The departure from Derbyshire, announced today, of Gary Wilson comes as no real surprise.
I had a feeling, when he was left out of the squad for the closing matches of the season, that a parting of the ways was on the cards. For both player and club, I think it is absolutely the right thing.
Especially in his time at Surrey, Gary was a solid county cricketer. I think he was more mobile then and he proved a good choice as captain for that county in a time of some turmoil. He took them to T20 finals day too and there were plenty of well-wishers from that county when he moved to Derbyshire, two years ago.
It didn't work out for him at Derbyshire. Partly because he was one of three wicket-keepers on a small staff and, by general consensus, wasn't in the top two, yet was vice-captain. With team selection done by the 'senior group' any drop in form was going to lead to accusations of players 'looking after each other', even when that wasn't the case.
With Daryn Smit the best glove man and Harvey Hosein the local lad that many wanted to see earn early promotion, it didn't make for an easy spell for any of them. When none was able to produce the consistency that was required to make the role their own, it became obvious that something had to give.
Wilson led the team through two T20 campaigns. Last year he played two or three pugnacious knocks to close out wins, but this season his batting drew criticism. He wasn't quick between the wickets, but he seemed to need longer to get going and ate up valuable deliveries before he got his eye in.
Nor was his captaincy innovative enough for a demanding format. A top captain would have thought on his feet when Afridi opened for Hampshire in last year's quarter-final, tore up the plan and changed the bowling order. Gary didn't, nor was he especially sharp with field placings or his batting order. Maybe that was more the coach's decision, but the man who leads the side on the field normally has a major call in such things.
The club statement today, in which Dave Houghton is quoted as saying 'we decided to give the wicket-keeper batsman duties to someone with a long term future at Derbyshire' suggests that Harvey Hosein is due his opportunity next year.
That being the case, I could see a lot of merit in using Daryn Smit's experience and coaching nous with the second eleven next year, available as required for first team duties. As things stand, it would allow Mal Loye to spend more time with the academy and both elevens would likely benefit as a result.
In closing, thanks to Gary for his efforts over the past two years.
It didn't really work out as all parties hoped, but he gave of his best and I am sure we all wish him well in his next venture, back in Ireland and with the Irish national side.
And for what it is worth, with precedent being set, I don't think this will be the last such departure this close season...
I agree. Gary Wilson's departure is both the right thing for him and Derbyshire.
ReplyDeleteBut I have a fond memory of Derbyshire's second last game of the season at Lords. During lunch, I happened to wander past the back of then pavilion, and there was Gary standing outside and hugging his baby son to his chest, and his wife with the buggy.
I wish him well when he returns to Ireland.
Pleased we are managing to get some money off the wage bill to enable Houghton to at least make a couple of signings (I hope).
ReplyDeleteWouldn’t be surprised to see Lace join or he lad fron Warwickshire Umeed. Talented youngsters to supplement Godleman Reece and Madean and Hughes is surely a good way to go.
Wouldn’t be advers to Rampaul leaving in similar circumstances to Wilson to be fair. Nor Viljoen who has been a disappointment in the main despite some very good spells on occasions.
The core of the team is looking good. I think you can pencil in 7 of the starting Xl for championship 2019 and we probably need another batsmen or 2. And a couple of bowlers. Including overseas. If we hope Olivier comes back we need an opener or a number 3 depending on where Reece and Madsen bat. A middle order batsmen. And a seamer.
I would like to see
1 Godleman
2 Lace ❓
3 Reece
4 Madsen
5 ❓
6 Hughes
7 Hosein
8 Critchley
9 Palladino
10 ❓perhaps Viljoen if he stays and works with bowling coach
11 Olivier (o/s) ❓
Clearly this could be ambitious and means we would need to cut a deal with a Rampaul and or Viljoen. But this has the makings of a very good team that could challenge. I feel as though Hughes deepen in the order with HH and critchley (he’s an attacking player and playing at 8 enables him to have a whack which for me is more his game) and we will look much more solid this way. As everyone was batting a bit too high for me this season. We need our batting order to look scary and we need to bat deep.
Disappointing as I'd seen him bat really well for Surrey and expected him to post some big scores. Couple of valuable innings this season - RL game against Durham and he held the first innings together at Chesterfield against Northampton. Good luck to him back in Ireland but his captaincy will need to be more clearly focussed against what we saw in the T20 this time.
ReplyDeleteContract signing by Hosein confirms he will be the no 1 with the gloves next season which is good news and he's got the whole winter to think how he's going to deal with some of the wilder fast bowling.
It's hard to disagree with much of this, and certainly the expectations that were raised when he joined us weren't altogether fulfilled. We (and probably he) expected more from him with the bat, but he was never the most prolific or consistent scorer with Surrey. His speciality was playing gritty rear-guard or pugnacious counter-attacking innings that could turn matches, as he did against us in 2015. We saw some of this, for example against Leicestershire, when he rescued the innings from an early collapse, and the win at Chesterfield against Northants when he pinned together the second half of the innings to get us to a competitive first innings score. In the end, his batting average for us wasn't too far below his career average. although there was a sense of diminishing returns as the season went on. Not a huge success, to be sure, but perhaps not the failure as a player that many supporters feel he was.
ReplyDeleteBut it's worth reflecting on what both Barnett and Godleman said when he joined. They made clear that they wanted him as much for his impact on the mindset and culture of a team that was used to losing as for his runs and catches. In this context, whatever our reservations about him as a captain and player in T20, we've had our most successful two seasons under his leadership. In the championship we were much more likely to win and less likely to lose with him in the side than without him: we won 6 out of the 17 games he played in, and only 1 of the 10 he missed. Even more striking, we lost 6 out of the 17 games he played in, and 8 out of the 10 he missed.
It's not something that any of us outside the dressing room can judge, but the record suggests that Derbyshire were more successful, confident and resilient with him than without him. Whether it adds up to good value for money is another matter, but perhaps we shouldn't just weigh his value in terms of runs and catches.
'we decided to give the wicket-keeper batsman duties to someone with a long term future at Derbyshire'
ReplyDeleteNot rocket science is it. Thank heavens Dave Houghton is back in the building!
I said it then and i shall say it again we should never have got rid of him in the first place, but his 5 year plan at the time was deemed as being too long for some. So we replaced him with JM..well done!
Wasted years. Welcome back Dave Houghton.