As Oliver points out below yesterday's post, there's something quite satisfying about Martin Guptill's recent return to form against England.
As we all know, 'The Gup' is a batsman of undeniable class and I still find it hard to believe that none of the IPL sides were willing to sign him up this year. I was going to write 'take a punt' there, but there is no risk in signing a player like Guptill. he generally gives himself the best opportunity to do well by playing straight and through the 'V'. When he hits a bad trot, it is usually because he's started to play across the line a little more and needs only to go back to basics.
His driving is a feature of his game and that long stride he gets in enables him to go over the top to any slight variance in length. I really hope - as I am sure you all do - that we can get him for the T20.
Can you just imagine sitting down at the County Ground to watch Derbyshire bat and out walk Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Martin Guptill? Cricket doesn't get much better than that and there should be every expectation of a great public response if Guptill agrees to sign after the ICC World Cup.
A Derbyshire challenge in the T20 is long overdue and after last season's experiment with a death bowler in Rana Naved, which unquestionably failed, the county's tactics look set to change with two hitters at the top of the order - and rightly so.
I'd like to see Chanderpaul bat it through as far as possible, a most able of sheet anchors, allowing the rest to play the shots around him. If he could do that, Derbyshire will mount decent totals and have the bowling, especially slow ones, to strangle the opposition response.
I'd say even at this early stage that I don't expect Messrs Palladino and Groenewald to play much T20. We need them to stay fit through to the end of the season, and while there were critics of Palladino's absence from the tournament last year, it was fully vindicated by season-end. Yes, he may have bowled well and struck some lusty blows - but he could easily have tweaked a hamstring, or injured a shoulder diving around the field.
It is easy to say that T20 is 'just four overs' for bowlers, but there's a lot of running, diving and fast throwing, any of which can cause a nasty long-term injury. Expect to see Mark Turner spearhead the T20 attack, with plenty of spin support and cameo appearances by Groenewald and Clare.
Fingers crossed we perform this year!
Yes,Guptill looks to be back on song. He,s too good a player not to bounce back and i,m sure we all hope he returns for the T20.
ReplyDeleteLike you,Peakfan,I hope we can mount a serious challenge in T20 and hopefully qualify for the latter stages. similarly a good campaign in CB40 would also be welcome. We have lagged behind in the shorter forms of the game and we need to do something about it. Yes,the Championship is important,but we mustn,t look at it as the bee all and end all. Iv,e said before on here,winning is a good habit to get into and creates the right mentality all round.
It's a good point you make about spin, and in reality is probably our best hope of progressing in the tournament. Hampshire managed to win the tournament a couple of years ago by creating dustbowls at home and packing the side with spin, and I reckon it's the best way forward. Should Guptill sign, I see us lining up like this:
ReplyDeleteGuptill
Chanderpaul
Durston
C Hughes
Whiteley
Madsen
Johnson
Clare/Groenewald
Wainwright
Turner
Burgoyne/Knight/A Hughes if wicket will seam
Also today I saw that Anthony McGrath has retired from Yorkshire. With Root and Bairstow likely to be gone to England as well, perhaps it makes our line up look pretty decent?!