Injuries starting to hit

There's some interesting news in the Derby Telegraph this morning, where John Morris revealed that he may have to go into the loan market for a seamer if the current injury problems continue.

Ian Hunter is still out with an undisclosed problem, Jonathan Clare is recovering from shoulder surgery and Graham Wagg has an achilles injury. The latter can be notoriously slow to heal, especially for a bowler and it leaves Groenewald, Lungley and Footitt the only fit seamers. There's an element of irony in that, given the injury problems suffered by the two latter named players in recent years. The only in-house back up is Atif Sheikh, who is probably not yet ready for regular first team action, while Ross Whiteley is still at University.

These are problems that cannot be legislated for and there's also irony in the normally robust and super-fit Wagg being one of the injured. We miss his explosive ability with bat and ball, while Robin Peterson's accuracy and parsimony was a huge loss at Lords, as the figures of Smith and Hughes suggested.

John Morris also suggests that the batting will have to be looked at and few fans would argue with that assertion. Rogers, Madsen and Smith have started the season well and Paul Borrington has made starts, but Garry Park and John Sadler have struggled for runs. As Mark Eklid writes in the Telegraph, Chesney Hughes must have booked a run in the side after his two innings at Lords, but the club will incur a financial penalty in playing him until next season. For all their novitiate status, Hughes and Redfern may be in line to play at New Road, starting on Monday.

There is a danger, of course, that our batting line up would then be very young, with Hughes at 18, Redfern 20 and Borrington 21 (at least until next week!) At the end of the day, they may benefit from the experience, but such a move might lead to a move up the order for Peterson.

Another minor concern is the batting form of Lee Goddard, who I rate. He has managed a couple of cameos thus far, but in recent years we have become accustomed to the contributions of James Pipe at seven. While Goddard retains a high standard behind the stumps he should keep his place, but Tom Poynton will have extra incentive to do his stuff in the Seconds. To be fair, when we think back to Pipe's arrival he was not an instant success with the bat, having often batted nine and ten at Worcester.

Years ago, Bob Taylor was at best an average batsman in his formative years, but as time progressed he made increasingly worthwhile contributions. In fairness, his glovework was so good that he would have retained a place if he hardly made a run, but the loss of Wagg has put additional pressure on Goddard as a lower middle order bat.

I still expect him to make at least 500 runs this season, a decent return from a number eight, but he needed acclimatisation time.

Hopefully next week is where it all comes to fruition.