Milnes turn to leave Derbyshire

Following on from the recent release of Tom Taylor, who next day was announced as Leicestershire's new signing, comes the news that Tom Milnes has left the county by mutual consent.

As was the case with Taylor, I am a little disappointed that a player of talent fully failed to register it in Derbyshire colours, because there's no doubt that Milnes can play. He is a lively bowler, capable of bowling some really good, wicket-taking balls, and is a batsman who suggested that he could, in time, become more than just a cheerful tail end clumper. Indeed, I shall always remember, as I sat talking to him in his office ahead of my last book, Graeme Welch saying that he saw himself as a young man in Tom's style of play.

The problem has been, with bowling his stronger suit, that he mixed up those wicket-taking balls with too many that were poor. His economy rate wasn't good and as we all know, a batsman who can rely on a four-ball or two an over will get settled pretty quickly.

As with Taylor, the timing is unusual, the expectation being that he would see out the final year of his deal at this stage of the winter. Yet the club has been honest with him and he would have got little senior cricket this summer. How could he, with Rampaul and Viljoen in there, as well as Palladino, Davis and Cotton ahead of him?

I wish him well for the future, wherever it takes him.

The departure, for me, suggests that plans for the overseas seamer who can bat are well advanced and hopeful, as they would look mighty silly if they end up with two or three injuries and a couple of teenagers from the academy getting early elevation.

Yet those same boys will now get regular second team cricket, which they should do. And if they handle that, we might well see them getting senior opportunity earlier than would otherwise be the case.

If that overseas bowler is, as was suggested last weekend in the media, Vernon Philander, then my viewing of him in the current Test match at Johannesburg was encouraging. He bowls a terrific line and his control is superb, conceding only one run in his first eight overs on the first morning. If we can get him in and, with the other senior professionals, he can teach young bowlers his secrets, it will be money well spent.

Having said that, the rest of a keen attack produced some poor bowling today on a pitch offering irregular bounce and extravagant movement. Morkel, Rabada and Ngidi will all look back on a day when they started banging it in short, rather than putting it on a length and letting the wicket do the rest. In doing so, they let the Indian batsmen rule out the worry of front foot play and the one that flew, simply rocking back and pulling or cutting.

Unless they bowl equally badly, India should win tomorrow.