Viljoen took 18 wickets in eighteen overs in the competition, which his team won. He bowled fast and accurately throughout and was voted player of the tournament.
It is time for him to do that in Derbyshire colours.
He signed a three-year contract for us and has thus far completed two of them. His first season was ravaged by injury and he didn't play before the T20, bowled much of that with a limp and then suggested brighter things with a fifteen-wicket haul at Hove that won us an end of season match.
Last season was a disappointment. He took 38 wickets at 32 runs each in the championship, decent enough for a county professional but not for a highly paid import. As I have said before, with great reward comes both expectation and responsibility and I'm afraid Hardus didn't get close. There were some decent spells in the T20 under Dominic Cork's tutelage (coincidence, or...?) but in the four day game there were spells that were embarrassingly inept .
I've never seen worse bowling than he produced in the second innings at Durham at this level, certainly not by someone of international reputation. It turned what should have been a formality of a win into a dreadful defeat, on a wicket where line and length were sure to bring results.
Clubs sign Kolpaks because they offer more than is available on the domestic circuit and effectively offer another quality overseas player. There are plenty of shining examples of their worth on the county circuit, but at this stage Hardus isn't one of them.
That's harsh, but true and I am sure that unless there is a massive turnaround this summer, it will be his last at Derbyshire. I can't see us renewing on the rumoured terms, for sure, but he has every incentive to attract future interest from the circuit in 2019.
If he can bowl in a similar manner to Sharjah through a long summer, he could be the difference between Derbyshire doing well and being among the also-rans. The effectiveness of Logan Van Beek will be enhanced if there is aggression and pressure at the other end, because batsmen will just 'sit on their bats' and play him out if they can get away at the other end.
Too often last season, Derbyshire had to use Tony Palladino as the one man who could bowl wicket to wicket when we lost Luis Reece to injury. With the fitness and form of Ravi Rampaul in question, Palladino gave crucial control and it was no coincidence that he took wickets, backing up good deliveries with ones where the batsmen couldn't score and creating pressure.
If Hardus arrives in the Spring in good form and with his radar locked on, we could have a decent summer. If we can force home a few of these winning positions from last year, top three in the four-day game should not be beyond us.
But it will depend on getting runs on the board, which I think we will do with Dave Houghton's input. Then bowling sides out twice.
If the real Hardus Viljoen turns up, that could happen too.
Will he?
This is where we have to hope that Steve Kirby will be influential. Even if Hardus lessens his pace a little this must improve accuracy. At times last year the wicketkeepers - whether it be Smit, Wilson or Hosein - just had no chance.
ReplyDeleteIs it a simple case of HVs body not being able to cope with his domestic commitments & a full CC campaign? The answer may be to reduce his workload. This is not a great solution when we have invested much of our playing budget on him, but HV at 100% for most of the games is surely better than what we had last year
ReplyDeleteNow I hear he’s got an IPL gig so possibly won’t be “turning up” at all till after a few games have passed.
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