The blog in winter

Thanks to all of you for your continued support of the blog, wherever you read it.

Whether that support is financial (and thanks again to Office Care for their kind support over the past two summers) or in checking in on a regular basis, it is much appreciated. Your comments and emails are always appreciated and, while we may not always agree, they are usually well-written and well thought out.

This has been the biggest single year of the blog's development. and there have been close to a quarter of a million visits in the past six months. With an additional half million views through Sportskeeda in India, the pieces on Derbyshire cricket have now had almost a million and a quarter reads. More than in my wildest dreams? Yeah, you could say that with confidence...

With the cricket behind us for another year and the cricket bags stashed away in the loft, I won't be blogging every night, but expect to do so two or three times a week, depending on what is happening in Derbyshire cricket.

I will also be widening the net and covering broader cricket issues as they are relevant to the county and commenting on signings by our rivals ahead of the 2015 summer.

Other features will include interviews with past club players. I have recently completed an interview with spin bowling legend Edwin Smith, who took more wickets for the county than anyone else still alive, and am currently working on another featuring our long-serving opening batsman, Alan Hill. Both have given generously of their time and I hope that the finished pieces do two fine players justice.

I have also finished transcribing an interview with our legendary groundsman, Walter Goodyear and that will be worth a read. Walter is the only surviving direct link with pre-war Derbyshire cricket and his stories will hopefully prove as fascinating to you as they were to me.

I'll be back soon - between times, enjoy your weekend!