast bowling for a full season.

Jake Needham and David Wainwright will both get a spinning top, something they will hope to see a lot in 2012, while Tom Knight and Peter Burgoyne will get the same, together with an atlas. The latter will remind them where they are in what promises to be a hectic and well-travelled year in which they will visit various countries and hopefully appear in the Under19 World Cup.

Finally for Karl Krikken, an envelope bearing the signatures of Usman Khawaja on a dotted line for the second half of 2012, together with those of Chris Gayle and Lasith Malinga for the T20. I know that the last two aren't going to happen, but magical things happen if you make a wish at Christmas - at least, that's what I always told my kids. I watched Gayle yesterday smash eleven sixes for Sydney Thunder, Khawaja's team, and allowed myself a brief fantasy in which he was doing that for Derbyshire.

It's a nice thought to take into the Christmas season. Have a good one everyone - and thanks for your continued support of the blog in 2011.