Back to business - and T20 preparation

Derbyshire make the journey to Wales this week for a game against Glamorgan in the scenic splendours of Swansea.

When I realised that the fixture coincided with a week's holiday, I toyed with the idea of a trip down to south Wales, but the realisation quickly dawned that on a good day it would be a seven-hour journey each way for me.  On a bad one - well, that was something I didn't wish to entertain.

So it is that the coming week will see me head down the M74, A66 and A1 to God's own county. It gives me a chance to catch up with my parents and with friends old and new. I plan to get along to see the second team at Belper on a couple of days, with the weather set fine for the week and the game affording a chance to see who is playing and (hopefully) doing well. Maybe even a belated trialist, who might force his way into the T20 squad with a stellar performance.

My guess is that spin will play a major part in Wales, so Hamidullah Qadri can expect a game and Billy Godleman is likely to have a bat if he wins the toss, as I don't see the wicket green enough to warrant an automatic decision to bowl. I hope that Duanne Olivier is rested well after a spell at Durham that would have tested a spinner, while we can only hope that Hardus Viljoen is back to Sussex, 2017 mode.

I didn't go with one or two suggestions that we should drop Hardus after Durham. In the first innings he looked terrific and bristled with aggression, but in the second I am sure he will admit himself he was poor. He is, however, a professional who will hopefully look back on what he should have done better and is, still, in my opinion, the second best bowler in the club. You don't omit the second best bowler in any club.

I think the reaction to the Durham defeat is a back-handed compliment. Two years ago, we wouldn't have expected to go there and win. Now, we do. Likewise we wouldn't have expected to beat some of these division one sides in T20, which we did last year. Progress is being made, but all of us need to realise that we can't always win and the opposition, as someone pointed out recently, do have a right to play well against us. We are doing OK on limited resources and are competing, something that has not always been the case. Next is winning more, but that will come.

The T20 is around the corner and John Wright, Dominic Cork and Grant Bradburn will already be discussing their plans for the competition. I think that they have some tough calls to make, with the opening partner for, presumably, Matt Critchley among them. I also think that the necessary make up of the side may mean that either Daryn Smit or Gary Wilson can play, but not both. Whoever gets the nod should also skipper the side, a big ask for a keeper, but for me it is one of them or Alex Hughes, to allow Billy Godleman a breather.

We need to fit in Calum MacLeod, one assumes at three in the role vacated by Luis Reece. Riaz, Viljoen and Rampaul are pretty much shoo-ins and that leaves the other overseas role. There has been very little on this from the club and I am not convinced that a quality spinner, our preference when we lost the services of Mitchell Santner, is out there. I would have taken Keshav Maharaj or Tabraiz Shamsi of South Africa, but both are on tour in Sri Lanka. Meanwhile Yasir Shah, who was mentioned a few weeks back, would be a gamble considering he was unfit to tour England and I cannot think of another available spinner of a requisite standard.

One man who wasn't picked for that Sri Lankan tour, in a South African squad that has an expected emphasis on spin, is Duanne Olivier. I would be thrilled if the county were able to retain his services, because he has shown an ability to take wickets in all forms of the game. He also goes for less than eight an over in the T20 format and would take his place, for me, in this likely first choice side:

Godleman
Critchley
MacLeod
Madsen
Slater
Wilson/Smit
Hughes
Viljoen
Riaz
Olivier
Rampaul

Lengthy tail? Yes, but Viljoen and Riaz can both clump it and if you need 8-11 to dig you from a hole, 1-7 haven't done their job properly. Accentuating the positive, to quote Jimmy Durante and that attack SHOULDN'T concede too many runs. Sides may try to negate them on away tracks and prepare slow wickets, but that is where Critchley, Madsen and Hughes come into play.

Is it as strong as we would wish? No, because there's no Reece and no Santner, but you go with the resources you have and work within those constraints and talents.

If we shock the cricket world with the news that AB de Villiers is spending the summer with his granny in Belper I wouldn't say no, but time is running out now and I'd have no complaints if Olivier were to stay on. Nor should anyone else, but I have no idea if he needs to be home at this stage.

More from me when the squads are announced for the Glamorgan game.