Thoughts on the members forum

Thanks to Adam for the excellent write up of the forum earlier in the week, which made for very interesting reading.

The main thing that came out of it for me is that there isn't a lot of money to play with. We have rightly awarded improved contracts to the key core players, as well as offering deals to Anuj Dal and Matt McKiernan. There may be one for Tom Wood too, by the sound of it, which would be well-deserved after two or three seasons of heavy run scoring.

Daryn Smit as second team skipper? Regular readers will know I have suggested that since the end of the season and the young players and trialists could wish for no better skipper and mentor than Daryn. With an opportunity to work towards his level four coaching badge at the same time, it is a win-win situation for the club as they also have a ready-made replacement for Harvey Hosein should he pick up an injury.

Dave Houghton looks like he is going to offer opportunity to local youth, partly because of that lack of money but also because it is the right thing to do. There must be a few gems in local leagues - not just the Premier League - and the hope will be that we can unearth a few of them in the coming months.

I have never had the expectation that Duanne Olivier will return and I understand there are at least three counties hoping for his services. His biggest decision will be on whether he plays as an overseas player or turns Kolpak, but the likelihood is that he will ply his trade elsewhere, with Yorkshire my guess as his destination.

Your guess is as good as mine to a seam bowler who can handle a bat. There are plenty out there, but the number reduces when you take out the ones who are in the IPL and those who simply don't fancy the county grind. Hopefully we can come up with someone suitable in the coming months.

For T20 cricket, I would suggest our preferred duo would be Wahab Riaz and Mitchell Santner and if we landed them there would be few complaints. Both can bowl tight spells and play match-winning innings, but Santner's first challenge is to return to fitness after almost nine months out with injury.

Finally, the Viljoen and Rampaul situation. No Derbyshire supporter could doubt the credentials of the two experienced bowlers, but it is good to see that Houghton has made it clear that there are greater expectations of both, given that experience and the not inconsiderable sum spent on them.

Even allowing for more grass being left on the wickets, it would be asking a lot of Tony Palladino to replicate his fifty wicket haul of this summer, while someone has to replace the wickets of Olivier. It is unrealistic to expect the young seamers to be bowling sides out, so Rampaul and Viljoen need to step up their game.

There is an opportunity next season, with three sides getting promoted to the top tier. There's a good nucleus of players, but two or three injuries would soon scupper our chances.

We'll see what the coming months bring.

Finally today, warm congratulations to Wayne Madsen for his call up to the Pakistan T20, played largely in the Persian Gulf. He will play for Peshawar Zalmi in the tournament, alongside Dawid Malan, Liam Dawson and Chris Jordan, while our own Wahab Riaz is also in the squad, So too Kieron Pollard and Darren Sammy, so there is plenty of talent in a squad that were losing finalists last time around.