Saturday 8 October 2016

Thoughts on the squad

'Do you think that Luis Reece is the sort of player that we'll see coming in this winter, Peakfan? Good a prospect as he is, there's no real experience there'.

So ran an email I got last night and it made me double check a few things.

Since the start of the season we have released Rutherford, Hughes, Durston, Poynton, Carter, Elstone, and Knight. Harry White is still on the club site but was, I understand, trialing elsewhere, while we also had Luke Fletcher on loan. Tony Palladino will split his time between playing and coaching, while Callum Parkinson came and went faster than you can say 'got him with the arm ball'.

That's eleven players, twelve if you add in Jimmy Neesham. What is left makes interesting reading.

It leaves eighteen on the staff, according to the club site, which includes Harry White. Of those eighteen, only Madsen, Broom, Godleman, Wilson and Palladino could be considered experienced. Others have been around for a few seasons, but university and injury have limited their involvement.

No, I suspect that while we might see one or two young players engaged on deals for next summer (and I hope that Tom Wood is one, as second team player of the year) the rest of our signings will likely be men of experience.

They have to be. To win matches we need to take wickets and it is unrealistic to expect to do that with young players learning the game. There will be occasions where they provide shock value, play above themselves or the opposition go after them, but we cry out for the strike bowler and spinner I have mentioned before.

Harold Rhodes told me that when he started he got wickets because people took liberties against him, when they could take none off Cliff Gladwin and Les Jackson. Rhodes then played a similar role for Alan Ward, while Michael Holding took as many wickets at the other end as he did himself.

If we could find, somewhere, a seam bowler and spinner of quality, it would make the lives of the young bowlers much easier. They would still have to work, but batsmen would take chances, aware that X was bowling at the other end, while Y was limbering up. On good tracks, Billy Godleman could ideally then rely on someone to put the ball in the right areas and make batsmen work for runs. Tony Palladino did that admirably last year, but cannot be expected to bowl 25 overs an innings in every match.

Fingers crossed the next news will be of the signing of one such player, which would whet the appetite of supporters for a season that has to be better than the one just finished.

Enjoy your weekend!

20 comments:

  1. As a Derbyshire fan living outside of the county I have not heard anything regarding the reason Hamish Rutherford didn't play for the second half of the season. Can you enlighten me please?

    Regards
    Grant Wells
    Telford

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. He didnt warrant a place on form, Grant and was never going to come back next year.
      Made more sense to try out young players for the future..an opportunity Alex Hughes took with both hands!

      Delete
    2. He didnt warrant a place on form, Grant and was never going to come back next year.
      Made more sense to try out young players for the future..an opportunity Alex Hughes took with both hands!

      Delete
  2. I think our batting line up looked very weak at times and it might have been worth giving him a bit more time to get back in to form then. You mention a spinner and a pace bowler are needed (totally agree, a spinner who can bat a bit would be a bonus, an Ant Botha type) but I also think we need a solid, experienced number 3 who can come in and average over 40 in red ball cricket.....

    Best Wishes
    Grant Wells
    Telford

    ReplyDelete
  3. I agree with you Grant. An solid, established, dependable number 3 would do wonders for our batting lineup. Let Reece and Slater compete to open with Godleman.

    Strike bowler and spinner are also essential signings and then that would allow us to blood one or two youngsters in the first XI alongside a core of experienced players e.g. Reece/Slater, Thakor and Davis

    Gareth

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  4. I think our next signing will come from Durham.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We need to persuade our neighbours to give up on Will Gidman and decide that they would like to donate him to us. :)

      Unfortunately a tad unrealistic. :(

      Gareth

      Delete
  5. Maybe the Pink Panther? Dunno mate, not sure how we can tempt someone from former division one (albeit relegated) to bottom of division two.
    There lies Kim Barnett's great challenge as cricket supremo - persuading people of our potential. I see it, with the right additions, but there are a lot who won't.

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  6. Maybe the Pink Panther? Dunno mate, not sure how we can tempt someone from former division one (albeit relegated) to bottom of division two.
    There lies Kim Barnett's great challenge as cricket supremo - persuading people of our potential. I see it, with the right additions, but there are a lot who won't.

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  7. So what names do you think we could be looking at for this spinner?

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  8. No idea mate. The two best in the world are Tahir and Herath. Not sure we could get them - it would be a major coup if we did - and the Saffers tour next year anyway.
    The Indians can't play as their IPL contracts preclude it. Doesnt leave many you might expect to bowl sides out. Santner OK but thats it.Shah was good for Pakistan but didnt appear to speak English in interviews, when Mushtaq interpreted.
    Huge job to identify someone, check they can play here and then persuade them to come.
    Maybe need to get Edwin Smith trained up, just in case!

    ReplyDelete
  9. No idea mate. The two best in the world are Tahir and Herath. Not sure we could get them - it would be a major coup if we did - and the Saffers tour next year anyway.
    The Indians can't play as their IPL contracts preclude it. Doesnt leave many you might expect to bowl sides out. Santner OK but thats it.Shah was good for Pakistan but didnt appear to speak English in interviews, when Mushtaq interpreted.
    Huge job to identify someone, check they can play here and then persuade them to come.
    Maybe need to get Edwin Smith trained up, just in case!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Mitch Santner would be an excellent overseas signing, more than just OK. He'd take a top 6 batting spot and be a front line spinner. Whether he'd manage to bowl sides out is a moot point but he'd allow us to play 4 front line seamers in the championship, whoever they may be. He can play all 3 formats well, can give it a whack in the t20, and is a good fielder.

    Not overly convinced by the Reece signing, I wouldn't be breaking up the Godleman/Slater partnership so don't really see where he fits in apart from a reserve batsman?

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  11. Santner would be good if he was available. We signed Dilshan so maybe Herath would be possible? But then we would need a Kolpak strike bowler as we surely can't find an English one? Let's try to get some names for both spinners and a strike bowler just for a bit of fun? Who do we think is possible?

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  12. Also is Tahir actually that good? Maybe in the shorter form but wasn't he awful at Notts this year?

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  13. Mark I don't want to go around the houses as none of us know who is available. The IPL will take a lot from the equation and others either won't or don't want to play here and uproot families etc. Then there's getting national board permission to play and injuries..it is somewhat pointless.

    Is Tahir good? Blimey, if he isn't I don't know who is! 1400 career wickets across formats, nearly 800 in the first-class game. 25 wickets in 7 games for Notts on pitches meant to encourage Ball, Broad and co in division one.

    Compare him to Santner who you mention: good cricketer but 49 first-class career wickets at 45 don't suggest he would win many matches when he has a personal best at this stage of 3-51. With respect to the lad, who is a good one-day player, Callum Parkinson had better than that...

    Tahir would be wonderful but every county would chase a player of that quality, when many have to put up with a considerably worse standard.

    Gareth - Gidman is a good player but contracted to Notts for another year. I suspect if he were allowed to leave that Kent might be in poll position, after he spent several weeks there on loan at the end of last summer.

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  14. Sam I think Reece a good enough bat to rival Alex Hughes for three or move up top if Billy or Ben were injured or out of form.

    He could probably bat anywhere in the top six to good effect and could be a useful all rounder with the right coaching.

    For me, next season's team has half a dozen names you could pencil in pretty much automatically with the rest of the places very much up for grabs.

    So Godleman, Madsen, Wilson, Thakor, Hosein and Palladino. There's a case for Ben Slater, Alex Hughes and Luis Reece, but they can't all play. Nor do you bring Broom back across the world to play in the second team - at least not initially.

    Lots of talented young bowlers - but who will move ahead of the pack this winter?

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  15. Hi Peakfan. Thanks for that. I actually said "is he actually that good" as you said he was one of the best two spinners in the world. Maybe you are right I don't know the rankings for spinners. I know he is excellent in white ball but genuinely haven't seen him much in red ball cricket recently. All I was pointing out was one of my mates who is a Notts fan said he bowled some rubbish last season. Just checked the averages. 37 is ok I suppose but not sure it strikes me as top two in the world but you watch a lot more cricket than me so I will respect your option on that. Regards other names ok let's not go round the houses. I was just hoping a bit of speculation might be interesting but we shall wait for official news from the DCCC twitter. Come on Kim Barnett make me happy - let's hope we pull off some good deals. I am still hoping for a good number 3 or 4 (as Madsen can always go to 3). A spinner and a strike bowler to lead the attack. If we do that I will be very happy. All need to be experienced.

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  16. Every bowler and batsman has good and bad days. They also have days where the conditions are heavily against them and they try things. That doesn't always come off, but then again, we don't have perfect working lives either...

    Your comment made me check Herath - another fine bowler with over 300 Test wickets.

    He had a spell with Hants where he took 10 wickets at 46, one with Surrey where he took 8 wickets at 53.

    There are no guarantees in this game, as we found with Dilshan and Amla. What we have to do is tailor our wickets to whoever we get - pick up a top spinner and let's have them dry, set to turn on day 2 or 3. Pick up a top seamer and let's have them with a little bounce and movement. Bounce would be appreciated by everyone.

    Pick up one of each...now that WOULD be nice. Perhaps a pipe dream but we will see what develops. It won't be for the want of trying, I know that!

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  17. Great point Peakfan about tailoring the pitch. Absolutely spot on. Herath would be amazing. I've always loved watching him bowl but will probably never happen. Santner is young and would actually be a good recruit as one or two overseas for t20. Perhaps a massive gamble for the CC like you say he's not got a great first class record but he's a capable all-rounder so could be worth consideration but maybe we need to get in line and see what's left and who is interested.

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