It has been a busy old week chez Peakfan and there has been little spare time for blogging.
A couple of days off now afford a little more time and it is appropriate to start with warm congratulations to Luis Reece, who has earned himself a gig at theforthcoming Bangladesh Premier League with the Chittagong Vikings.
To my memory, he is the first non-overseas Derbyshire player to earn selection in an overseas T20 tournament, something of which he can be very proud. While it is safe to say that in my many years of following the club we have got more recruits wrong than right, Luis is very firmly in the 'job well done' camp.
In an object lesson to all young cricketers, he wasn't a regular choice at Lancashire and was surprisingly released. We moved quickly to offer him a trial, where he did well enough to be offered a contract. At the start of the season he wasn't one of the first names on the team sheet and missed out in the RLODC, where Ben Slater did well. Yet gradually he came into the side and, slowly but surely, confirmed his place in the side.
He will now be one of the first names on the team sheet, something he deserves after consistent scoring in both forms of the game. We know he will graft, yet also know he can play all the shots when the situation demands it. Aside from his bigger press innings, his second knock against Glamorgan in Cardiff was a major reason why we were able to set a challenging target. It showed good technique and temperament, keeping his head as wickets fell around him.
Chittagong will get a free-scoring batsman, a solid fielder and a useful medium-pacer if the conditions allow. More importantly, we have him secured on a three-year deal, one that should see him develop very nicely indeed.
Like you, I wish him well.
It should do him good.
ReplyDeletenext club Captain
ReplyDeleteI note that Jeevan Mendis is also in that squad, so assume that link helped. Whilst the big big names are not there the likes of Jos Buttler, David Willey, Liam Plunkett, Kumar Sangakkara, etc. are, so he can only gain great experience from playing with and against them, and from the different conditions over there, which hopefully he can bring back to Derbyshire. I wish him well he was a successful signing for us last season. He is a more natural No. 3 so never understand why he opens instead of our best opener Billy? Open with Bill & Ben, Reece, Madsen etc.
ReplyDeleteTop player and lovely man to boot, agree with opening bat, we really need to nail down the top 6 order
ReplyDeleteGood luck to him. Agree with ash he is a good lad always willing to say hello and have a chat.
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