Hosein signs, Kiwis flourish and new member of the family...

Belated recognition today of Harvey Hosein's contract extension at Derbyshire today, the 19-year old having signed on until the end of 2017 at this stage.

That he is a precocious talent is beyond argument. His glove work is generally of a high standard, although there were occasional signs of sloppiness creeping in last season when perhaps the high level of concentration required slipped a little over a long period in the limelight.

The sky is the limit for the youngster, but first he needs to cement a place in the first team and to do that he needs to work on his batting. Again, the talent is there, but to nip ahead of the equally talented Tom Poynton he needs to contribute with the bat. The latter, coming into the final year of his current deal, will be in no doubt that he has a fight on his hands and will be working equally hard to be number one.

Undoubtedly we need more runs from that role this year, as we struggled last season. To be fair to Hosein, the teams in which he played and the injury situation sometimes saw him batting at number six, which he doesn't have the game for at this stage. In time he may well do, but to expect an 18-year old, as he was then, to be a master of each discipline is unrealistic. Eight is probably right for both Hosein and Poynton and hopefully the presence of our Kiwi middle order this year will serve us well.

Elsewhere, Neil Broom and Hamish Rutherford shared an unbeaten partnership of 87 in 12 overs to steer Otago Volts to an easy eight-wicket win last night, the sort of pairing that Derbyshire fans will dream of in the summer months that are not that far away now. Broom has an unbeaten 69 from 76 balls, while Rutherford was unbeaten on 47 from only 39 deliveries. Nice work, fellas...

Two final points today - I couldn't believe people on Twitter yesterday denigrating England's emphatic series win over South Africa, saying that it was a poor standard of opposition.

Seriously? While the Proteas have missed Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander, they have outstanding players in Amla, De Villiers and Morkel, as well as very good ones in du Plessis and Elgar. Such negativity always annoys me and people should be more willing to acknowledge a very professional effort by an up and coming England side. Not the best side South Africa have fielded, but then it isn't the best England one either and we outplayed them.

Finally tonight, I've been a little preoccupied in the past few days, as family Peakfan has a new addition in Wallace, an eight-week old Wire-Haired Fox Terrier. He is a perky little chap and is already well on the way to house training.

If Derbyshire's players prove as receptive to their winter's work,  we will have few complaints when summer comes.

With no apologies whatsoever, here's the first picture of him.

His Falcons hat will surely follow...