First up today, warm congratulations from me to Harold Rhodes, the club's new president, as announced last night.
I was never comfortable when the club moved away from a long-standing process of the most senior capped player getting the role. Of course, both Geoff Miller and Michael Holding were high profile players and personalities, but it did not sit comfortably with me that the claims of loyal club servants were being overlooked.
Harold was a great fast bowler. Only flawed and biased testing stopped him from showing that on an international stage. An elbow that hyper flexed beyond straight gave an illusion ONLY of throwing, but by the time the perpetual clowns in charge of our national game realised that, it was too late for Harold.
I was fortunate enough to see him in the latter part of his career and he was a proper bowler. Frighteningly quick in his pomp, when his speed was estimated as over 90 mph. No wonder a few batsmen developed injuries ahead of a trip to Derby or Chesterfield, when Gladwin or Jackson gave way to him as first change.
Later, he shared the new ball with Les Jackson, then his namesake Brian, in a golden period of Derbyshire seam bowling. In 1965, he and Brian were first and second in the national averages.
May he enjoy his year as president. Make sure you find out all you can about a wonderful bowler and lovely man by reading his excellent autobiography, written by John Shawcroft, usually to be found in the club shop. Or by reading the interview I did with him as part of my 'In Their Own Words' book...
Moving on, there have been a few murmurings on social media regarding the signing of Leus du Plooy. These have suggested that he is 'blocking the progress' of a young batsman.
I disagree. We don't have another young batsman on the staff, with Anuj Dal seemingly seen as a bits and pieces player, rather than a top six option.
My expectation is that we must make the most of Tom Lace this summer, as Middlesex will almost certainly want him back next year. That being the case, this summer is an excellent opportunity for Tom Wood to have an extended trial in front of Dave Houghton. Tom isn't on the staff, but weight of runs in the second team and in local cricket may well see him get a contract for next year, if not before.
Houghton has said that he wants to promote young local talent and I am sure that he will, when the time is right. He will know, better than me and better than most readers of this blog, what it takes to make runs at first class level.
If Tom can convince Dave this summer, opportunity may well knock next year.
But let's not say that Leus is blocking anyone's path, because in a small squad there simply is no-one to block.
I will be back later, with squad news ahead of tomorrow's game against Northamptonshire.
Really excited about the Leus du Plooy signing Peakfan. Just what the team needs and if he can maintain the same career numbers in England he will be a huge asset. I can understand a few of the concerns raised about whether he is taking the slot of younger academy player. However, people need to think about the bigger picture. The good players (The Harvey Hosein’s, for example) will still play. Then, if the acquisition of Leus du Plooy helps to get the county into Div. 1 (Winning Div.2 this summer would be nice!) of the County Championship we are more likely to be able to keep the young talent we are developing as they will have no need to leave as they will be in the shop window for international cricket staying at Derbyshire. Indeed, we might even be able to make the Tom Lace loan permanent with the chance to play Div.1 cricket! Then everybody wins and hopefully we will stop losing the likes of Ben Slater moving forward. The county should be praised for identifying somebody of Du Plooy’s talent and availability and then getting a deal across the line. In this day and age, smaller counties without the big Test ground budgets need to be clever in how they assemble their squads and this looks a great bit of recruitment. This is the modern game and you have to do it to keep pace with other counties (all of whom are taking this approach of utilising the Kolpak route before it closes due to Brexit). You have to stay competitive and young academy players want to be part of winning environment. It also again shows the ambition the county has to keep improving across all formats. Also, just to add to the RLODC discussion, I am hoping we can fly under the radar a bit this year. With so many of the bigger counties disrupted by IPL and World Cup call-ups in the next few weeks, we can get our best 11 out on the park every week so why not get to a Final? Have a good Easter. Best wishes, James
ReplyDeleteGreat comments, James, and I agree! The only thing I would caution, to take some pressure from the lad, is that this is a step up for him. The provincial cricket is, in some cases, semi pro. But his stats suggest he can make that step and DH must think so.
ReplyDeleteMy guess is he will slot in at 5,giving us another left hander in the middle order and five bowlers in the top eight!
Yes - SA cricket is mostly part time and a weight of runs doesn't always translate into runs in England. Daryn Smit has proved that.
ReplyDeleteDu plooy should strengthen the batting but he needs to be given time - my personal concern is that he's not opting to remain to fight for his place in the SA team but he's still young and if things go well in England he could go back in a couple of years time to challenge.
I like Dal's attitude but coming in at no8 is never going to give him the time to build an innings and from what we've seen so far he's not going to push down any of the current top 6.
And well done for working it out PF - he wasn't really on my list.
Delighted to hear that Harold Rhodes has been announced as Derbyshire's new president. Not before time! I agree with PF point of view that the role should be given to the most senior capped player.
ReplyDeleteHarold was an outstanding fast bowler for Derbyshire and l count myself fortunate to have seen him in his prime in the sixties. To top the national averages in 1965 was no mean achievement. He would, no doubt, have received more international recognition but for the cricketing establishment who nearly hounded him out of the game. And then there were some counties who had the temerity to report his action after being skittled out by Derbyshire. All very sad but Harold dealt with these setbacks with great fortitude.
Following in his fathers footsteps was no easy task but then to take over eventually from Les Jackson and Cliff Gladwin in the opening attack must have been quite daunting but Harold succeeded.
He was my sporting hero when l was a junior member at Derbyshire in the early sixties when Queens Park was my second home.
I had the great pleasure of meeting Harold at one of PF book events in Chesterfield. Knowing that he might be in attendance l wrote him a letter and handed it to him on the night. It was just a note to thank him for some wonderful cricketing memories dating back to my childhood. Amazingly l received a postcard from Harold that he sent while on holiday in Cornwall. He wrote to thank me for my letter and kind comments. What a wonderful gesture from a Derbyshire legend.
Harold enjoy your year in office, it is richly deserved.
Stuart, York