There are, I think, two sides to this. One is that the contract Kirby signed at the county put him on a very high salary – I’ve heard in excess of six figures mentioned from different sources. In the current climate, that salary to one player is a massive drain on resources that few counties could afford and I’m not convinced that he is THAT good a player. I would have thought that Gloucestershire will be glad to get him off the wage bill.
The other is that he wants to play in Division One, where I’d guess there might be a few takers. Hampshire will doubtless want to add him to their collection of former England bowlers. It might give them a second one, after Dominic Cork, who gets onto the pitch…
Elsewhere, Middlesex may have to cancel the last two years of Iain O’Brien’s contract after discovering that he may not qualify as English through his marriage to a girl he met while professional at Matlock. Having signed Chris Rogers as their overseas player, O’Brien would thus have no route into the side. It is a shame for a good bowler who interested John Morris a couple of years back. This season was plagued with injury but he will be a loss to the southern county should he be unable to return.
Still in that neck of the woods, Usman Afzaal has left Surrey after three years and an average of 46. Yes, I would have him at Derby as, irrespective of his supposed foibles, he is a very good player. Life is full of idiosyncratic people and it takes all sorts in a dressing room. There may be other, more lucrative offers on the table, but if some are deterred by stories (some of them apocryphal) then Derbyshire could be a good home for him.
Finally tonight, at the current level of usage this site will reach the landmark of 100,000 hits sometime next week, something that I will be very proud of. To celebrate this, I am running a one-off e-mail auction for a piece of Derbyshire cricket memorabilia.
It is a signed club shirt from a few seasons back, never worn, size extra large, with the autographs of most of the squad of that time on it. Graeme Welch, Tom Lungley, Travis Birt, Greg Smith, Chris Taylor, Jake Needham, Wayne White, Michael di Venuto, Andy Gray and Ian Hunter are all there, together with a few less legible ones, as seen in the picture. It dates from the 2006 season, when I won it in a club website competition.
Anyway, if you are interested in this item, simply e-mail me at peakfan36@yahoo.co.uk with your maximum bid. The winner, unsurprisingly, will be the person who submits the highest bid and the item will be despatched to you, post free, on receipt of your processed cheque or Paypal payment. The reserve price on the item is £10. Bidding will close when the 100,000 hit is recorded on the site, probably some time next week.
I could, of course, just put this on ebay, which I’ll do if there are no takers, but this way the shirt will go to a reader of the blog and I’ll clear a bit of space in my wardrobe, so there will be a result all round!
Kirby, yes please!
ReplyDeleteHe is just what we have lacked for a number of years. A quality fast aggressive opening bowler who can knock over top order batsman.
Afzel, might be worth a punt unless John Morris has other batsman in mind.
DCCCFOREVER
Kirby - no chance of him coming to DCCC.
ReplyDeleteAfzaal would be a very decent acquisition and can offer a handy bit of slow bowling into the bargain too. However, I am not sure what sort of salary we are looking at here and if we could whet his appetite enough to join us. Clearly, I think he must now realise his trip down to 'the smoke', in an attempt to rekindle his international career, is now truly over and perhaps a return back up to the Midlands might appeal. However, a guy with such a healthy batting average is likely to acquire other suitors I would have thought. Could we offer something that bit extra to pull him in?
As it happens, O'Brien could prove a handy acquisition too - if he can overcome his recent injuries. He is the sort of nagging low 80s (mph) bowler, who can keep it tight and nip and wobble it around just enough. We could do with someone that can apply control (McLaren being another), who would ably complement the more outright aggression of Footitt or maybe even Sheikh next term.
MASTERVILLAIN