Sorry about the lack of blogging last night, but it was a busy one. There was a trip into Glasgow for a couple of hours, followed by time spent attempting to salvage a team from the debris of my work side's game against my club tomorrow.
I have a magnificent seven when all is said and done, which effectively rules out such niceties as a slip, third man or fine leg, but will focus the bowlers on line and length and means that point and square leg have a lot of ground to cover. Think mid off will do me quite nicely thank you....oh, and do feel free to mail me if you fancy an early start and a game. We don't start till 1pm. An easy run from Derby in that time and still home in time for midnight...
First tonight, sincere congratulations to Wayne Madsen on winning the Christopher Martin-Jenkins Spirit of Cricket award, the result of his 'walking' when given not out in his first innings against Yorkshire at Chesterfield. Coming, as it did, in a summer when the 'walking' controversy over Stuart Broad in the Test series ran deep, it was sure to make an impression and deservedly did so.
Then again, it highlights for the wider cricketing world what we at Derbyshire know - that Madsen is a diamond of a man and player who we are lucky to have at the county. John Morris brought some good players here and Madsen was his crowning glory. Even John probably didn't see him leading us to a trophy in his first full season as skipper, nor setting the tone for a late season fightback when we were nearly dead and buried.
On and off the pitch he is a model professional and an ideal figure head for the club. He thoroughly deserves the award, as he does the Player of the Year award that will almost certainly head his way once more at the end of the season.
Off the pitch, a player was released yesterday who is the sort that would have been good for us at his best.
Zander de Bruyn is the player, a casualty of a poor summer at The Oval. At 38 he is not unduly old and will look at the example of Murray Goodwin and consider continuing his career elsewhere. A career batting average just under 40 and over 250 wickets tells of a good cricketer, though his statistics this summer suggest one whose talents may be on the wane.
Then again, an opportunity elsewhere might give him a new lease of life and I think that a middle order player of experience - especially one who could offer balance as a seamer - would be an asset to us for 2014. Mind you, I doubt a Surrey salary will be on offer in many places around the county circuit, so the player may need to adjust his financial needs to get another playing engagement - assuming he hasn't alternative plans, of course.
Finally tonight, the groups have been drawn for next summer's as yet unnamed fifty-over competition, which may yet end up being called something catchy like "the YB50". We're in group A - naturally - and those groups in full are:
Group A: Derbyshire, Hampshire, Lancashire, Leicestershire, Worcestershire, Northamptonshire, Yorkshire, Gloucestershire, Essex
Group B: Surrey, Kent, Glamorgan, Middlesex, Nottinghamshire, Warwickshire, Somerset, Durham, Sussex
Four home and four away games and we start on -2 points as things stand. Not a bad group though and at least some different opposition to the usual T20 groupings.
More soon, with a look at this week's game against Warwickshire. First, though, cue the music for the Magnificent Seven.
For tomorrow we ride...
Should I stay or should I go?. The age old question for batsmen given not out when they are out. It,s a personal decision but most these days would remain at the crease,peace of mind coming from the knowledge there will be times when they will be the victim of a howler. I wouldn,t be too unhappy if Madsen shelved his principles,if only for one week.
ReplyDeleteI can,t say i,m particularly taken by the idea of de Bruyn becoming a Derbyshire player. With two players at 39 you,ll be able to hear their bones creaking on a calm day. He,s been a good player,no doubting that and Goodwin has proved that life doesn,t necessarily end at 40,but is he really going to be any improvement on what we already have?. I wouldn,t weep and wail if we did sign him but it would represent a significant departure from the several commandments of the prosperity plan. Not a bad thing,some may say,but we have to be careful not to jump out of the frying pan and end up in the fire.
Good points Marc. Note I said would have been good at his best...he isnt now...so....
ReplyDeleteYB5O waste of time for cricket fans, id rather have a knock-out competition back with minor counties with Scotland and ireland involved in the first round, (like the old nat-west) the group competition is boring for fans as most games end up being dead rubbers.
ReplyDeletepaul.
I guess the problem with a knock-out competition (with no group stages) is that a lot of counties will end up with very few 1-day games, and players need to be playing competitive 1-day games in order to develop. Also if a team gets knocked out after 1/2 games a couple of years in a row, then it'll be hard for them to do well the next year as it'll be nearly 3 years since they had a decent run of 1-day games. But the YB40 was a bit of a rubbish format, and an extended knock-out section would have been more exciting.
ReplyDeleteCricket has missed a golden opportunity to move forward and thanks to the Morgan report has catapulted itself back to the dark ages.
ReplyDeleteWhat sort of cricket do most people watch?. The answer is limited overs,which should be played when the majority can actually attend. There is no reason why four day cricket shouldn,t be played Monday through Thursday. That would leave Friday evenings or Saturday for T20 and Sundays for YB50.
I,ve never been in favour of cricket under floodlights in this country.I just cannot see the point in it. I,m sure we would be far better playing T20 on a saturday afternoon rather than Friday evening when many people are recovering from a week at work.
The YB50 is a joke. A throwback to the bad old days. I,ve spoken to very few people who favour this format which virtually takes up a whole day. The arguments put forward by Morgan are a complete red herring. Nobody in their right mind would accept the notion that playing an extra 10 overs is going to make the slightest difference to how the national team performs. The only difference made will be the reduced number of people who will actually watch these matches.
Even in YB40 there is usually a period where little happens. That will now extend to about 30 overs. As it now stands there are 4 home games. That,s less than one per month.Utterly ridiculous.
The T20 experiment is another that is doomed to failure. There will simply be too much,too spread out and it will lose much of it,s appeal. Mark my words,in a few years there will have to be another major re-think,by which time some counties will be on their financial kness and wishing they had never heard of Morgan.