Monday musings

On a day on which we never set foot on the field, Derbyshire moved ever so slightly forward in their promotion ambitions today.

Thanks to heroic defiance from the last Hampshire batsmen,  Jimmy Adams and Danny Briggs, Kent were thwarted in their victory attempt at Southampton. Meanwhile at Leicester, a combination of heavy showers, Wayne White (thanks, to an old boy...) and Ned Eckersley kept our northern neighbours from much-coveted win points. All of which leaves us fourteen points clear of Yorkshire, 15 clear of Hampshire (both with a game in hand) and 17 clear of Kent, who we play in a massive match at Derby, starting on Thursday.

Sadly, the weather forecast for this week is pretty dire, so the likelihood of a positive result at Derby would appear to depend on one team playing a blinder and the other having a shocker. 

Before all of that there's a CB40 game tomorrow, of course. While there is still a slim possibility of our progressing in the CB40, for me it is marginally more likely than Derby County sealing The Championship title by Christmas. There are too many requisite permutations for it to happen, though a morale-boosting win ahead of the big one wouldn't do us any harm. Avoiding trench foot might be handy too...

It will be good to welcome back Tom Poynton, though the preview on the club site suggests there may yet be a question mark over his fitness. If that is the case, I'd expect Karl Krikken to be checking on the availability of the likes of Tom New or Steve Adshead before the four-day game. Chris Durham has done a steady job with the gloves and produced a gritty knock to save the game against Australia A. Yet at 20 he is three years of development behind Poynton and has yet to play a full season in the Seconds.

County cricket on a regular basis is a tough, unforgiving finishing school and Poynton has kept wicket well this summer. There have been occasional dropped catches, but all keepers do that and it is part of the learning curve. Poynton has been chirpy, upbeat and busy, though his batting has not yet contributed heavily at the end of the order, apart from an important innings at Chelmsford.

I wrote earlier in the season that batting form was less important than his wicket-keeping for Poynton this summer, but it will become an area in which he is expected to contribute. No matter how good their glovework, the men behind the sticks need to be all-rounders these days and the next long-term Derbyshire stumper needs to replicate the efforts of James Pipe, a player badly missed in recent seasons.

There has been considerable comment about the announcement by Richard Johnson that he wants to leave Warwickshire at season-end for first team opportunities. Johnson is further on again in his development to Poynton and from a competitive angle the move would make sense. Likewise, looking around the county circuit there are few counties where Johnson could feasibly move for a crack at the senior role, unless Gloucestershire were seen as an option (which I doubt).

By the same token, Derbyshire have acknowledged gaps to fill in their batting strength as things stand and how much that costs would dictate whether a move for Johnson is realistic. Ask most fans whether we need a batsman and keeper or two batsmen for next year and I would suggest most would go for the latter. Mind you, if we could afford all of them I doubt there would be few dissenters...

It will all be seen in time and I have every confidence that Messrs Krikken and Grant in their respective roles will throw our hat in the ring for players they think can improve the side. We should not forget that the current squad has done remarkably well this summer, but there are obvious areas for improvement and how well we fill them will dictate how we continue to move forward as a club.

Another player set to leave Warwickshire for greater opportunites is Boyd Rankin, another who got his county start at Derbyshire. An e mail today asked whether I could see us move to re-sign a player who can be a handful on his day and is, without doubt, an improved bowler.

However, Rankin still has too many injuries for comfort and misses his share of matches. Throw in the ones that he misses on Ireland duty and you are effectively paying full-time wages to a part-time player. I don't see Derbyshire having that sort of money to throw around, quite frankly, so for me the bowler's future is not going to be at the County Ground