Something for the weekend

I'm working this weekend so won't have as much free time as usual. Yesterday's gales slowed the retail trade down but the busiest week of the year is about to start and time is, as they say, money...

That being the case I'm penning (or keyboarding) a few more thoughts on our new skipper and some observations based on comments and articles around the internet. As I would have hoped, the new skipper has been greeted with pretty much universal approval. Wayne Madsen is a class act and will prove so again. There have been a few comments about his struggles - compared to his previous uninterrupted successes - last season, but to be fair to Madsen he had sorted things out by season end, his last innings being 50, 64, 26 and 73 before struggling like most of his team mates on a bunsen burner at the Oval.

I was more than a little surprised to see a couple of comments regarding "improving the squad". Including summer contracts we currently have a staff of 25. It is, without doubt, a young one, but that is the way to go if we aim to build a successful club. We could theoretically shortcut success by signing a few older and available heads, but would we be much further forward if, for example, we signed Usman Afzaal, Jamie Dalrymple, Tom New and a Kolpak seamer? We might win a few games, but such players would be largely after a payday which, because of their age and circumstance, would cost us much more than their salary in ECB payments. Not quite the road to hell, but certainly the road to financial ruin in this economic climate.

I am enthused by this Derbyshire squad, both in its youth and potential. We potentially have four all-rounders in Durston, Whiteley, Wainwright and Clare, while Tom Poynton's pugnacious approach to batting will, given a little time, see a reminder of the style we became accustomed to with James Pipe. Wainwright gives us a spin bowling all rounder that we have lacked, his common sense approach to batting likely to prove very useful. Durston, Madsen and Redfern would make for a solid and prolific middle order and the only question mark will then be at the top of the innings.

Of course, we have Martin Guptill until June, so no worries there, but the challenge will be to see who partners him. Madsen could choose to open himself, of course, but we then have Paul Borrington, Chesney Hughes and Matt Lineker outside the team vying for one place. If, as I expect, Usman Khawaja rejoins us from June we will need to switch things again, the Australian presumably slotting in neatly at number three. Given we still have Garry Park eligible for selection, not to mention the likes of Ben Slater and Hamza Siddique coming through, does anyone else feel we are short of batting?

I don't.

 We have Wainwright as a specialist spinner, who will get support from Messrs Durston, Hughes and (I hope) Redfern, which leaves us with the seamers. In Jon Clare, Tony Palladino and Tim Groenewald we have a strong trio, with fast, but thus far erratic and injury-troubled support from Mark Turner and Mark Footitt. There is no Stef Jones this time to offer control in the one-dayers and no Greg Smith to bowl useful seam and spin. No matter how reliable they are from a fitness perspective, Palladino and Groenewald cannot play every game, while Clare carries expectations with bat and ball and has an even greater workload.

Don't get me wrong. I rate Turner, who showed in spells last year that he could be fast and nasty, as did Mark Footitt. But unless they improve their lines and lengths over the winter, track record suggests that when it goes wrong for them it does so horribly, especially in the one-day game. Irrespective of the talent and depth in the batting, we can't chase 240 whenever it goes pear-shaped...

Unless Krikk has a masterplan that revolves around playing an all-spin attack in one day games ("Those six little pals of mine, Wainwright, Needham, Durston, Hughes, Knight and Burg'yne") we need another seamer to share the workload and give these guys a breather. I know we are looking for a strike bowler in the T20 (Brett Lee, Morne Morkel, Rusty Theron or "Slinger" Malinga would do nicely...) but a seamer to cover for injury or loss of form and compete for a senior role in the real stuff would do nicely.

After careful consideration, Peakfan's pick would be Steven Cheetham. Quick enough and tall enough to be awkward, I think this lad would do us well. He wouldn't cost the earth and at 24 is physically developed and can keep bowling for long and hostile spells.

"Steven is a young bowler with terrific physical attributes, who bowls wicket to wicket and is very much at the start of his career," said Chris Adams of Surrey when he took him on loan in 2010. He didn't let him down either with a few wickets, including four against the Unicorns. he took stick in a couple of games, but again, if you play cricket for long enough that will happen to any bowler.

 Add Cheetham to that squad and, whisper it quietly, we might surprise a few teams next year.

 Remember, you heard it here first...