At the start of the summer, I had genuine optimism that we might make a challenge in the four-day game and be improved in T20 cricket.
How wrong was I? We start June with no wins in any first team cricket and the T20, after four matches, might as well be used to try out players from now on.
I'm prepared to be patient, to allow the coaching structure to bed in and to await the changes in personnel that happens in the coming close season, but one wonders if there is more that could go wrong.
This time our opening bowlers are stuck in traffic and don't get to the game in time, so the side effectively picks itself and after a bright start of 33 from three overs, we limp to only 127, adding only 94 from the last seventeen overs.
Yorkshire, somewhat unsurprisingly, cruised to victory with six overs to spare and our status as the worst T20 side in the country, one cultivated over several summers now, appears to be intact for one more at the very least.
The skipper tried his best, as always, but I'm really clutching at straws to find positives right now.
More over the weekend.
Come back Krikken all is forgiven. No fight, not competitive, it has to improve asap. I bet other counties look at our starting Eleven and try to pick out our dangermen, then just laugh and say" no not him", no, no, no, not bad, no, no, no, no, no, no. Absolutely zero quality in this Derbyshire side even though some disagree. Season of complete failure on the cards here.
ReplyDeleteI have been thinking why we all get so disappointed by each Derbyshire failure when if you look at past statistics we should be expecting a defeat – I think from memory we have only qualified from the group stages once and that was on run rate. It is perhaps statistics though that give us the expectations – just under half the teams get through to the knockout stage each season so, all things being equal, you would expect us to get out of the group every two or three years. Therein lies the problem, all things are not equal and I am afraid that we have never had a strong enough team to compete in the competition.
ReplyDeleteIf you ask yourself ‘why would a player sign for Derbyshire’ it is difficult to come up with many sound reasons. Even with all the recent improvements you couldn’t say it is the most attractive of venues to ply your trade, we don’t have a big wage budget, we rarely get the atmosphere of big crowds, we can’t offer the big city lights, even our wicket now tends to be average - being neither a bowler’s nor batsman’s paradise. So the answer to the question, certainly historically, has been ‘because they are the only club who will give me a contract at the moment’.
Players might be attracted if there was a sniff of success, but without those quality players how do you become successful? The club have already identified that home grown talent is the way forward but I think that the head coach has been slow in putting this into practise with his team selections. I really feel that now is the time to put the youngsters in the side and give them a prolonged go. It is no use drip feeding them in, because when the gem is discovered they are picked off by the test ground counties - Gary Ballance and Boyd Rankin here, Jim Taylor and Harry Gurney at Leicestershire. If they can all come through together there is a chance that they will grow together as players and as a team and see a successful future at Derbyshire rather than a promise of a brighter future at Warwickshire, Notts or Yorkshire.
I know that there are risks to exposing all the youngsters at the same time, but can they do much worse than the current performers who seem to get chance after chance? It would take patience from the supporters because there would certainly be bad days but at least we will be watching our local lads give it a blast. My eleven for the Notts game – Moore, Madsen, Elstone, North, Slater, Knight, Hughes A, Cross, Cork, Palladino, Taylor. Will this be the team chosen – definitely not. Would it worsen our chances of progressing in the competition – probably not. Would the crowd numbers fall because the ‘names’ are missing – hopefully not.
Craig
Harsh, Mark. The talent is there, it needs cultivated and confidence.
ReplyDeleteExcellent post Craig and I agree. There's little to lose and long-term gain to be had in such a selection. Without being unduly negative, we'll lose anyway, so might as well see how some local talent responds to the big night atmosphere.
Stuck in traffic? Is that true?
ReplyDeleteCertainly, I share the disappointment aired by others and, if I am honest, struggle a bit to understand why such a malaise appears to have set in.
ReplyDeleteWith any transition involving both structure and changes in personnel, there can be a period of adjustment where some will struggle to adjust initially. However, I think we should have seen an upturn of sorts by now.
Admittedly, we have lost Poynton, Burgoyne and Johnson unexpectedly, but these lads are all young emerging players, rather than seasoned pros. In Gareth Cross, we do have a decent replacement with the gloves too. In fact, on that score, the club have supported the resource requirements very well and certainly the funds made available for both players and coaching staff has been substantial.
We have had a few individuals that have done reasonably well, notably Madsen, Groenewald and Footitt, whilst Moore and Elstone look as though the can offer plenty. However, the side is not working well enough as a unit and perhaps this primarily revolves around the collective efficiency of the batting unit, which then can percolate through to other areas of the side.
So what does the coach do? Invariably, wholesale changes further destabilise a side, whilst the odd change might keep players on their toes.
Do we have many other options? Well, Clare and Slater perhaps come to mind, but it would appear we have to just concentrate on getting the basics right and scrap it out - play ugly if need be and get a victory by hook or by crook. Unfortunately, this has been a bit of a familiar tale of late.
As for those loyal followers, we just need to keep on hanging in there with the lads and keep faith.
MASTERVILLAIN