Derbyshire v Gloucestershire preview

For those who are statistically minded, the 2024 summer will be the 58th season in which I have followed Derbyshire. Which makes me sound like a weird kind of stalker, truth be told.

It is also the sixteenth season in which I have written this blog. Having done a deep dive into the statistics, during that time I have written 4441 posts and there have been nearly sixteen thousand comments. I was astonished today to see that there were 60,000 views last month and already 14,000 views this month, after three days. Sometime during the first game, with a nice degree of symmetry, the blog will go past four million views.

So it is fair to say that interest in county cricket is high and I am grateful to everyone who logs in on a regular basis to see what I have to say. That followers of other counties do so is incredibly flattering, so too that cricket fans from different parts of the world get in touch.

Every one of those people, like me, will feel the excitement of a new summer. This is going to be the one, regardless of who you support. The night before the season starts, you are convinced that this is your year. Perhaps, by the time tomorrow evening comes, reality has hit and acceptance begins that maybe, just maybe, it isn't...

But let us all enjoy tonight, quite likely listening to the sound of the rain from Storm Kathleen. It looks like there will be a fair amount of rain around Derby tonight, so the likelihood of a prompt start tomorrow appears slim. Having said that, the forecast for the rest of the game isn't too bad, so we will see cricket, though whether enough to get a result is another question.

Mickey Arthur has named a squad of fourteen for the game which is as follows:

Lloyd (captain)

Came

Reece

Madsen

Guest

Lamb

Donald

Dal

Chappell

Conners

Brown

Tickner

Thomson

Morley

I think one spinner will play now,  unless the players turn up tomorrow to the sound of Mickey Arthur singing 'The Green, Green Grass of Home', while pointing to the pitch with a wink. My guess would be that Brown, Morley and either Lamb or Donald miss out, but I don't know any more than you.

As for our first opponents, Gloucestershire will be skippered by Graeme van Buuren and will have Aussie Cameron Bancroft to lead their batting for the summer. Their squad:

Van Buuren, Bancroft, Shaw, Dent, Hammond, Akhter, Phillips, Bracey, Singh Dale, Middleton, Charlesworth, Price, Goodman, de Lange

Last night on Radio Derby, Mickey Arthur revealed that our second overseas player is signed and will be with us from the end of April until September. He also said that he would like our overseas players to become 'our' players, ideally returning summer after summer like in the good old days.

That being the case, I am still very much of the opinion that it will be Migael Pretorius, who has the skill set and experience to play all formats with success. I might be wrong, but he would give us depth to the batting and an extra, very good seam bowler in all formats. 

For now, all eyes will be on the class of '24 and especially seeing how Blair Tickner fares. For what it is worth, I think we will do okay in four  day cricket, but I expect us to make a very good fist of both one day competitions.

Maybe that is my perennial optimism speaking. But I applaud the efforts to recruit some very good cricketers over the winter. If Mickey Arthur can get them all to produce their best form on a regular basis, I expect this to be a memorable six months.

By the end of the season, that will either come back to bite me, or I will be getting offered gigs at the end of Blackpool Pier, reading fortunes...