Robin Peterson

When news broke of his signing, there was the usual mixture of comments among Derbyshire fans about the merits of our new Kolpak import, Robin Peterson from South Africa.

Most were enthusiastic, but some said he wasn’t good enough, bizarre in that he had extensive international experience for a country full of good cricketers, while another said he didn’t spin the ball enough. That one made me smile, thinking back to the maxims of the late, great Wilfred Rhodes. “You only have to spin it half a bat width to miss the middle” was one, while “If batter thinks it’s spinnin’ it’s spinnin’” was another. Strange how some people only ever see the negatives in life…

There was also a comment that Brian Lara had taken him apart, which was true but hardly set him aside from many other bowlers. Lara did it to most in his time and to use him as a benchmark is unfair in the extreme.

Anyway, Peterson came, saw and largely conquered the doubts of the non-believers. While he didn’t cut a swathe through the county circuit as Mushtaq Ahmed did at Sussex, he gave us our first spinner of genuine quality in a long time. Especially in the early season, he became an adept finisher of the opposition innings and was generally a man the captain could turn to when a degree of control was required.

He did a good job in the T20 too and was very economical in the one-day game as a whole. In later season there was a marked dropping off in his wicket-taking abilities, though whether that was due to having pushed it through quicker in the T20, to injury or to tiredness I couldn’t say. Nonetheless, he reached the fifty wicket milestone in the last match and can be pleased with his achievements.

As a batsman he played some important knocks and usually batted fluently, but never went on to the big scores that seemed likely for someone of obvious ability. He was left sixteen runs short of the 500 runs/50 wickets double, but will perhaps be disappointed with a highest score of 58 from 24 innings. This was felt even more keenly when few runs came from the wicket-keeper this year, so the engine room of the later order batting was not as productive as it has been in recent years.

Nonetheless he will be sorely missed as a very good team man prepared to spend time with younger colleagues. How we replace him will be a question at the front of John Morris’ mind this winter. While Jake Needham looks a decent bowler in one-day cricket when bowling to defensive fields, we don’t know how he would bowl to an attacking field with four men around the bat. Some can be affected by the close proximity of teammates, pushing the ball through and giving insufficient flight and revs for spin.

I once played with a very good bowler who was extremely parsimonious and played at inter-district level, but completely lost it when fielders came in close as we were hunting wickets. He once, as a bowler, hit me a glancing blow on the back of the head when I was fielding short leg, funnily enough the last time I fielded there for him, or anyone else for that matter…

I’m not saying that Needham has a similar problem, but the two forms of the game require different skills and exert different pressures on batsmen and bowlers alike. Only John Morris and his staff know the answers and we’ll have to wait to see their verdict.

As it is, Robin Peterson returns to South Africa having done a solid, professional and impressive stint in the county colours. The term ‘Kolpak’ has become a disparaging one, reserved for players out to make a quick financial killing with the minimum return by way of statistics or commitment. That wasn’t the case with Peterson.

We can all be grateful for that.