Warming thoughts ahead of the season

While not having made major changes to the playing staff over the winter, it is impossible to deny that Mickey, Arthur has substantially improved the Derbyshire squad in that time.

The hugely prolific and highly respected Shan Masood has gone, as have Dustin Melton and Mikey Cohen. The last two were players not without talent and capable of some fine spells, but injury issues and their South African roots conspired against them when it came to any cost/benefit analysis.

In their place we now have a very good seam bowler of genuine potential in Zak Chappell, a middle order batsman of power in Matt Lamb, spinner Mark Watt for the full season and now Haider Ali for most, if not all of it too. Not to mention securing some of our best young talent to improved, longer-term deals.

For what it is worth, I think the batting looks very good. An article in the Cricketer suggested Ali may open the batting in 50-over and 4-day cricket, which surprised me but may be part of his development plan. I could more understand that rationale in the 20 over game, but perhaps Luis Reece and either Harry Came or Tom Wood will get the nod, with Ali entrusted the role of late innings pyrotechnics.

A sign of a good squad is when you can't honestly name a first choice eleven to start the season. I genuinely can't this year. I think there are players who are guaranteed playing, bar for injuries and the rest will need consistency of performance or rotation of seam bowlers to play.

I would have a go at the following:

Reece

Ali

Guest

Madsen

du Plooy

Lamb

Dal

Chappell

Aitchison

Conners

Lakmal

But I could just as easily make a case for others. It is a position of strength when one looks at four very good seam bowlers and ponder which one is omitted if they are all fit and a spinner warrants inclusion. Which, with Dal and Reece in the side, I think should be the case. I have never been convinced in the need to have four, even five seamers in an attack, if you are picking the correct first three.

Equally, which spinner gets the nod? Watt has the international experience, Thomson can bat, as can McKiernan, but which is more likely to take wickets when the opposition doesn't have to slog?  Decisions..

The side above doesn't include Godleman, Wood or Came, good players all. Nor does it include George Scrimshaw or Nick Potts, or for that matter Archie Harrison, who I suspect will enjoy game time this year as an all-rounder of considerable promise. This is how far we have come in just one year under Mickey Arthur.

With so many players playing for their future, supporters will expect intensity of performance and competition for places like never before.

It should make for compelling and memorable viewing.

Postscript: I have finally got around doing a draw from those kindly sponsoring the blog. My sincere apologies to to everyone for the delay, but there is plenty going on at present.

I have made contact with those who have won and thank everyone for their kindness and generosity.

Another draw will take place in due course.

Haider Ali signs for 2023!

Haider Ali, eh?

That is a very bold and innovative signing by Mickey Arthur in picking up one of Pakistan's hottest batting prospects for all formats for the 2023 season, subject to his international commitments.

While he has played a fair amount of the latter for a young man of just 22, he is not currently a first pick, so Derbyshire may perhaps see more of him than we did Shan Masood last year.

He is a completely different player, of course. Where Masood is essentially a sheet anchor, a Roundhead if you will, Haider is a Cavalier, an entertainer, capable of reaching and clearing the boundary on a regular basis. He has a good range of strokes and while typical English early season wickets will prove a fresh challenge for him, Arthur will know him well and be confident that he can rise to that challenge.

It would be wrong, I think, to expect him to replicate the exploits of Masood last year. He is much less experienced and a totally different kind of player. Nor will he have cost so much, as a young man with a reputation to build. 

He most frequently bats in the middle order and will certainly offer valuable firepower in the Vitality Blast. But there are suggestions that he has been signed to open the batting, which is interesting. It will test him, but may also see an enhancement to and strengthening of his technique.

As for the middle order...Guest, Madsen, du Plooy, Lamb and Dal is a serious lineup, not forgetting Tom Wood. There should be high level, high octane entertainment this summer.

I can only say that if Haider discovers his best form early, then he could be the missing link in this side. He is an entertainer, albeit one who will want to see his one-day averages head northwards. Coming to the county game, as for so many before, could be the making of him. He will better learn to go through the gears, rather than aiming to get from nought to sixty in no time but perhaps to the detriment of his average.

Here he is below, showing what he can do from YouTube. 

Those tickets look like being in high demand this season!

Welcome to Derbyshire, Haider.

Haider batting

Conners signs new deal

Terrific news to start the day today, with the announcement that Sam Conners has signed a new 2-year deal with Derbyshire that will keep him at the county until the end of 2024.

It follows on from his pace bowling colleague Ben Aitchison doing the same earlier in the winter and with Zac Chappell having joined from Nottinghamshire, the seam attack looks to be in very good health, especially with Suranga Lakmal seemingly back to full fitness and Nick Potts showing potential.

Sam is a class act, an opening bowler who may well have been on tour with England Lions this winter bar for an elbow problem, that has necessitated an injection that will hopefully sort the issue.

His whippy and lithe style is somewhat reminiscent of Harold Rhodes and his ability to move the ball makes him a potent threat. There is no limit to his potential and  few sides will fancy batting against him on his best days.

There are times when the line and length can go astray, but that is par for the course in a young bowler. One has to look at the bigger picture and appreciate what he brings to the Derbyshire attack. There would be no lack of interest in his services and it is heartening that Derbyshire are able to retain players of his potential and quality.

Enjoy your day, after that early pick me up!

Especially you, Sam..

Weekend warmer

The nights are getting ever so slowly lighter and we are within a hundred days of the start of a new cricket season. We only need the weather to warm up and for it to stop raining and the excitement would be building even faster..

This week the cricket media picked up on what I posted last week and confirmed that Mickey Arthur was staying at Derbyshire, not that there was any real suggestion that he was leaving, other from those voices that emanated from Pakistan.

It didn't really make any sense, to your correspondent at least, and for reasons that are well documented over the past couple of weeks. He seems to be happy, totally focused on Derbyshire and hopefully ready to build on the sound foundations that were established in 2022.

There are new players in place and there will be even more by the end of this month, when our second overseas player will be announced. At this stage it is hard to say if this player will fulfil all of the duties of that position, or will be only for a part of the county commitments.

I have seen various names mentioned, in comments on this blog and on social media. The reality is that none of us know who that player will be and that is good to see. I have every confidence that Arthur will have picked up a very good cricketer, my main interest being whether he has opted for another experienced man, like Suranga Lakmal and Shan Masood, or has gone for a man with a reputation to build. There are a few names in that latter category, while the best fit in the suggestions I have seen for an experienced man was Usman Khawaja.

Masood has had a difficult winter and been nowhere near as prolific as many, self included, thought he might be. Perhaps Yorkshire will not have picked up the run machine that he was for Derbyshire and last year may have been a never-ending purple patch that isn't extended, when he takes over the reins at our northern neighbours.

With twelve of the current staff coming to the end of their contracts in September, a lot of people have much to play for. I think that is the right thing, though of course, the risk in not securing players to a longer deal is that they could be 'poached' during the summer. I would expect a few counties to be keeping a close eye on the situation with Leus du Plooy, Luis Reece and Sam Conners, while George Scrimshaw is likely to be another to come under close scrutiny.

By the same token, all of them can earn another deal with Derbyshire. Having been given the captaincy, I would be surprised if du Plooy left, while Reece has always been grateful to Derbyshire for giving him an opportunity when he was released by Lancashire. In an ideal world we would retain the services of all four players and of course I hope that we do.

Finally today, I will be doing a draw this weekend among the blog subscribers who have a chance to win a cricket book. I will put the names of the winners on a post over the over the course of the next 2 days and if those people could get in touch at their convenience, I can sort out the prize for them.

To all of you, thank you for your continued support.

Postscript: in an interview published on the club website this afternoon, Arthur said that our new overseas player was 'young, very exciting and someone he has worked with, but only briefly...'

Hmm ..my gut feeling remains Abdullah Shafique. Any other thoughts?

Putting to bed the rumours

My understanding, to calm down troubled souls across the shires, is that there is 'absolutely nothing'  in the stories that linked Mickey Arthur to a return to Pakistan.

He remains one hundred per cent committed to the county and it's progression, so we needn't worry about him boarding a plane to Pakistan any time soon. 

There may, of course, be other opportunities to coach teams and franchises across the globe out of the English season, but that will, in its own way, merely take the name of Derbyshire into parts of the world where we may be less known and will not impact on his work here.

It may be that his work in Sri Lanka gave hope to some in Pakistan that he was looking at options. It may also be that there was a little 'positioning' taking place among the powers that be in that country, but he is happy and fully committed to the 'Derbyshire project'

 I have this from a very trusted source, so worry ye not, Falcons fans. That there has been no comment from the club is likely down to the fact that there is no substance to the story, nor that it is deemed worthy of comment.

So just relax and enjoy the countdown to the season!