Aside from the euphoria of the win at Northampton yesterday, a few things became clearer for me and perhaps a few other people.
Harvey Hosein must surely be a part of it.
There was a phlegmatic calm, not to mention a soundness of technique that was impressive in Hosein's innings yesterday. There was plenty of playing and missing by batsmen all day, but my recollection was that little went past his bat as he played straight and largely went well forward. This minimised the danger of lbw to the one that nipped back and, with the full bat width to work with in playing through the 'V', he batted with the minimum of fuss and maximum common sense.
Since his return to the side he has scored 58, 38, 8, 66 not, 10, 31, 30, 54 not. There is no arguing with such scores and he fully deserves a regular spot while he contributes in such a manner.
There is still the question mark over his role as wicket keeper, but what I have seen of him of late has been more impressive. Critics might point to 23 byes in the game just finished, as well as a grounded catch, but in Hardus Viljoen we have a bowler of notoriously scatter gun manner who often leaves the keeper with no chance when he fires one down leg side from wide of the crease.
It is a shame that we already have three wicket-keepers, because yesterday on Twitter Ned Eckersley announced that he was leaving Leicestershire. At 29 he would be the right age for us and, with a batting average north of thirty and fourteen centuries, the right calibre. As he has done at times for Leicestershire, he is good enough to play as a batsman alone, as is Hosein, of course. He always seems to do well against us and I would reckon that he will be known to Billy Godleman from their time on the Middlesex staff.
I wouldn't discount that one, but it would be dependent on money being available, which we don't know. It would also mean we had four wicket-keepers on the staff, but I could see merit in either Gary Wilson or Daryn Smit getting the second team captaincy next year. I don't think James Kettleborough has made the requisite runs to continue in the role and there would be merit in either of them taking it on, together with a coaching remit, under David Houghton.
Finally, for now, Anuj Dal. I am not yet convinced that a contract should be forthcoming and think that the next two games, should he play, are crucial for him.
He looks good at the crease, composed, wristy and classy. Yet the weight of runs to reinforce that at this level are not there. You could argue that at number eight he won't get the opportunity, but he has played a lot of classy cameos at different levels this year without the big scores to back up his claims.
In some ways it mirrors Dominic Telo, who some of you will remember. He came from South Africa on a Kolpak deal, looked balanced and classy at the crease, yet made no big scores to back up his obvious talent. Telo looked so composed that you were always convinced that today was the big one, yet it never happened.
Like Telo, Dal can obviously play, but I suspect that unless he converts an opportunity in the closing weeks of the season he will struggle for a permanent deal.
We'll see.
If Dal doesn't want to much money Peakfan, i'd keep him for next year, and see how he goes. I think there could be a decent player in there.
ReplyDeleteEckersley would be a good signing for us. As I remember he's got a bit of an edge to him and tends to annoy people from the opposition. He can also bat.
With regard to Hosein. For me, his batting gets better and better. For such a young man he seems to have a calm attitude and a brilliant mental attitude. He also plays correctly. I think he knows what he can and can't do, and bats to his strengths. My view is that, in time, he will move up the order to three, four or five in the line up.
I know people go on about marshalling the tail, but for me, if he keeps on developing, he would be absolutely wasted at number seven.
With Dave Houghton returning next season what about persuading Gary Balance to return next season offering him the captaincy i know money would be the obstacle but if DH wanted him there are ways and means?
ReplyDeleteEckersley from Leicester released today, worth a punt?
ReplyDeleteOr Tom Wells at Leicester?.
ReplyDeleteI believe harvey may be nursing a slight hand injury too which might not be helping with his keeping.
ReplyDeleteI've been an advocate of harvey being given the gloves in the 4 day game for a while and surely he must be afforded that opportunity now...unless we want to let another home grown talent slip through our fingers.
I don't think that Eckersley has kept wicket too much over the last season or so. He got a good century on that flat wicket at Derby last year and I remember him taking an excellent catch. A player who had a lot of promise who has lost his way and would be worth taking as a batsman alone. Hosein has to be coached into the wicketkeeper role; I wonder who looks after the keepers at Derby? Lets make sure we don't mess his batting position; leave him at 7 for the time being and then let's see.
ReplyDeleteCan't see Ballance leaving Yorkshire.
I personally think the ingredient for a successful teams is mixture of Experienced, Academy, good overseas and Kopack player who is international standard. I think the reason we have done quite well is we have got some of those ingredient.
ReplyDeleteI do feel we are missing a key ingredient in making this teams a strong team and that is youth. The development programme from adcamey, 2nd eleven and then 1st teams is not there. I am sure lot players at the club feel what the point? the pathway to becoming a 1st team player doesn't seem atall clear. I don't know how we can make a fair assessment or even make any judgment after 2 games and a number of 20/20. It is like when you have had a promotion in your job and someone deciding if you good enough after 1st month. In development you need to give people time, opportunity, patience and freedom. I personally don't think Derbyshire are developing players because they are not the given time. This causes a pressure cooker environment for any new young player at the club. I think there is fine balance when developing a players to become a county player. As its results what the supporters are most interesting in at the end of the day. I do feel as club if we are going to have any opportunity of really being a really strong side youth has to be big part of it. We are certainly not in market to go out and poach players from other clubs. I think going forward think the club needs a more competitive 2nd eleven. I would look at minor counties/ released players from the bigger teams that are under the age 25. I would create an environment where you do see players given a fair opportunity.
I think Jasper's right about the injury, as Hosein was wringing his hand after almost every take on Wednesday. I don't know if this was the cause of some of his untidy handling against Northants, or the result of it, but sometimes wicket-keepers have to be protected from themselves, as they are so keen to keep the gloves that they play on with injuries.
ReplyDeleteAs far as his batting role is concerned, I've suggested that he should be batting around 5, as he's being left not out too often and because he brings a measured stability to a middle order that too often disintegrates. There's no doubt he does well batting with the tail, as he doesn't get flustered or panicked into reckless strokes, but I'm not so sure he's good at marshalling it, as some have suggested. He's often taking early singles which leaves his partner exposed for most of the order, and this may be a lack of assertiveness or confidence.
It was telling for me that in his interview after the Northants match, he said that he "checked with the guys" whether he should farm the strike when Rampaul came in. You'd have expected a player of his experience not to need to "check with the guys" before doing it, and this may point to the reason he's not been able to fully establish himself in the team. Captains always look to their wicket-keeper to take a leadership role, checking fielders on angles, spotting vulnerabilities in batsmen, and finding opportunities for bowlers. If Hosein's diffidence means that he doesn't take charge of a tailender, however experienced they are, he's not going to show assertiveness when it comes to his wicket-keeping.
Experiences like Thursday are going to stand him in good stead, however, and the ramp shot in the penultimate over might be a turning point in his development. He assessed the risk and alternatives, and took responsibility for a brave choice that would have brought down a tidal wave of criticism if he'd got it wrong. These are the kinds of experience that will build him as a character, but he needs to be in the team to do it. We've been here before, with Hosein looking established in the team at the end of September, only to find himself back in the 2nds come the next April. Let's hope this year is different.
Tell me why we would want to take on another aging player with 220 first class runs for the season at an average 18. Surely we have enough of these already or are they collectables?
ReplyDeleteDerby JOHN
Eckersley. ? Really. ?