I'm not sure if anything from today's meeting of the playing staff and coaches at the County Ground will make it outside of the four walls of the room, but one thing will need to be addressed in the coming months.
How can we get, and continue to get, the best out of our young players?
Over the last couple of seasons, three young cricketers, Daniel Redfern, Ross Whiteley and Tom Poynton, had been elevated to the senior side and impressed people with their displays. All appeared to be pugnacious batsmen with a full range of shots and the confidence to play them. Granted, this was in division two, but the potential of all three appeared considerable.
This year has been a struggle for all three. Redfern has had several starts, but his innings are generally categorised as being a fast start with some flashing shots before giving it away in the twenties. Poynton has kept wicket to his usual high standard but a batting average of just eight saw him give way to Richard Johnson. The latter's batting suggests that he is capable of batting as high as six if things don't improve from the specialist batsmen, allowing for the inclusion of both David Wainwright and Jonathan Clare as all-rounders.
As for Ross Whiteley, the lad has had a horrid start with just 27 runs in seven knocks, with a highest score of just 12. It is not beyond the realms of possibility that none of these young players feature in our next championship match against Surrey, which could leave us without an Academy product in the first eleven.
Developing our own players is one hundred per cent the right thing to do, but we need to find out the formula for their becoming established county cricketers. Over the last few years, we have had some lads through the Academy who were playing representative cricket at age group level and looked like players of serious potential under both Karl Krikken and Howard Dytham. Yet for some reason no one has yet cemented a role in the senior game.
I'm thinking of lads like Jake Needham, Akhil Patel, Atif Sheikh, Paul Borrington and Matt Higginbottom. Some had more opportunites than others, but none have established themselves in the county game. All have proven they can play and dominate at a slightly lower level, but there appears to be an 'X Factor' that is stopping them make that final step.
We appear to have another group of talented players coming through, but the trick is going to be how to assimilate them into the team to best effect. The likes of Slater, Burgoyne, Knight, Cork, Hughes, Marsden and a good few others have rich potential, but key to their and our future success is getting them through that final mental or technical barrier to the big time.
Leicestershire manage it. Look at Buck, Cobb, Eckersley, Freckingham, Smith and Thakor. Yes, it is division two, but one of these lads turns in a performance most matches. Three of them currently average over 50 with the bat and I would love to know how they handle the transition on the coaching and management side. As a county they are in a parlous state, but their record of producing good county and international cricketers is second to none.
Maybe they are blessed with an exceptionally rich crop of young talent in recent years. Maybe they just got lucky. Yet there's always the possibility that they have something that we don't, but really need to learn from.
There's a certain unfortunate irony in that the only product of our Academy who has confirmed himself as a good county cricketer in the last six or seven summers had to leave the club to do it. Wayne White was, of course, that player and we need to hope that Redfern, Whiteley and Poynton emerge from their current troughs of form to emulate him, but in Derbyshire colours of course.
They will all, I'm sure, be aware that such troughs are there for all. I watched Virender Sehwag in the IPL over recent weeks and he appears to have forgotten how to bat. One would never think it was the same player who had slaughtered many a bowling line up in the last ten years or so.
If it can happen to Sehwag, Tendulkar, Ponting and others, it can happen to young lads finding their way into the game. We just need to work out how to help them all through it.
And quickly.
It boils down to something you said a few days ago Peakfan and that is players have a level beyond which they cannot go. It happens in all sport and cricket is no exception.
ReplyDeleteWe would all like to think that our own players have the technical ability and mental strength to be able to play and perform at the highest level but sadly that is often not the case. They can't be blamed for that it's just a fact of life and maybe it applies to many of the players who are in the team now, in addition to some who are not.
We have to be brutally honest here and , as others have already pointed out, the batting problems we are currently experiencing are merely a continuation of those we had last season. For the most part we have average second division batsmen and nothing more than that. The bowlers aided by favorable conditions were the main reason we gained promotion but even they are finding life as tough as I thought they might.
If it is the case we have second tier batsmen then no amount of experience is going to change anything. They could play until they were 40 and still be found wanting. Experience is not a bad thing and I'm not saying it is but unless the basic ingredients are present to begin with, the cake will never turn out the way it should. It's no good anyone pretending that all of a sudden or even in a year or two it's all going to click into place and these players are going to become world beaters. It just isn't going to happen.
I'm not saying we are necessarily doing anything fundamentally wrong, it's just that we dont have good enough players to compete at this level. That may change in the future but no one can guarantee it. In most sports if you haven't made it by the time you are 22 or 23 then the odds are stacked against it happening. There will always be the odd exception but that's the point, they are the exceptions.
As you say yourself Peakfan it's no disgrace to fail at the final hurdle as most people don't even get that far, but if we fall into the trap of deluding ourselves that some of these players are capable of going the distance then progress will at least be impeded or worse still put into reverse. We need to raise standards even higher and the production line has to produce better players or we will simply remain the sort of team we have been for long enough. If Leicestershire can do it there is no reason we can't.
Very good comment mate. Can't argue with that
ReplyDeleteIt may in some respects be an emotive subject, but I think that sending the lads to Australia over the winter may not have led to the improvement envisaged. You get the impression from reading Twitter etc, that on occasions it's more beach and barbecue, whereas little is said about actual cricket.
ReplyDeleteCertainly with Whiteley and Redfern they appear to have come back with performances well below what we might have expected for players for whom we had such high hopes.
Thinking back to Needham, it seems that going to Australia turned out to be a turning point in his first-class career. After Australia it took a downward turn, it affected his action, and he never recovered from it.
I accept all that has been said before, but good players don't become bad players overnight. Redfern and Whitely are talented people, I remain convinced that they can achieve much in their career, I just hope that they will knuckle down and show that grit and determination which will enable that undoubted ability to resurface.
That statistic of 27 runs from 7 innings for Whiteley is frightening Peakfan. I thought he had a few more than that, but is averaging 3.9 an innings. Shocking!.
ReplyDeleteRelegation was always relatively likely this year. The only 2 teams I thought we might be capable of finishing above were Yorks and Durham and they are off to fliers.
ReplyDeleteSupporters need to have more patience. Promotion came earlier than expected. This was a five year plan and if it means we go back down, regroup and come back up again then so be it. Is it really that bad if we get relegated? I am convinced the majority of this squad are capable of performing at this level. One or two will not, but at least we will find out which are good enough.
Unbelievably some supporters are even suggesting that the current struggles "would never have happened under John Morris". Rest assured that any Derbyshire team under Morris would not have got anywhere near division 1.
I suggest supporters show some faith in the current regime and the LONG TERM plan envisaged by those at the helm. The ride may be a little bumpy, but stick with it.
Good comments gents and fully subscribe to your comment Jasper. Nice to hear from you again!
ReplyDeleteAlthough I am highly worried of a season which could well see us relegated without winning a game but, as Jasper comments, this is a long term plan and we're in Div 1 ahead of schedule.
ReplyDeleteMessrs Redfern, Whiteley and Poynton are all struggling yes. That cannot be gotten away from. But, if they can use this experience, learn from it, and come back stronger (in Div 2 probably) ready for another crack at Div 1 then this season will not have been a write off.
As many of the comments above say, this is a long term plan, we're ahead of schedule. things are rocky at the moment, but it's the club we love, and by hell, they gave us a great year last year didn't they!!