Houghton plans to give youth its head

Like a few of you, from the emails and messages I have had in the last 24 hours, I was a little surprised at the interview with Dave Houghton  yesterday.

In it, for those who have been out of contact, the Head of Cricket said that we will not be immediately replacing Hardus Viljoen, but will offer opportunity to young players and retain the money in the cricket budget for when someone who would strengthen the side becomes available.

I understand the rationale. As I said yesterday, domestic players will have signed deals somewhere if they are good enough by this stage, while we can only assume that overseas options are either not there at the moment, or are too expensive or too great a risk at this time. The loan market may be one we tap into again, but no county is going to loan us a bowler in January and find themselves short in April.

I applaud the idea of giving youth its opportunity, and none of us outside of the club knows the progress made by Sam Conners, James Taylor and Alfie Gleadall over the winter. If they don't get the chance, we won't know if they can rise like cream to the top, or if they have the mental and physical resilience to make it in the first-class game. They have done well at age group level, so let's see what exposure to a higher level can do for them.

Houghton and Steve Kirby will know the ability of these lads and must feel they have something, on which basis I am prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt and bow to their knowledge, expertise and closer proximity to the players.

However, with that comes a couple of caveats.

One is that the club MUST now give the Head of Cricket a long-term opportunity to develop the club and the young players passing through it. Like many others, I have grown tired of the constant changing of coaches and John Morris, Karl Krikken and Graeme Welch were not bad at their job. They all had weaknesses, as we all do, but they each brought strengths to the party too, as did Kim Barnett in less of a hands on role.

Dave should now be given five years, if he wants that long at his age, to bring through this crop of talent and others. Let's see what he can do in the longer term, because in the short term he has been hamstrung by a departure ten weeks before the season.

Can we expect Tony Palladino to stay fit all summer and do as well as last year? He is 35 now, while Ravi Rampaul's fitness last summer, a year younger, was questionable. Is it equally realistic to expect Logan van Beek to stay fit for six months and play all cricket as a seam bowler? It is a long time since we had a full season overseas bowler and it will be a big ask again.

My notional side for the opening game would be:

Godleman
Lace
Reece
Madsen
Hughes
Critchley
Hosein
Van Beek
Palladino
Rampaul
Youngster

Outside that eleven, at present, we have two other young seamers, Anuj Dal, Matt McKiernan and Hamidullah Qadri. Perhaps there will be a deal for Tom Wood too, and of course Daryn Smit is around but more likely in the second team and coaching.

So we need a lot of luck with injuries. Having three all-rounders in the top six is an asset and both Luis Reece and Alex Hughes could do well on early season pitches, but we will just need to wait and see. After all, if we signed one more player, we may have one more injury, as that's the way that the game can go...

This isn't like when Mark Footitt left, because he took a lot of wickets. Hardus had talent, but will go down for me as a massive disappointment. His supporters will refer to Hove, detractors to The Riverside and plenty of others when direction was quite simply shocking at this level. Nor was his plastering the trappings of his success all over social media especially conducive to team spirit either, when others are paid considerably less but are contributing much more.

Don't underestimate the value of team spirit. If luck goes our way and a relatively young squad stays fit, desire and togetherness can reap dividends.

Finally today, Gareth asked last night how much I thought we had saved from the departures of Gary Wilson, Hardus Viljoen, Ben Slater and Duanne Olivier.

The answer isn't simple, because the latter, for example, like Lockie Ferguson, has been replaced by Van Beek. You also need to factor in improved contracts for key players too, and the need to do the same for Matt Critchley, if things go to plan.

My guess - and I am no more privy to player salaries than any of you - is that we have the Viljoen salary as our 'pot', as and when there is a perceived need to use it. When the right player or players are available, that could prove very useful.

Only Dave Houghton will know when that is.

Viljoen leaves county

There was, at least as far as I am concerned, no great surprise in today's announcement regarding Hardus Viljoen.

The bowler has opted to be released from the final year of his contract and so will play no more for Derbyshire.

His success in the Pakistan 10 over competition, together with his selection for this year's Indian Premier League, will have allowed him to look quite differently at his future. It may well be that he is picked up for a stint in the Caribbean Premier League and his need to bowl long spells in county cricket is no longer there.

Regular readers will know that I suspected something may be afoot when there was no comment from the County on his IPL deal. Dave Houghton will be very keen to get off to a flyer in the season, yet we faced the first critical weeks without our highly paid Kolpak signing.

Furthermore, replacing him for a short spell would have been almost impossible, as any domestic bowler will be signed up at this stage.

I think that the parting of ways makes sense for both the club and the player. His signing, two years ago, suggested that we would have the attacking spearhead that was sorely needed after the departure of Mark Footitt, yet it didn't work out.

He missed much of his first season and was really only fit when it was coming to a conclusion. There was at least that golden game at Hove, when he entered the county record books, and supporters were optimistic about his second summer.

Sadly, aside from two or three useful spells in the T20, perhaps a portent for his future, it was far from spectacular. Too often line and length deserted him and the county needed someone of greater reliability. He took wickets, but the average was too high for an overseas signing  and too many runs were given away, as Messrs Smit and Hosein dived hither and thither in vain to stop the wayward exocets.

To some extent he will be missed, as a dangerous late order hitter, while if he did get it right he could bowl some very fast and awkward deliveries. It just didn't happen often enough though and the regular cost/benefit analysis of supporters too often found him wanting.

I wish him well for the future, wherever it takes him, but Dave Houghton will now seek better value from wherever he goes for a replacement.

With the season fast approaching, and this on the cards for some time, I would be surprised if there were not already irons in the fire. We are potentially able to bring in another Kolpak, or player with an English passport from overseas, hopefully better suited to our needs and to English conditions.

If we don't, we have a major gap in our seam bowling resources for the summer. Logan Van Beek may well need to bowl at one end, only coming off in September, while Tony Palladino and Ravi Rampaul will have heavier workloads than their ages really warrant. Nor would we want Luis Reece bowling 20-overs an innings, when he has to then bat in the top three. Aside from that we have the academy boys, which is asking a lot of them.

Like the rest of you, I will watch future developments with considerable interest.

Brief updates at a quiet time

It has been a few quiet weeks for Derbyshire cricket supporters.

We are now, however, enjoying the sight of the players hard at work in the gym and in the indoor nets. There are also good reports on the fitness of players who suffered disappointment with injuries in 2018.

Luis Reece, so sorely missed last year is reportedly well and raring to go, while Alfie Gleadall is recovering well from a stress fracture of the back. Gleadall, like the other  young seam bowlers, should see opportunity this summer, much depending on how well the senior bowlers retain form and fitness.

He looked a bowler of talent last year and bowled a couple of brisk spells in the ill fated game at Durham, where he also showed ability with the bat.

I am cautiously optimistic about the coming season IF we get the rub of the green and are able to get off to a good start. We still don't know what is happening with Hardus Viljoen, apart from the fact that he will miss the start of the summer at least, while we still don't know the identity of our second t20 player, or indeed the coach for that format.

The captain has also to be announced for the short form and with the season just over two months away there is much to be done.

The club is in good hands though and I remain confident in a competitive and enjoyable summer. Dave Houghton and Steve Kirby will doubtless do a good job.

In closing today, I would like to wish Chris Airey the best as he leaves shortly to take on a new role at Warwickshire. He has worked well to build on the groundwork of his predecessor, Tom Holdcroft and the club's social media and marketing presence is at a very high level.

There will be a new look to off field in 2019, just as there will to the coaching staff.

I wish them all well.

All eyes point to New Zealand

It has all been very quiet on the Derbyshire cricket front. So quiet that I found myself watching New Zealand with the level of support this week that I usually reserve for my favourite county.

And why not? After all there were five former county players in their ranks. Martin Guptill, Henry Nicholls, Jimmy Neesham Matt Henry and Lockie Ferguson all acquitted themselves well.

Indeed, Neesham made a strong case for being the star turn. He has always been a powerful hitter of a cricket ball and can bowl some very useful medium pace, as well as being a brilliant fielder in any position. I have little doubt that his return to form will see him very much in demand for this year's T20 in England. There is a lot to like about him and I don't think that we utilised him to best effect in his stint a couple of years back.

He is not really a death bowler but was used as such in the absence of viable alternatives. He didn't do badly however and a return to a county where he has a lot of friends would not be the worst move.

Having said that, even more interesting was the news that Mitchell Santner is returning to the Kiwi national side. If he is fully fit and recovered from major knee surgery, he would prove a huge asset to Derbyshire in the T20, offering not just a spinner of quality but also a punishing batsman and outstanding fielder.

Unless we decide to get Wahab Riaz to return, I fully expect our other overseas player for the T20 to come from New Zealand, especially with John Wright as our overseas scout.

And with the season less than eleven weeks away, that has got to be exciting!

As an aside, this is the first blog piece that I have written with the help of voice recognition software. It seems to have done a decent job, my accent notwithstanding.

Perhaps something to persist with in the coming weeks.