So this time next week is the closing date for the applications for those wishing to work under Graeme Welch in the coaching team at Derbyshire.
It is, once again, an eminently sensible move by the club, rather than merely slotting in those who were left without roles from the previous set up. I am sure that those concerned will apply, but we have to see who is out there and capable of taking our players on to the next level.
Again, quite rightly, there is no specification on the number of coaches being sought, though one would assume that we would need one for the Academy and Second XI, as well as a batting coach. Much will depend on the budget we have and the financial demands of the applicants, but I am very confident that at the end of the process, which should be the end of this month, we will have a sound coaching set up which will serve us well.
Elsewhere, you may have read that the self-effacing (I jest) Lord MacLaurin has pinned the winter Ashes failure fairly and squarely on county cricket and suggests the cure to our ills is - wait for it - to chop six counties from the current roster and fixture list.
Notwithstanding the fact that his assertions have no greater credibility than those of anyone else, his typically knee-jerk reaction completely ignores one crucial point. There was little wrong with the county game when England were top of the world rankings. After one bad tour, suddenly it is all because the little counties are clogging up the system and preventing the creation of a cricketing master-race.
I could spend the next half an hour writing my thoughts on his spurious arguments, or I could direct you to the best article that I have seen on the county game this year, by David Hopps on Cricinfo. Mr Hopps is an excellent writer and he beautifully sums up my thoughts in one perfectly-formed package.
Enjoy!
You just despair at some of the comments these people within the ECB come out with. Their naivety and lack of understanding is utterly mindboggling,even within an organisation that specialises in stupidity.
ReplyDeleteI,ve said my piece on England. A number of players should never have been selected and as good a player as he is,Cook,s inadequacies as a captain were ruthlessly exposed,time and time again.
I see Finn has now left the scene in an attempt to sort his bowling out. What was he doing there in the first place?. The problems with Finn are hardly something new. I don,t think he ever recovered from all the verbal flack he got from the lager boys at Chesterfield a couple of years ago!. Why in the first ODI was Buttler sent in at number 8?. Potentially the most explosive player in the team runs out of time. It,s tactical suicide and just illustrates the sort of self inflicted damage which has surrounded England for some time. Reducing to 12 counties is not going to solve the sort of mistakes and muddled thinking that currently follows the England team around like a faithful dog. Paul Hopps is right about much,though it,s not a dose of honesty that,s needed. A dose of gunpowder might have more effect.