Monday musings

A quarter of the way through our T20 campaign and the major positive has been the solid batting thus far, with our top order looking very impressive.


Martin Guptill has started to get going and is a naturally fast scorer, while Wes Durston, Chesney Hughes and Wayne Madsen have all looked in good form. Madsen’s scoring rate is exceptional and his ability to work the ball into gaps, run hard and improvise is priceless in this form of the game.

By the same token, Garry Park has also contributed and there has been no real opportunity for Greg Smith to do so prior to his current injury. This is indicative of an improved side, as most of you will recall Smith being our opening batsman of a few years back in the T20. With the likes of Ross Whiteley and Jon Clare able to come in lower down and score quickly, the batting shouldn’t be an issue too many times. I can remember plenty of seasons over the years when you couldn’t say that with any degree of confidence…

What has particularly impressed me has been the way that we’ve not panicked and kept the run rate ticking over. Yesterday was a case in point. 60 at the halfway stage in previous years may have been a precursor to big shots and a decline, but 100 from the last ten overs was indicative of a well-timed innings in tricky conditions.

I don’t know how much attention we paid to the IPL but the Chennai Super Kings won that tournament by ensuring they had wickets in hand for an assault in the last five overs. The capacity to put a score out of reach increases considerably if you have batsmen, rather than tail-enders at the crease. With the exception of the Nottinghamshire game, when their attack found the right lengths to bowl with unerring skill, our batsmen have done very well so far.

It makes you wonder what would have happened if we’d been able to hang on to Usman Khawaja as someone else named above would have missed out. For that reason alone, the club’s decision not to bring in a replacement has been a sound one. More accurately, from what the chairman said the club were unable to sign someone and I think our targets would have been overseas bowlers. As I’ve said before though, the IPL has skewed the market and the type of player we may have been looking at – maybe a Vettori, Steyn or Brett Lee – would be difficult to lure with the size of the offers in the English game. Why would you want a digestive biscuit after you've had gateau?

Good though it would have been to have someone like that on board, we’ve seen Tom Knight given an early opportunity and do very well. At his age I was playing for my school first eleven and finding that hard work at times! The seventeen-year old has bowled tidily and taken the scalps of Adam Voges and Ian Blackwell so far, pretty decent scalps I’m sure you’ll agree. This follows on from his first game against Leeds/Bradford UCCE where he took seven wickets and everything about him suggests that he has a bright future if he continues to listen to the right people and work at his game.

The other spinners, Wes Durston and Chesney Hughes have also done well and bowling around ten overs of spin has proved a good tactic so far. The seamers have all had their moments, good and bad, with Steffan Jones continuing to bowl beautifully. After a long career I would contend that his years at Derbyshire have been the best for Steff. He has always been a willing workhorse but at Derbyshire he has been appreciated, something that didn’t always happen earlier in his career.

The only problem is that at some point even this most willing and skilled of workhorses must bow to the inevitable and we will need someone to fill the gap.

On the upside, on present form that will be around 2015…