Guest Blog: Members Forum - by Adam Oakley

I attended the members forum at Derby last night and I just thought that I would give a brief report from the questions raised.  Despite the terrible weather (cold and wet) there was a fair turnout and some good questions asked which covered most points of discussion.

The meeting started off with Simon Storey saying a brief piece about his departure and then Ryan Duckett also spoke briefly about Simon's legacy.  One gets the impression that Ryan is a strong candidate to take the role on full time, as this would give a seamless transition and by all accounts he has done some excellent work on the commercial side of things.

The bulk of the meeting was a Q&A session with David Houghton and I thought that he answered all his questions thoughtfully and intelligently and that he gave a good impression of himself as someone who knows cricket inside out.

He was asked about the type of culture he wants to create at the club and will he promote young talent from within?  He responded that he has always tried to do this and will do so again, highlighting the 2012 Championship Division Two promotion team and the likes of Borrington, Redfern and Ross Whiteley as players he had helped to develop in his previous spell here from the age groups upwards.  The young seamers at the club (Sam Conners, Alfie Gleadall and James Taylor) will be involved from an early stage next season.  There will be a squad of about 17 players, including the overseas player and two T20 overseas players, but he would like this to go up to 19 from 2020. 

He was asked about Tom Wood and he said that when he returns from Australia he will be looking at him and a number of other local batsman, including Rahib Ali of Ockbrook and Borrowash CC.  Someone asked if Chesney Hughes would be on his radar, but he thinks that Chesney has not progressed since he was batting consultant at the club under Karl Krikken, and that Chesney can look very good in some innings but is not consistent enough.  He was the first person to call David upon his appointment to declare his availability!

There was some discussion on Matt Critchley and the situation regarding his contract. He has been offered a new and improved contract, but these discussions have stopped for now.  David said that the reason behind this was that Matt has said that he has seen 3 different Heads of Cricket come and go in recent seasons and that he wants assurances that he can develop in a settled environment and not for David to become the fourth Head of Cricket to come and go fairly quickly.  Discussions will hopefully continue midway through next season if agreeable to all parties.

In terms of overseas players next season, Duanne Olivier is being courted by other counties and it seems increasingly unlikely that we shall be able to get him.  David would like a similar replacement, a fast bowler who can bat a little bit if possible.  There will be two T20 overseas players again, one of who will probably be a spinner.  Again there will be a T20 specialist coach employed. Dave supports this and said that T20 is a different game and compared it to being like the relationship between squash and tennis.

Discussions are continuing between Derbyshire and Middlesex regarding Tom Lace and a season long loan will hopefully happen.  Tom would be unavailable in games against Middlesex but there would be no recall option based on form.

Questions were asked about the fitness of Hardus Viljoen and Ravi Rampaul and their on field performances.  David said that he had spoken to Hardus and said that everyone expects more from him and we shall have to see what he offers next year.  Ravi will play domestic cricket in the Caribbean this winter and will have to work on his fitness next year if he wants to play and David added that as professional cricketers they have a duty to report fit and to maintain fitness. 

Daryn Smit will be 2nd team captain next year, with a view to becoming a coach at the club the year after. He is ECB level 3 qualified already and will work towards level 4.  There will be more coaching support available to the 2nds than before.

David would like to see slightly more grass left on the wickets next year. He again highlighted 2012 as a year when they played on such wickets.  Currently Neil Godrich (the groundsman) leaves 6mm of grass on the wicket but he would like to see 9mm left.  One day and T20 wickets will always be played on good tracks, as crowds want to see runs in these fixtures.

There was some off field talk about the 3aaa situation, 3aaa do still owe the club some money but it is highly unlikely that the club will ever receive this.  Discussions are ongoing with potential partners but there is nothing to publicly declare yet.

Simon also talked about the 100 ball competition and the 1.3 million per year that the counties can expect from 2020-2024. He said that the counties will definitely receive this money, whatever the tournament costs.  After 2024 is uncertain, as the new television rights deal could be reduced by up to 50%, so how this money is spent will prove crucial.  

I hope I have not missed anything of note and hopefully someone who attends the Chesterfield event on Thursday may give us an update.

Thanks very much to Adam for this fascinating update. I will give you my thoughts on it over the next couple of days