Monday musings

There's an interesting and thought-provoking comment, as always, from Marc below yesterday's post, regarding the potential expense, in terms of runs, of a fast bowler (Shaun Tait is mentioned) in the T20 and the club's need for two batsmen.

I agree to a point. I think Tait is very fast and when he gets it right he is a handful. Yet at 28 he has yet to have a grooved action and seems more "thrown" by slopes on the ground than a bowler of that age perhaps should do. I'd have loved to see him bowl at a school where a team I once coached played a fixture each year. It was at a private school, alas no more, and anyone who ran in further than ten yards had to do so through a sandpit....

By the same token, Brett Lee is still 100% class. He gave Chris Gayle a thorough working over the other day, 90mph deliveries short outside off stump before Gayle went for the first one in his half to find it seaming away. A skyer to long off saw the big Jamaican dismissed for a duck and Lee's spell won the game for his side. I'm not at all sure of the viability of such a signing, or the player's inclination post-IPL to play in the English T20, but if Chris Grant and Karl Krikken delivered Brett Lee or someone of similar calibre I would be seriously impressed.

I don't think we do need two batsmen, as long as we sign one, like I said last night, who can reach the boundary boards or clear them. Apart from Gayle, the best batsmen I have seen in the Big Bash are Herschelle Gibbs, Brad Hodge and - believe it or not - Travis Birt. All are averaging high and scoring at a rate that enables those lower down to only use common sense to post competitive totals. I'd also throw into my personal wish list two South Africans who I don't see making their tour squad next summer because of the depth of South African batting. Colin Ingram would be one, a ferocious hitter in prime form, but resigned to being behind Smith, Amla, Petersen and Kallis for now. He does, after all, know the area, having acquitted himself well for Spondon.

The other would be a man who is a genuine talent, Faf du Plessis. Again, how he gets into their tour squad ahead of de Villiers, Prince, Duminy and a few others is a moot point, but his high octane batting, dangerous leg spin and brilliant fielding would enhance any side. Like Ingram he would have the incentive of convincing his national tour selectors of his talent and any county who picked him up, in my opinion, would be getting a gem of a player.

For what its worth, here would be my notional side for T20 and I'd be loathe to drop any of these batsmen for another overseas player:

Big Hitter
Hughes
Durston
Whiteley
Madsen
Park
Clare
Poynton
Wainwright
Knight
Fast bowler

I realise that Knight may not be available for much of the tournament with international commitments, but for me Karl Krikken could give his seamers a breather in the T20. Spinners often do the business and with four in the Derbyshire side we would be well-equipped. Clare, Groenewald, Palladino and Turner could rotate and Park could bowl his dibbly-dobbly seamers, as could Whiteley (though faster than dibbly-dobbly...)

A quick bowler could offer something quite different. A hitter could give the rest of a lengthy batting line-up some breathing space. If our targets could offer something else too - well, you never know. Derbyshire could be pretty competitive.

I don't envy Chris Grant though, as I'm sure he's spending hours in the quest for the right players. Whether we like it or not, Derbyshire are not perceived as a big club in the cricket world, a consequence of years as a second-rate club. That will take some time to address and if Derbyshire and a 'big' county were after the same player, my guess is that the player and his advisers would probably opt for the bigger club, the one that they saw as offering the best opportunity to win a medal. It is frustrating, but understandable, a fact of life and most of us would do the same (mind you, I'd have walked to Derby to play for the side, so am a little bit biased...)

Mr Grant's challenge is to strike a deal with a top player identified by Karl Krikken before others realise he may be available - an eighteen carat one if there ever was. I don't know who that might be, but I just hope that, like me, people realise just how much work goes into one signature on a piece of paper.