Midweek musings

All is fairly quiet on the county front at present, although the news today that there will be a celebratory DVD marking the championship win confirms that we have a marketing team alert to money-making possibilities. I look forward to seeing a copy myself in due course.

Over in Australia, Tom Knight continues to impress in his club appearances, scoring good runs and bowling steadily, no mean feat for a relatively inexperienced spinner on different tracks. At the other end of the age spectrum, Shane Warne is entertaining thoughts of a return  for the Ashes, something that is unlikely to concern England unduly, but is indicative of the paucity of Australian spin resources. I don't see it as anything more than a gimmick, as Warne surely realises that there's a world of difference between a canny four overs in the Big Bash and 20-30 overs a day in a Test match. I don't think for a minute that the shoulder and fingers will be up to it, even if the physique is as impressive as the hairline. I hope he doesn't do it, purely for the sake of the legend he was.

Knowing when the time has come is crucial to all players and going out at the top maintains the legend. Cricketers should be like stage performers, leave them asking for more, going out on their own terms. Ponting is going with reputation intact and I suspect that Tendulkar will not be too long behind him. Both have entered the cricketing pantheon and it would be a shame if their reputation was sullied by going on too long.

I still remember Fred Trueman in his final performances for Derbyshire, coming back for a few John Player League games. The action was still text book, the line and length were there, but the nip was gone and the feeling pervaded that there was undue reverence from a few batsmen, unwilling to take advantage of someone patently on the way down. Watching him lumber around the boundary, for those who remembered a keen and virile fielder, was a painful experience and there were few worse fielding sides in my experience than the Derbyshire side of that era, which also included the less than mobile Fred Rumsey in his final years.

As age mounts, bowlers lose their nip, batsmen the keenness of their eyes. At that point the former struggle to get good batsmen out, while the latter find the coordination of hands, eyes and feet a struggle. "Eye" players go first, while those with better techniques can last several years longer. David Gower struggled in his later years, so too did Eddie Barlow. Michael Slater's ascendant star burned out very quickly, poor technique and footwork coupled with erratic shot selection for increasingly poor returns. All were players who relied on a keen eye at the expense (at times) of footwork and their latter years were marked by periods of lower scores.

Technique players, like Graeme Hick and Mark Ramprakash  played on with success into their forties, while Shivnarine Chanderpaul will probably do the same. All three of those players have been more prolific after their 30th birthday than before it, having come to terms with their games and made adjustments to maximise their strengths.

It is always good to see. Mind you, that's mainly because I'm looking at things from an even more advanced perspective...