Mickey Arthur asked supporters to judge him after his third year in post, when he had HIS team.
That being the case, at this stage I would deem his tenure a failure.
Like every other supporter, I accept the fact that we are the club with the lowest budget on the circuit. I also cling on to the oft-quoted 'small margins' between winning and losing. Yet the reality is that too often the 'margin' was too great and until the distance narrows between our best and worst, there will be no significant improvement in fortunes.
White ball cricket saw our best, with a handful of memorable performances. We should have made the knockouts in T20 but lost matches to ordinary sides when they were there to be won. We should have breezed the same stage in the one-day cup with the players we had available, but again produced inept performances when it mattered. The mental side of the game remains the issue and apparently a collective one.
With the budgetary inequalities, the Derbyshire side has to be bigger than the sum of its parts. Gloucestershire managed it, so too Glamorgan in both of them winning one-day trophies. They did so with great team spirit and the eleven playing to potential. At the end of the day, personal responsibilities aside, that is the role of the Head of Cricket, getting the best out of players that HE signed. Even when we won it was down to two or three individual performances, rarely a team effort.
The batting, without an overseas bat to lead the way, was worryingly insecure throughout. Once again Wayne Madsen was head and shoulders above the rest, reaching a thousand runs in the last match and averaging 50. He will be 41 when next season starts, but looks good enough to continue for at least another couple of years. He is still safe at slip and reliable anywhere in the one day game. How we eventually replace him is anyone's guess, but time waits for no one.
Only Matt Lamb got close in average, but most of his runs came in one innings in another injury- ruined season and he was forced to retire. The county never saw the best of him with his back problems and that was a shame.
Both Harry Came and Luis Reece did OK, but will realise that sub-thirty red ball averages are not really good enough at this level. With one century and less than a thousand four-day runs between them, a change is likely at the top of the order next season. Neither impressed in the T20, but did better in the one-day cup. Came may drop to three next year, Reece to six, but we need more at the top of the order.
David Lloyd struggled with injury over the season, hand and knee injuries taking their toll. He moved to the middle order to accommodate Came and Reece at the top, but a season-highest of 73 came in the final game and an average of 23 was below expectations. He did better in T20, but will hope for a much more effective 2025. His off spin showed potential and it will be interesting to see if he sticks with it or reverts to his more frequent medium pace next year, after his knee is hopefully sorted.
Nye Donald was another disappointment. It was clear that he strikes and times the ball more cleanly than most, but shot selection was often poor and on the basis of this season he should not be a red ball pick next year. He played some fine innings in the Vitality Blast, but again frustrated with unnecessary shots and a lack of game awareness. He was a safe fielder everywhere, but rarely took the gloves because of Guest's remarkable fitness levels.
Mitch Wagstaff struggled for game time and when he got a belated opportunity he was thrown in at Chesterfield on a pitch made for Yorkshire's seam bowlers. Maybe his leg spin should have afforded greater use, but the weight of runs and wickets at second team level to force his way in were not there.
Ross Whiteley played only a couple of four-day games and was a limited success in white ball cricket. He won a couple of games with trademark innings, but suffered because no one seemed to know the best way to use him. He is a poor starter and that remains a concern, going into the final year of his contract, but he remains a brilliant fielder.
Samit Patel led the white ball side and bowled with customary accuracy most of the time. Yet his batting was much more fallible than in the past and like a few others he suffered from going from 0-70 straight away. Fielding and fitness are not his strong points, so his other skills needed to be more on point than they were. As a captain he made mistakes and will need to do better next year.
Anuj Dal missed more cricket than we would have wanted through injury and personal issues. He struggled at the start of the season but was beginning to show his best form when injury struck. The side is always better with him in it and we must hope for a return to his consistent best in 2025.
Brooke Guest was again reliable behind the stumps and showed remarkable levels of fitness and resilience. He is probably the most effective red ball batter after Madsen, but will likely benefit by dropping down to five next year, as his workload is colossal. He didn't have the best white ball season with the bat and struggled with his timing, but was another who was shunted up and down the order to his detriment.
The bowling was largely a disappointment. Zak Chappell was player of the year by some margin but lacked support. His batting improved and he is now a genuine all-rounder, while his bowling was pacey and probing. If he can repeat that next year and get better support, improved results may follow.
Ben Aitchison was sorely missed and we must hope his back allows him to return next year. Pat Brown was excellent in white ball cricket, but the variations that make him so see him struggle with the red ball. He needs a stock ball, one he can bowl five times an over and make the batter work when they don't HAVE to hit him.
Sam Conners struggled throughout and it was no surprise to see him depart before the end of the summer. Seven wickets at 75 each was a worrying decline from the heights of two years ago, but perhaps a new coach and environment at Durham will be the making of him.
Harry Moore emerged late in the summer and looked a real prospect. Yet at 17 we must not overburden him with expectation. He will need to work hard and stay fit, but the signs are there that he could become a serious cricketer, with bat and ball. He can be proud of his early efforts in the first class game.
Alex Thomson started the season with twelve wickets in the first game, but only took a dozen more over the rest of the summer. He again suffered from injury, but his batting declined and he didn't appear to have the confidence of the Head of Cricket, despite being given a two-year deal of the end of the previous summer. Next year will be a big one for him, as well as several others.
Jack Morley arrived on loan from Lancashire and looks set to join on a permanent basis for next year. He showed promise in red ball cricket and will likely benefit from working with Samit Patel, but he will need to improve his batting to maintain a place in the side over Thomson and force a way into the white ball eleven in due course.
Nick Potts looked very talented two years back but is another who has failed to progress. He had only one first-class match, but like Wagstaff failed to produce the returns at second team level to force his way into the side.
Overseas recruitment was very poor. Blair Tickner had his challenges away from the game and suffered from more dropped catches than most, but eight wickets at 61 was way below the expected return from a key position in any county side. Meanwhile Daryn Dupavillon was often overlooked when he was fit enough to play, a sad enough indictment. He managed only fifteen wickets and two overseas bowlers taking so few wickets at around fifty runs each was simply not good enough.
The decision to recruit two one-dimensional bowlers was flawed and supporters awaited in vain an admission from the Head of Cricket that he got it wrong.
In short? It was a summer of disappointment. Recruitment had focused on white ball cricket but it was largely underwhelming, while red ball saw the county bottom of the pile for good reason. We played too much poor cricket.
Is there any expectation that 2025 can be better? Caleb Jewell is a sound recruit for the top of the order and his availability for the entire summer will be useful. Martin Andersson will be an all round asset and Jack Morley probably a better spinner than Alex Thomson on initial showings.
But again that second overseas role will be crucial. Logically, it needs split between red and white ball, but the fact remains that the coaching staff have to get more from the players. They need greater clarity of their role and when things occasionally worked it seemed by accident, rather than design.
After three years at the helm, Mickey Arthur hasn't taken the club forward and for all his end of season positivity and jingoism, the buck stops with him. Other clubs have shown what is possible with the right man in charge and the board's apparent decision to stick with the expensive South African does not inspire many among the fan base.
The jury is still out, but he has one year left on his contract to prove if he can cut it, or if all the bravado and talk are simply empty words. Next year I can certainly live without 'sexy cricket' and 'entertainment machines'. Let the performances do the talking and hold back on the embarrassing soundbites would be my advice.
The clock is ticking. Despite the above, I would be thrilled if Derbyshire were transformed in 2025. I really want Mickey Arthur to be successful, because I am a fan.
But there is so much work to do.
