Another piece of an impressive jigsaw

I totally agree with Alan tonight in his comment below my earlier Dan Redfern article.

The slow "drip" of information about the club is a very shrewd way of keeping the club in the news at a time of year when cricket isn't high on the list of priorities for the sports reporters. It would have been easy to announce that six/seven players have signed new deals in one press release, but I'm impressed by the way that Derbyshire are revealing piece by piece, like an especially adroit cricketing burlesque. Not that I've ever seen a cricketing burlesque, just in case you wondered...

Like the others announced thus far, Redfern fully deserves a new, presumably much improved contract after what was quite frankly a much improved season. Again, I have to give top marks to the club for moving quickly to sign up players who might otherwise have had more affluent neighbours sniffing around them like dogs around a lamp post. Like, for example, exhibit A, Ajmal Shahzad. He quickly realised that leaving promoted Yorkshire for relegated Lancashire wasn't the wisest of career moves, one that Nottinghamshire capitalised on very quickly. Three clubs in seven months is quite impressive, even if suggesting that a benefit is unlikely to come the player's way anytime soon.

I think we will also see improved deals for Peter Burgoyne, Ben Slater and Alex Hughes in the near future, though with the first two in Zimbabwe it may well wait until the New Year. Burgoyne and Slater have made solid starts to their stints with Southern Rocks, Slater recording scores of 20, 39 and 46 in his first three limited overs games, good progress by any standards. Burgoyne has bowled steadily and scored 43 today in another heavy defeat for what is not an especially strong side. They are doing a solid job for their teams and for their own reputation and it is encouraging to see two lads of 21 and 18 doing just that.

I've seen suggestions that we now need to secure the futures of Wayne Madsen and Tim Groenewald, but I'm less sure that this will be high on the agenda at this stage. It was crucial to sign up the younger players and put them on enhanced, rather than basic deals, but both of the above have two years left on their current contracts, which, I would imagine, would be on decent terms as befits their status. A good season in division one would give both a decent bargaining tool for further improved contracts that I am sure they will be happy to sign in their respective roles as skipper and a senior player. I may be wrong, but that's my gut feel on two fine players who will undoubtedly be looked after by the club, whenever those discussions take place.

I would also be suprised if there were improved deals at this stage for Chesney Hughes and Mark Footitt. Such deals have to be earned and justified by good performance over a protracted period. While no one will doubt their talent, question marks remain over both players. Hughes' footwork is an issue at top level and he offered no real argument for a regular berth last season with weight of runs, while Footitt's fitness issues returned when he had started the summer well. Both need a big summer in 2013 and for both I am sure that the hard work starts now to do just that.

I've not seen much of the Champions League T20 with work commitments, but Yorkshire have done well so far. Rana Naved appears to be a spent force, a statement with which most Derbyshire fans will concur, while Azhar Mahmood continues to defy age with remarkable performances. It was good to see Martin Guptill in the runs, but that wouldn't come as a surprise to many. A shrewd side will engage Guptill for the IPL this winter and will doubtless reap dividends from doing so. 

In closing tonight it is sad to note the premature passing of Kevin Curran, who was a very fine all-round cricketer, first for Gloucestershire and latterly for Northamptonshire. A batting average of 37 from 16,000 runs and a bowling average of 27 from 605 wickets is indicative of a major talent and Curran was one of the best overseas players in the game for around ten years or so. He must have come close to an England cap after qualifying by residency, but was probably ruled out on his age. Nonetheless, he will be remembered as a punishing middle-order bat and penetrative seam bowler.

Any county that could find someone like him today would consider themselves very, very fortunate.