Middlesex v Derbyshire day 1 and 2 - plus Qadri leaves

Long, compressed hours at work have meant that I had no time to write about the little play on the first two days of this game, but the upside is that, weather permitting, I may get to see some play on the last two days of the summer's cricket.

I haven't missed much to be fair, though Luis Reece reaching fifty wickets for the summer was a terrific landmark. If the game has sufficient time left for him to reach a thousand runs - and he needs a further 82 to do so - he can put his feet up in the knowledge of being the first Derbyshire player to complete the 'modern double' of a thousand runs and fifty wickets. Either way, he can reflect on an outstanding summer.

There was a wicket at Lord's too for Sam Conners, who just might be the young breakthrough seam bowler we have been waiting for. He seems to have the requisite attributes, and just needs the luck with injuries and the right mindset to progress now.

Yesterday's news was dominated by the departure of another young Derbyshire player, following those of James Taylor and Alfie Gleadall last week.

Hamidullah Qadri will be joining Kent from the start of next season and, like all Derbyshire supporters, I wish him well.

As an honest man, I am not devastated by the news, nor surprised, as there were murmurings of Kent interest a few weeks ago. They have sought a spinner since Adam Riley's departure, another of those young players whose promising career was wrecked by too much advice (Tom Knight, anyone?) and asking him to change the muscle memory of years of bowling to his detriment. They are in division one, so you can't blame the player for seeing greener grass on the other side of the fence.

Maybe, if they let Hamidullah progress naturally and give him time, there will be a decent bowler in there. Spin bowling skills take a long time to master, but he didn't seem to have kicked on since his early performances for the Derbyshire senior eleven. I watched him in a few second team games and he didn't look especially threatening, though his summer has been dominated by his studies.

Truth be told, it was hard to see where he could break into this side. Matt Critchley is not much older but considerably better, at least in limited over formats, as well as having the talent to become a genuine all-rounder. Qadri doesn't appear to have that natural ability with the bat and Mattie McKiernan may well be a good additional option for the club across formats.

We will remember his five wickets in Cardiff a couple of summers back, which won us a memorable victory. That may prove to be the precursor to a career in which he becomes something special, or might just be another of those occasions where a player has his afternoon in the sun.

Either way, his future feats lie elsewhere and a club with a limited budget must ensure that the money we would have spent on these young players is well used.

An affordable and quality overseas, a younger seamer and a spinner (unless we sign one as overseas) would appear the major winter needs. Yet the academy failure to produce cricketers with the ability to progress is an ongoing issue, one that doesn't yet appear to have light at the end of the tunnel.