Monday musings

You can tell it was a quiet weekend for cricket news, especially for any pertaining to Derbyshire cricket, when the highlight was Dominic Cork being knocked out of Nonentities on Ice, or whatever its called.


Corky’s departure actually removed the programme of one of its better known celebrities, at least in our house. We watched the start of the programme, when we spent five minutes collectively saying “Who?” to the TV as the ‘celebrities’ skated onto the ice, then the end, which was more than enough to be going on with.

Coupled with a glitch in our router, which meant I had to reinstall it, this has accounted for the relative quiet of late.

Of course, there will be little news now until we approach the season. John Morris has to all intents and purposes completed his recruiting and has done a pretty good job on the face of it.

He’s brought in two young bowlers of talent with reputations to build to replace two older ones with a track record of injuries. Palladino and Turner for Hunter and Lungley is a good swap and offers greater wicket-taking potential for me.

He’s also brought in two young batsmen of talent to share the overseas role, as well as bringing back a former favourite to cover a crucial role of wicket-keeper/batsman. Furthermore, Luke Sutton is now skipper, which can only be a good thing in my book.

Finally he has filled in a problem area in the Seconds with a new coach who has Derbyshire links, as well as signing up the standout batsman of the local leagues in recent years. All things considered, especially our financial situation, that’s a pretty good winter’s work by John Morris.

Further signings are unlikely and probably unnecessary, so we must now be patient and await the advent of pre-season training and matches, before April comes around once more.

The only news I anticipate is the club’s financial return for last year, which may not make for pretty reading. Having said that, it can hardly be worse than Lancashire’s loss of £2 million, which is a staggering sum in any business.

The only other relevant news of recent days is that John Wright appears as keen as John Morris to set up links between Derbyshire and New Zealand, feeling that county stints for his ‘more affordable’ players would be mutually beneficial. There have also been noises of some of our players going out there for the winter, which would doubtless broaden their experience. You can see an article on it here:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10703014

That’s it for now. I’ll be back soon with a roundup of news and between times keep well, keep happy and keep dreaming of a good, competitive summer.