County round up

Thanks to the age old merits of a contrived finish, the final day of the second team game at Belper yesterday was an exciting affair, even though the end result was a draw.

McGladdery and Cox feasted on some 'buffet bowling' to add 125 and set Lancashire 269 to win and they finished on 222-7, Mark Watt taking four wickets. There was another impressive spell from Dustin Melton, who would appear, subject to having the requisite credentials, to be worthy of further investigation for another summer.

Melton is quick, probably Viljoen quick, but the factory appears to have fitted a sat-nav in this model. With such players being uncommon, and us having an obvious weakness in this area, the strapping South African may be just what we need for another year. He is a little older than the younger seamers, and at 24 has done a lot of the filling out that such bowlers need, before they can combine sustained pace with a body that can cope with the rigours of the trade. My understanding is that he is here with an ancestral visa, so technically would be able to play next summer, if Dave Houghton is sufficiently impressed.

Tony Palladino will be 37 next summer, Ravi Rampaul 35. They have done well this summer, but we cannot expect them to go on forever. Luis Reece has filled the gap admirably, but it was interesting hearing Dave Houghton say that he will be moved to the middle order, to protect him. It is impossible for Luis to bowl 20-25 overs, then get his mindset right to go and bat for several hours, so a move to the middle order, maybe to four or five, makes a lot of sense.

So too, for another year, would be a different quick bowler as an overseas, ideally one with greater experience than Logan van Beek. In average and in performance he is our fourth seamer, something you can only justify if that player is scoring runs. But the Kiwi averages only ten with the bat, while his sixteen championship wickets have come at 35 each, too high for the overseas role. To put it into context, no one was overly enthused with Jon Moss as overseas in 2004/5, but his bowling average was comparable, and he averaged over thirty with the bat. Logan is a lovely lad and no one could fault his effort, but the overseas role is a 'pressure gig' and he hasn't yet suggested that he has handled that pressure.

Perhaps there may be someone in the Australia A squad? It might be worth a look this weekend, if the player concerned qualifies through international matches by that stage. Joe Mennie did well for Lancashire last year, taking 28 wickets in seven matches and averaging 33 with the bat, so there are players out there.

It is not too long until the T20 starts and I just hope that Billy Stanlake arrives fit and firing. At his pace, he only needs to get it slightly wrong and the ball can go anywhere. We were lucky last year with Wahab Riaz and Lockie Ferguson, who both bowled economically and came with a reputation for being robust bowlers. Stanlake doesn't and my concern is that a player who has a long history of injury may not last the course in an intensive competition. Only time will tell on that one, but to lose your specialist overseas for the competition is a major impediment to any hopes of success.

It is nice to report, in off the field affairs, that the club is introducing reusable cups in an attempt to cut plastic waste. They are usually on the ball in such things and I am quite comfortable, given our resources, with where we are as club right now.

Yes, we are probably two or three peak performance players short of genuine progress, but we must walk before we run and must cut our cloth to suit the finances. I think we are doing alright, all things considered, far from the pushovers that most of the cricket writers expect us to be.

Contrast that with our neighbours down the A52, who seem to lurch from crisis to disaster and back. The natives are restless down in Nottingham, where there appears to be little willingness to fight when the going gets tough. Indeed, recent performances have suggested that the tough left town some time back. For all their signings, they appear to have little team spirit and last winter's big money signings, Messrs Duckett, Clarke and Slater, average 31, 26 and 24 respectively in the county championship. One wonders if the Alex Hales affair has been a contributory factor and it can certainly have done them no favours.

They already look relegation certainties, which is pretty poor, midway through June.

More from me before the Australia A match.