Random thoughts

Congratulations tonight go to Ross Whiteley on his selection for the England side for the Hong Kong Sixes.

It is just reward for a cricketer who rediscovered his mojo towards the end of the season and it could have done him no harm to play two such innings as he did against Hampshire in front of the Sky cameras. His bowling and fielding were impressive too, in a fine all-round display and watching cricket fans could not fail to be impressed by him.

It is the development of Whiteley, Dan Redfern and Tom Poynton that Derbyshire fans will need to keep in mind when suggesting new players for next summer. Players of such talent need to be on deals commensurate to their talent and contribution to the side. It is all well and good for young players to be on a standard rate as they emerge into the senior side, but improved performance needs to be rewarded to keep away our predatory neighbours. Nottinghamshire reputedly offered James Taylor a six figure salary to lure him from Leicestershire and Derbyshire could not match that outlay, while Somerset are supposedly putting together a hefty bid to acquire the services of Rory Hamilton-Brown.

The bottom line is that we cannot compete on that level, with a small membership and playing budget. In contrast to most winning teams, Derbyshire have assembled a winning side without spending massively. It is ironic that, after years of spending heavily on big names, that Hampshire's success came about after making a conscious decision to bring on their own young players instead of numerous Kolpaks. By the same token, one cannot underestimate the value of senior players like Katich, McKenzie and Ervine.

Derbyshire will, largely through necessity, look for young players from elsewhere who they feel they can develop and improve and anyone expecting a move for big names will, in my humble opinion, be disappointed. For me the most refreshing thing about our trophy win was that we have a young side. Team spirit was a major factor, but we should not decry the talent in the side either. Given a decent batting wicket, a middle order of Madsen, Durston, Redfern and Whiteley will score runs and we all know we bat long. A couple of opening batsmen, or further improvement from Paul Borrington, will see Derbyshire compete, but having released Gary Park and Matt Lineker we have only youngsters and two seamers in reserve at present outside the first eleven.

I've not yet commented on the CB40 draw, apart from on my joy at games against Scotland. Group B consists of Lancashire, Derbyshire, Durham, Essex, Hampshire, Scotland and Surrey.There are some good sides in there, but we are now mixing it with the big boys and will inevitably have our ups and downs. I won't make wild predictions at this stage until I've seen the winter improvements in the various sides, but on their day Derbyshire are capable of beating anyone, as they have shown in four-day cricket this summer and to a lesser extent in the one-day game.

Finally tonight I hope that all fans remember the euphoria of recent days when Derbyshire have bad days with their young side next summer, as they will. Maybe we punched above our weight, maybe we have gone up early - but I wouldn't have swapped the feeling we've all had over the past few days.

It is 76 years since a Derbyshire cricket side won a league title and a lot of people never lived to see it.

We did, my friends and should be eternally glad.