Well the rain came down at Chesterfield today and my guess would be that after our batting display last night there were not too many people on the Derbyshire side who were overly upset about it.
From the sound of things there must be doubts about much play tomorrow too. Showers are now forecast for the next two days and the thinking money must now be on a draw. That would leave things as they were in the table, both sides having picked up three bonus points so far in this game. The showers could miss Chesterfield, of course, but Derbyshire have been presented with a cricketing equivalent of Monopoly "Get Out of Jail Free" card. Let's just hope that we bat better at the second attempt than we did the first time around...
Finally tonight, it has been announced that Vikram Solanki is joining Surrey for next season. I'd like to profess mystic powers, having written that this was going to happen last Sunday, but having sadly lost the services of Tom Maynard and with Mark Ramprakash set for retirement (announced today) it was a bit of a no-brainer for me.
I think Derbyshire will need at least one batsman for next summer, ideally two. One of these may be in the overseas role but there is no doubt in my mind that we need at least one opening batsman. Unless Wayne Madsen decides to open again, we only have three relatively inexperienced players in Borrington, Hughes and Lineker, none of who have as yet cemented a place in the side.
A seam-bowling all-rounder wouldn't do any harm either, but such a player would need to be of a good standard, as I maintain that in Groenewald, Palladino, Clare, Turner and Footitt we have as good a line-up as anyone. With Wainwright and Durston to bowl spin and Knight and Burgoyne coming along nicely, I am pretty happy with our bowling.
Its now down to present incumbents to persuade me that our need for batting reinforcements isn't as great as it is has appeared in recent weeks.
I,ll settle for a draw,given the circumstances, though it,s a pity for those of us who like Queens Park the rain has had to spoil things. One thing I wont miss is the sight and sound of the Dee Dah slip cordon jumping up and appealing every single time the ball passes the bat or brushes a players pads. Arrogant twats. It,s high time there was a clampdown on frivolous appealing. I enjoy my annual visit to Chesterfield with a lunchtime pint in the Market Hotel.
ReplyDeleteI don,t think Solanky is any great loss. For me he,s a bit too long in the tooth and past his best. We had a lucky escape with Collingwood and Solanky represents a similar risk. Sales would be a better bet,on the face of it,though I suggest were it not for his injury problems he would still be at Northants next season. We only have a certain number of treatment tables,one of which already has a permanent booking for next season.
Given that we are not going to allow key player contracts to run into a final season, I would imagine Krikken is now putting the finishing touches to those belonging to Palladino,Durston,Groenewald and Turner. Maybe one or two others aswell.
The improvement in Turner has been quite remarkable and he has gone from being a fringe player to an important member of our seam attack. He has listened and learned and all credit to him. Securing the services of our better players is every bit as important as searching for new blood.