New batsman incoming?

When a recent article revealed that Derbyshire will be adding a batsman to their ranks for the coming season, I suggested that it may be Tom Wood.

I hope that there is a role and opportunity for Tom this summer, and he will doubtless get a chance to play some cricket in the second team, at the very least.

However, I do not think that the batsman referred to is Tom.

My understanding is that he has been back from Australia for several weeks. Were he to be signed, logically this would have happened by now and he would have been involved in pre-season nets and training.

This leaves me to suspect that the new addition is either another loan signing, a Kolpak or someone who will play on a British passport.

Unless it was a player with an established reputation, I would be a little disappointed in another loan. We already have Tom Lace from Middlesex, who may do well. He will likely return to them at the end of the summer, with a reputation enhanced, I suspect, but will not benefit us in the long term.

To have two such players would be disappointing, especially if it meant that someone like Wood missed out on an opportunity.

Which leaves me to think that it is more likely to be a player whose domestic season has just finished.

New Zealand could well be a source of someone with a British passport, while a Kolpak signing would be no surprise pre-Brexit.

The right player could be a big asset to the county, as long as they came with the correct credentials.

Dave Houghton has said that the money is there for the right player. If one assumes that improved contracts for existing staff were done with the savings from the departure of Gary Wilson, Will Davis and Ben Slater, there may well be the considerable savings from Hardus Viljoen to play with.

I would be confident that Dave Houghton will deliver someone appropriate.

If it is who I think, it will make a big difference...