Comings and goings

Nice to be back again after last night’s cricket, played on a wicket that was slow enough to make the County Ground seem like Perth, Western Australia. My miserly bowling spell was followed by top score in a 4 wicket triumph, which showed that the old “magic” was still there, though some may say it never was. More importantly, I can still walk this morning…

News in the Birmingham press that Tim Ambrose is leaving Warwickshire at the end of the season is sure to be of interest to Derbyshire fans, and potentially, I suppose, to John Morris. After all, it is rarely that an England player of recent vintage comes on the market in an area where you have a vacancy and few other counties do. With wicket-keeping being such a specialist area, opportunities elsewhere may be hard for Ambrose to find.

Then this afternoon came the news that Luke Sutton is leaving Lancashire. At 33 Sutton is an established professional and a very good cricketer who, according to the Lancashire website, intends to seek playing opportunities elsewhere. That's a lot of wicket-keepers on the market and one would assume that John Morris will plump for one of Pope, Adshead, Ambrose and Sutton to take over at Derbyshire. Logic suggests we should get one of them. My guess would be that it will be between Adshead and Sutton, with my preference probably slightly with the latter as a better batsman.

Scots seamer Calum MacLeod has also been released by Warwickshire, though I’m not sure how things might go for him. He had some issues over his action and undertook remedial work, but he’s not yet made the grade at county level. Maybe the right coach could bring something out, but his future is likely to be far from clear. I hope he makes a go of it elsewhere, if only because we both played for the same hockey club, albeit a few years apart. Yours truly was in the Veterans XI when Calum was in the mini hockey, which makes me feel really old.

Someone I think will get another county is Somerset spinner Michael Munday. At 26 the Nottingham-born leg-spinner is a decent bowler with 86 wickets at under 30. The question I suppose is whether he is a good enough bowler, as a non-batsman, to hold his own in a county side when wickets are not always conducive to leg-spin. A couple of years ago we took a punt on Mark Lawson, which didn’t work out, though Munday is, I think, a better bowler. Needham and Munday as a spinning option for next year? I’d imagine him within our range budget-wise and we should know enough about him with Steffan Jones and Wes Durston on the staff. Of course, John might have Daniel Vettori in his sights…

One who won’t be coming our way is Ryan Sidebottom, whose estimated £150,000 a season salary demands will limit his options to a select handful of counties. In the current climate I think he and his advisors may have to negotiate hard to get that. I would have thought it unlikely he will feature in the England setup much more, but at 32 will want his last big contract to be a good one. Having publicly stated he wants the security of a three-year deal, he may be heading to either Lancashire or Surrey.

Elsewhere, rumours suggest that Leicestershire will soon be dispensing with the services of Paul Nixon, Andrew Harris, Daniel Masters and Joel Pope. The latter is a highly regarded young wicket keeper and I find it hard to believe that the county would release both him and Nixon at the same time. Maybe the plan is to do what we have and bring in a stop gap – as we have with Steve Adshead – if required, or maybe the rumours are without foundation.

Northamptonshire are parting company with Nick Boje after several years of excellent service, although at 37 I think he could still do a good job somewhere. Meanwhile Gloucestershire have signed another New Zealander for next season. I find it strange that it appears to be open season on our South African connection (which is almost matched by that of Middlesex) but little is said about the Kiwi invasion at Bristol. Just a bit of double standards going on, methinks.

Until the next time, adios.