Team thoughts

Derbyshire's game against Worcestershire at the picturesque New Road ground on Monday looks like turning into a "We've got more crocks than you" boasting battle.

While our side is missing Graham Wagg, Ian Hunter and Jonathan Clare, our hosts have problems of their own piling up. Solid seamer Matt Mason was expecting to make his first Championship appearance of the season, but has pulled up with a recurrence in the second team game currently taking place between the two sides. He is returning to the specialist to see what the next steps are.

Meanwhile former Derbyshire seamer Alan Richardson is nursing an ankle injury and is rated by some papers as 50/50 to play, while Chris Whelan is also set to miss several weeks with a hamstring strain. Opener Dave Wheldon will miss several matches with a broken thumb, while Australian import Phil Jacques has so far made five ducks in the Championship. I'd settle for two more in this match and then he can score as many as he likes…

Our resources are stretched, but there's a little unfair comment directed at Tom Lungley just now. I'll be the first to admit that Tom's injury record at Derbyshire would have tested a saint, but at least he is fit right now. Ian Hunter isn't and there may be question marks over both players in the remainder of the season. Lungley's being able to play and bowling well acts in his favour, while Hunter, if we could get him fit, usually bowls well in one day cricket. With the T20 coming up, we could do with some of these guys back, sooner, rather than later.

One thing to remember is that no one deliberately gets injured, but some players are more resilient than others. Graeme Welch was one, until the achilles tendon injury that shortened his career, while I recall one summer a few years back when Paul Aldred pretty much kept an end going all summer as seamers dropped like flies at the other end. Aldo was a decent bowler, someone I would bracket with Alan Warner and Phil Russell as decent county pros. They gave the impression of bowling within themselves, which probably helped and you saw them on the field more often than not.

Atif Sheikh's ten wicket haul for the seconds may put him in contention, but we'll know more when John Morris announces his squad for the game over the weekend.