Earlier today I mentioned that there could be a possibility for a quality South African cricketer as our T20 specialist and decided to have a look at a potential squad for England and who might not make the cut in a very strong cricketing nation.
Firstly, there are a number of guaranteed places in - for the sake of argument - a 17-man squad
Batsmen: Smith, De Villiers, Kallis, Amla, Rudolph, Petersen
Bowlers: Tahir, Peterson/Botha
Seamers: Steyn, Morkel, de Lange, Tsotsobe, Philander
Wicket-keepers - Boucher plus one (possibly van Wyk or Kuhn)
That's fifteen places and leaves you with other candidates for the remaining two:
Batsmen - Prince, Duminy, Ingram, Ontong, du Plessis
Bowlers - Theron, Parnell, McLaren, Peterson/Botha
The likelihood is that they would take one extra batsman, so only one from Duminy, Ingram, Prince, Ontong and du Plessis is likely to gain selection. Whoever it was, few would argue if we ended up with one of the others. Ingram is a top order bruiser, Prince less likely but a good player. Ontong has had an extraordinary winter and is a hard-hitting batsman and spinner, while the excitement would probably come with either Duminy or du Plessis.
Both are brilliant fielders, bowl useful spin and hit the ball with tremendous power. At 27, Duminy has never been lured to England, but missing out on tour selection would surely make him want to make a statement to national selectors. An excellent finisher of an innings, any county who signed him would get an outstanding cricketer.
The same goes for du Plessis, who had a couple of spells at Lancashire where he proved very popular. A dynamic player, his game is perfect for T20, though he hasn't yet returned the statistics to match that ability in the shortest form.
The bowlers are less inspiring but there are good cricketers. Theron is a solid and reliable seamer, as well as being capable of throwing the bat, while McLaren gave good service to Kent as an all-rounder. Botha racks up the air miles as a bowling all-rounder, while Peterson gave good value to Derbyshire in 2010. A return would be unlikely though - with Wainwright, Knight and Hughes, do we REALLY need four slow left-armers?
Finally Parnell. He seems to have been around for years, yet is still only 22. He dominated under-19 cricket but has found the step up difficult. Nonetheless, his T20 average is just 7 runs an over and he is an able batsman with the ability to become a genuine all-rounder.
There's plenty of potential options out there, as I've said before...
Peakfan, as we will be looking to get someone in on the 'cheap' lets not get carried away yet.
ReplyDeleteBen
Morgan Report. Over the last two weeks counties, coaches and supporters have 100% come out against this report. It seems to me that Morgan didn't consult those that matter in the game before he did the report which makes his report an even bigger joke!
ReplyDeleteBen
ingram is being linked to essex as early season o/s player, not sure if this would stop him playing for another county in t20 in same season. although essex might go without considering shah and bopara were not picked in the ipl auction (unless they negoatiate seperate deals afterwards)
ReplyDeleteMorgan is a joke Ben,end of story. Unfortumatly,so are most of those looking to implement this lunacy.
ReplyDeleteOn the subject of South Africans Peakfan, get a hard hitting batsman who can field well and bowl a bit of the slow stuff. The choice is yours!.
Ben - in the same week that the news broke about coming close to signing Chris Gayle, that comment about signing someone "on the cheap" is more than a little churlish...
ReplyDeleteWe may miss out on players for reasons I've previously referred to, but you cannot fault the club's ambition or efforts
Peakfan, I'll comment on the club's ambition when I see who we sign! Since last season Morris, Brown, Sutton, Smith and Jones have all departed so we must have some money in the kitty to go out and get the couple of quality players needed to supplement what is currently a young and inexperienced squad.
ReplyDeleteBen
I've just read that we are not playing at Leek this season which is sad news.
ReplyDeleteThey said 20/20 Cricket at Chesterfield was a huge success so they scrapped it and they said one day cricket at Leek was a success and they've scrapped that!
Why don't they just re name the club Derby County Cricket Club?
Ben
They will be back at Leek though Ben. I thought the rationale was a sound one on the club site, the way fixtures have fallen.
ReplyDeleteI'll await your views on the signing - as you'll hear mine - in due course!
On the subject of leek. Both the last games there were on days with no public transport back to Derby after the game had finished. Had it not been for club coach i would not have been able to attend. Don't mind if we play there or not but logisticly Derby is the better option. As for who we sign I'll be happy to trust Krikk and support whoever it is.
ReplyDelete