There have been some good comments on my previous T20 post and some interesting questions raised, so I thought I would take a sun-kissed few minutes to reply to them.
I agree, based on form there are not many runs after six, but Daryn Smit has proven in last year's T20 and this year's RLODC that he can improvise and score crucial late innings runs. I would argue that if your top six don't get you runs, should there be an expectation of 7-9 doing so? At least, if we get to the late overs with wickets intact, in Viljoen and Riaz we have two big hitters. I wouldn't expect either to come off very often, but if they do they could post crucial late runs. If Smit doesn't play, then yes, Wilson has to keep wicket and it would allow Billy Godleman to play. If he does, it would have to be at the top, because I am not especially taken with his batting against spin.
Are we not short of top-class spin ourselves? Yes, for sure, but then we were once we lost Mitchell Santner and I have never been convinced that there was another quality spinner out there. You can bet your bottom dollar that teams won't prepare fast tracks when we travel, so our own wickets have got to be right for them. I would sooner have a top-class fast bowler than nothing and if anyone can name a top-class spinner we overlooked who would likely have been available, you're a better man than I.
Same goes for top order batsmen. Could we have used one who could bowl? For sure, but who was available, around IPL, CPL and current tours - and who could we afford? Not many and we must all defer to John Wright's knowledge, which is greater than any of us.
I agree with Paul that Madsen, Critchley and Hughes will have a big role to play away from home, but one would expect home pitches would need them less. Never discount the fact that John Wright and Kim Barnett may have a plan for additional spin options, because that is what warm up games are for.
I think Safyaan Sharif will get matches and will do a good job. I would be very concerned if Hardus Viljoen didn't play for reasons other than injury, because a player on top money should be prepared for doing so all the time and quite possibly making sandwiches too. We can never discount injuries and the impact on the squad, the likelihood of all the seamers getting through the tournament unscathed being quite low, I would reckon.
But we will see soon enough.
In closing, thank you for your continued support, which is seeing in excess of fifty thousand monthly views of the blog. Usage continues to grow, which clearly illustrates that irrespective of results, interest in Derbyshire cricket is higher than ever.
Hi Peakfan, Just to add a few thoughts to the excellent T20 discussions. Firstly, I agree that this competition has come at a good time. To me, the team look a bit low on confidence after the last few rounds of the County Championship. Over the past few weeks the team has frequently got itself into a winning position but then gets that window of opportunity slammed shut by lacking that extra bit of quality to force themselves across the line. You can only take that so many times before your early season confidence starts to take a bit of a hit. The injury to Reece has been a big factor in this too so the chance to move attention to the T20 competition and have the three new names of MacLeod, Ferguson and Riaz joining the dressing room is excellent news. On this point I just wanted to add that I think the County should be congratulated on bringing in THREE players for this competition on what is clearly a very limited playing budget, and especially after the late loss of Santner. I am particularly fascinated to see how both MacLeod and Ferguson perform. They could be hidden gems and if this side “clicks” then we could go a long way towards Final Day. As always, the batting of Slater, Madsen and Godleman in particular will be crucial but I still believe in this team producing something special this season. A good start would be nice to bring the good vibes back to the dressing room so let’s hope we can sit back and enjoy a bit of giant killing against the much richer counties over the next few weeks! Finally, many congratulations on the ongoing success of the blog Peakfan. It is one of the best things about the county! It also demonstrates the huge interest in county cricket despite the “Fake News” we get from the ECB. On this point, it is shocking that the ECB is still marching on with plans for the new 100 Ball circus when many counties are reporting record ticket sales for the existing T20 Blast format and in addition to that we have the best One-Day cricket team and one of the best international T20 sides in the world! The current system works and is producing top quality England players so why change it? It is just bizarre and I can see it going the exact same way as the pink-ball day/night championship idea which is clearly not having any impact. If the ECB actually promoted the existing T20 Blast properly and put one match on live free to air television a week (BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5) so that children can actually watch it after school and get an interest in the game then they would have a brilliant product and save themselves a fortune in wasted marketing. I was also very interested to read Dawid Malan’s thoughts on the new format in The Cricket Paper this week. They players clearly have concerns too. Anyway, let’s hope this glorious summer weather continues and we have plenty to celebrate on T20 Finals Day! James
ReplyDeleteI and many others forget that we're running a very tight ship at Derbyshire, and have to cut our cloth accordingly.Perhaps MacLeod was all we could afford, because I can't believe he was our first choice international player.
ReplyDeleteMembership must still be very low, sales of merchandise pretty much non existent so Chris Grant is doing a great job of pumping the money in. I'm not expecting miracles in this T20 campaign,but I want to see us battle, then who knows what may happen.
Chris Grant? To my knowledge he doesn't and didn't put money in. It was more his business acumen that got him involved with the club
DeleteLooks like Kim Barnett has stood down ( BBC web page )
ReplyDeleteWill be interesting on who steers the Group of players over the coming months
J Wright interim ?