Stumbling block to Lace deal?

It would appear that I and a few others may have been premature in suggesting that Tom Lace will be at Derbyshire next summer.

It may still happen, but a Google search in a quiet moment this weekend revealed that the player is contracted to Middlesex until the end of next season.

That Derbyshire want to sign him is almost certainly a given. Not just the runs he made, but the way that he made them suggested that Tom is a player to watch, one who thrived under the tutelage of Dave Houghton.

It's a funny game. Tom didn't score too many in his Derbyshire Premier League appearances last summer, whereas Tom Wood racked up the runs in his time honoured way. It was the same the year before, when Lace averaged 25 for Middlesex seconds, while Wood was just under 40 for us.

Yet Lace took to county cricket as a duck to water, registering three centuries, the support of Billy Godleman and Wayne Madsen key in his development. Indeed, if you look back at the footage of when he reached a century for the first time, against Glamorgan, you can see his captain, importantly at the crease with him, celebrating almost as much as the player himself  as they ran the run to get him to the landmark.

Such altruism is indicative of the positive culture that Dave Houghton and Billy have engendered at the club. It was evident again after Luis Reece reached a sublime century against Sussex, when Godleman gave him the longest hug I have ever seen on a cricket pitch. It showed a captain who cared, a club that had a tight and supportive dressing room. Who wouldn't want to play in such an environment? Reece's willingness to commit his next four years to the county last week spoke volumes.

I know Tom loved his summer in Derby and has made good friends. If the decision was solely his, I am sure that he would be signing on the dotted line at the earliest opportunity. That he has developed under Dave Houghton's coaching is beyond dispute.

But it isn't his decision alone.

IF he has requested to be released from the final year of his contract, my guess is that we should hear something by the end of this month. Stuart Law and Angus Fraser will want to move on with their own team building plans and Law has already said that he wants to bring in 'greater experience' to a Middlesex side that under-performed this summer.

Of course, that doesn't fit especially well with offering greater opportunity to a 21-year old with a handful of first-class matches under his belt. They could, however, insist that he stays as an option in a batting line up that has lost Paul Stirling (now classed as overseas) and looks set to lose Dawid Malan. Rumours suggest an Australian batsman coming in as captain, which would fill one of those positions, while there are plenty of candidates for the other within the club.

We all know, of course, that contracts have been cancelled by plenty of counties around the country when a player is keen to move. Tom doesn't strike me as the sort of player to go in a huff if he doesn't get his way, but the point of keeping a player who wants to be somewhere else, and feels such a move perhaps best for his development is debatable.

What might happen is that Lace starts the summer at Middlesex, but is then made available for loan if seen then as surplus to requirements. Houghton would undoubtedly be interested at that point, as I am sure he is now, but the beneficiary might be Tom Wood.

If Lace were at Middlesex until, say, June then Wood might be a handy batsman to have on the staff until that point. Equally, were Godleman, Madsen and Reece to be picked up for The Hundred, then Wood again could be a more than useful player to step up.

It is all up in the air, but I suspect we will know more before the fireworks night party at the 3aaa County Ground.