I had heard of at least three counties who were very interested in securing his services, but the deal makes sense from a club and player perspective. Very much so from that of a supporter!
There is a strong batting core to the side which is now secured. The bowling needs work in the winter, but the averages this summer tell of a strong unit motivated well by Mickey Arthur and Ian Bell.
For Leus, it is an opportunity to work on his game under people who know the craft. He is an outstanding player, but can get better. I don't see him 'doing a Madsen' and staying at Derbyshire for all of his career, but the longer that he does so, the better for all concerned.
Good news to start the day. Hopefully some about Derby County later!
He needs to kick on and produce the level of consistency to match his obvious ability regarding Derby county as a Rangers and Burton Albion supporter I find the EFL's support for Derby county questionable in comparison with the way Bury were treated the comparison between the Derby county situation and Rangers 11 years ago is obvious the difference being almost the rest of Scottish football wanted Rangers to die thankfully they have fought there way back from the bottom back to win 55 and a EL final
ReplyDeleteGreat news, and perhaps surprising news given other counties' interest - shows how far we have come. I'd have easily taken an extra year or two on the extension, but I guess that's probably more from the player (or more likely his agent) wanting to keep his options open. I certainly hope not due to lack of ambition on our part. We have had the old Leus back this season (we didn't get this last season) and has been great to see.
ReplyDeleteGreat news about Du Plooy. A welcome tonic after the Sussex defeat. Having had time to think about not enforcing the follow on I think we made the right decision. Look at the Notts v Middlesex and Surrey v Kent games this week and don't forget the reverse Sussex fixture at Derby earlier in the season. Having said that I feel that the declaration was very generous on a very flat track and Sussex made easy work of chasing the target. Looking forward to Durham on Sunday.
ReplyDeleteYes, excellent news about Leus du Plooy. We have yet to see the best of him. I recall MA saying when interviewed early on in the season that "he wasn't the finished product yet."
ReplyDeleteRegarding Captain's Chessy's comment about the results in the Notts v Middlesex and Surrey v Kent games. Both Notts and Surrey enforced the follow-on. Neither of them ended up losing and they picked up a decent bag of points. We didn't enforce the follow-on, and we lost. There's a reason why Notts are top of Division Two and Surrey are top of Division One.
Point taken, but we might have won. They might have thrown wickets away, we might have bowled better, the wicket might have helped more.
DeleteIf MA, with all the facts, went one way, I am happy to concur, on this occasion.
I understand your comments downthewicket. However my point was that we had more chance of winning by not enforcing the follow on as Sussex would probably have batted out time for a draw as Middlesex and Kent did. The wickets that Sussex did lose yesterday were mainly self-inflicted in going for the runs on a very flat track. Hindsight is a great thing and it is hypothetical as to what might have happened if we had enforced the follow-on. The game is all about opinions which contribute to the great game of cricket. Anyway, onwards and upwards for our great club.
ReplyDeleteAs you say, Captain, onwards and upwards. I'm looking forward to the India game tomorrow evening. It will be very interesting to see how we square up to them. And then, of course, the big one against Durham on Sunday afternoon.
ReplyDeleteI agree downthewicket. Looking forward to the weekend's action. It will be interesting to see the sides for tomorrow night.
ReplyDeleteYes, Captain. I've only just realised that India start the first test against England tomorrow. So, we'll be playing the B team. Still, an exciting prospect all the same. I hope the club live stream it.
ReplyDeleteHope so downthewicket. Looking forward to a great weekend of cricket including the other group matches tonight which could be crucial to our final position. I have just listened to the Cartwright interview and he seems to be very level-headed and a decent bloke to add to the team ethic. Happy times.
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