Bristol turnaround fully deserved

While it is hard to defend a side that is bowled out in sixteen overs of a four-day game, I have to agree with the comments of Mark Eklid and John Morris in this morning’s Derby Telegraph.


When a first day wicket is as heavily weighted in favour of the bowling side as this one was, the game is no longer an even battle between bat and ball. No one wants to see docile tracks where batsmen post huge scores, but there is a happy medium (as Doris Stokes used to say…) Given that this is the third occasion that a first day there this season has seen twenty wickets go down, I think it is time that someone had a word in their ear. Such a deluge of batsmen on the first day effectively ensures a result and Gloucestershire give themselves a 50/50 chance of win points with their actions. Hands up if you think we’d have got away with this?

The fact is that none of us, including myself and those who slaughtered the team yesterday, were there. Without seeing conditions it is difficult, maybe even impossible to be even-handed in the comments and criticism. Eklid says the Derbyshire players made no rash strokes but were trying not to get out. That being the case, the wicket was a joke.

The vitriol pouring forth from 606 was not unexpected, but there will be a few sheepish looks tonight after the astonishing second day win. No praise is high enough for the innings played by Chesney Hughes, who looks a player of extraordinary potential, while the partnerships he shared with Graham Wagg and Steffan Jones for the last two wickets were crucial to the success.
Coming so soon after the defeat at Horsham, yesterday’s performance put a little pressure on John Morris. While not the sort of bloke who will bother about petty comments on message boards, who is to say that others within the club might not take note? Last week’s poll on this site suggested that most of those voting felt Morris should stay, although to clarify things for a correspondent on 606, I never claimed the poll was of a statistically significant size. 105 votes is, however, more significant than the one on the site where….ooohh…three people, at last viewing, want Morris out. Which is, of course, probably a cue for some more false and duplicate IDs to proliferate on there.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I support John Morris because he’s in charge of Derbyshire cricket and I’m a fan of the club. If Graeme Welch, Dougie Brown or Steffan Jones were, sometime in the future in the role, all names I’ve heard mentioned as alternatives, they too would have my support as a fan. I just don’t think it does anyone any good whatsoever to consistently snipe behind the scenes. I felt last night and still do that a first class side should not be bowled out so quickly, but unlike some who air their views in the public domain, I am even handed and will also praise when we do well. By any standards, even the most negative of followers (note I didn't say fans) must acknowledge that today was a fantastic win.

Some have suggested that if performances like Horsham and Bristol, irrespective of conditions, occur on a regular basis next season that Morris’ contract may not be renewed. By the same token, there are no guarantees that he would want to stay. With his job increasingly like that of an accountant in picking teams that will not incur financial penalty, less money to work with than anyone else in the country and constant grief from a section of the ‘support’, no one could blame him if he opted for a return to the job he was doing with great success before he came to Derbyshire.

Those shouting for his head now, like modern day Madame Guillotines, might even get their wish. Where would that leave us? In something unsavoury up to the neck, in my opinion. Let’s notionally pay off John and his staff and bring in, to great acclaim – maybe even a street party – the genial Graeme Welch, ignoring his lack of success thus far as coach (I say that as a huge fan of the man, by the way.)

After he is installed, let’s remind him that his best batsman has left, along with his leading wicket-taker and best all-rounder. Then break it to him that in paying off several contracts he now has no money for an overseas player or Kolpak, but that the budget could stretch to a couple of lads other sides have let go. Would he make a success of the job? Of course not, and no one would expect him to. People would allow him time though, because he’s Pop Welch, living legend of the club and a genuinely nice guy.

Nice guy or not, I’d give Pop a year and a half before the sniping started, unless we can find a Rod Bransgrove-style benefactor to allow us to keep the better players and attract those from elsewhere.

Anybody know one? It would be a huge help to the present incumbent of the post who has had a pretty good day today and who deserves better for a lot of hard work.

Speaking of which, in closing, the Second XI forced Durham to follow on at Derby. After making 360, with Poynton getting 70, Borrington 55, Park 46 and Slater and Whiteley 30s, Durham were bowled out for 185 by an attack featuring Needham, Sheikh and Hunter.

You've just got to smile eh?