Negativity is disappointing

I understand that somewhere, on a forum far,far away, someone suggested that I might be 'spinning' that Derbyshire had enjoyed a good season.

I haven't read it, because I have enough to keep me busy on here, but seriously, do I need to 'spin' to anyone that we have not done too badly, at the very least?

There are fourteen counties out there who would have loved a crack at finals day and seven of them will be hosting The Hundred next year. These are counties with massively more money than Derbyshire, who register annual profits bigger than our budget and are able to recruit from the biggest names in the international game.

There's Lancashire, who beat us yesterday, but who we beat in the T20 on their own turf to qualify for finals day. They carry a professional staff of 24, according to their website, plus Jimmy Anderson and Jos Buttler who rarely play. Then there's Essex, who we play in just over a week's time. They carry a staff of 26, aside from a second T20 player, for comparative purposes. Worcestershire have 21, Nottinghamshire 20, Middlesex, who have had a poor summer all round, 22-24, depending on counting only one of several T20 specialists and excluding Eoin Morgan.

Then there's Somerset, who I hope win division one this summer. They have a staff of 28, which enables them to rest key personnel, handle injuries and play specialists in the format that suits them best. Squad size enables counties to employ several players as 'format specialists', so the likes of Sam Robson at Middlesex only hits a red ball, while Ross Whitely at Worcestershire rarely hits other than white. There are plenty of examples around the country.

Yorkshire have a squad of 31. Granted, they lose players to England, but that's a big squad to give everyone enough cricket at first team level, even second team level for that matter. We beat them twice (again) in T20 this year, for the record.

Derbyshire? We have essentially got through the summer with a squad of FOURTEEN players, namely:

Godleman, Reece, Madsen, du Plooy, Hughes, Critchley, Hosein, van Beek, Hudson-Prentice, Smit, Palladino, Rampaul, Lace, Dal

Of those, Lace is on loan from Middlesex, while du Plooy and Hudson-Prentice only joined part way through the season. McKiernan has missed the entire summer with injury, Qadri has had studies and England under 19 selections and Conners, Taylor and Gleadall have missed more than they have played. Watt played a few one-day games, Stevens and Rankin even fewer and Smit has played only T20 at senior level.

So for a six-month season we have got by in selecting from very limited options and yet still made finals day in the T20.

One could understand it had they crashed and burned. At any point we were only a broken finger or a pulled hamstring away from a crisis, but it speaks volumes for player fitness and the work of the conditioning staff that they have largely come through it.

No need to 'spin' anything. We have done remarkably well. Few counties manage to fire in all formats, or even two for that matter. As we know from the past, there's a lot that simply never get going. We should have done better in four-day cricket, but there's a point where sportsmen reach burn out and the limitations of an ageing attack, at least, are known.

If you can't be proud of their efforts, there's really no hope for you.