Ray Toole

I have had a few messages and comments regarding Ray Toole,who is currently playing (and doing well) for the second team at Chesterfield. 

He took 5-38 in 20 overs yesterday, all of his wickets leg before, as Derbyshire ended the third day only 66 behind and needing two more wickets before a run chase. 

The Kiwi plays for Central Districts in New Zealand and has done well for them in recent years. With 102 wickets at 26 he can obviously bowl and at 26 he is coming to his peak. As a left-armer he affords variety to any attack and is presumably well-known to Ben Smith, the Derbyshire batting coach. 

He holds a British passport so theoretically, if he was good enough, he could play as a non-overseas player. He certainly seems keen to play over here, having played in the Essex area in 2022 and in Durham in 2023. He was picked up by Essex in 2022 and played three One-Day Cup matches with them, taking  three wickets for 96 runs in 20 overs.

In 2023 he played against Derbyshire 2nds for Durham and took several wickets, including Luis Reece to the first ball of the match. He subsequently played a championship game for the northern county, taking no wickets in the two innings.

Is he good enough for the county game? I don't know. I couldn't pretend the overall standard in New Zealand matches that here and several counties have found players who have struggled in the day to day grind. Certainly our experience with Logan Van Beek and Blair Tickner wasn't what was expected, so they would need to be sure.

Perhaps he might be offered another short term deal for the remainder of the county season? We don't currently have an overseas player, with Daryn Dupavillon's ankle injury giving recurring problems. One way to see if he is worthy of further investigation would be a deal to the end of the summer, especially when we are low in squad numbers at present. I don't think a single game for Durham is a basis on which to judge him, because there are many examples of fine cricketers who started with ducks or by going around the park, before becoming established stars 

That way we see if there is the ability at county level and, if it comes off, both player and county could be winners.

We will see what happens in the coming days. 

Postscript: he ended with 6-38, taking the final wicket with his SIXTH lbw...

Derbyshire won by six wickets, Khunti seeing them to victory after a few alarms.