Another young gem picked up as Michael Cohen signs?

Hands up, any readers in the UK who knew the name Michael Cohen?

Mine stays firmly down, though the latest signing by Derbyshire seems to be a young player of considerable talent, highly-rated as a quick left-arm bowler of some potential. At 21 he has time to get much better and from the videos I have seen of him, he looks capable of pushing for a first team spot.

I think I saw him at the 3aaa County Ground in the last game of the season, against Sussex. Dave Houghton was showing a young man around and I am sure it was Cohen. He played a couple of games for Nottinghamshire second eleven earlier in the summer and is no doubt another who is taking an opportunity to get out of South Africa while the chance is there and his prospects are stymied by the quota system.

We must be wary of getting carried away, however. Most of his cricket back home has been at semi-professional level, with limited exposure to franchise cricket with the Cape Cobras. Having said that, much the same could have been said about Leus du Plooy, and if this works out as well, few will complain.

Actually some might, as happened within minutes of the news going on Twitter.

'Another Kolpak at Derbyshire' cried some, while for others it was 'yet we let young local talent slip away'.

To which I would say this. First, the ECB gave no encouragement to the recruitment of young English players in The Hundred, so an example to follow has hardly been established. Most players recruited were overseas, Kolpak or experienced, with few sides taking a punt on a young man making a name in the game from this country. This would have been very easy for the ECB to enforce, by insisting squads had to include three under-25s, for example.

Second, from what I can see, Cohen is some distance ahead of Alfie Gleadall and James Taylor in his development. As I have previously written, we don't have the budget to let a couple of lads play second team cricket all summer, yet be some distance from senior standard. It is a harsh reality of the modern game. Surrey can afford to do it, like other big clubs, but we need a lean squad in which everyone could realistically play without any detriment to the standard.

Third, it appears to be fine that Surrey can sign Hashim Amla, but not for us to pick up a young player with a reputation to make. I acknowledge that Amla is a legend, but the rationale of signing him, as well as Dilshan, didn't leave any lasting legacy at Derbyshire. Nor, for that matter, signing Imran Tahir.  I don't buy into the idea that everyone will want to watch Amla more than a young unknown either. Just ask those who watched and thrilled at the contribution of du Plooy last year to get backing for that assertion.

Fourth, counties need to improve and find players where they can. With most of them losing a lot of players to the new competition, fringe players at these clubs will be needed to play at least in the RLODC. There is, one would assume less likelihood of a season-long loan for squad players, when you know you will need them down the line.

My ideal, like all of you, would be a successful Derbyshire side full of local players, like the one that won the championship in 1936, all of them born within the county. That will never happen again, because mobility of labour makes playing anywhere you want far easier, as do qualification regulations.

Which brings me neatly onto my final point. Cohen crucially has a European passport, which means he is NOT a Kolpak. The club's press release, doubtless after taking advice from the ECB, makes that clear. One would assume that should leave him clear of a potential cull of Kolpak players post-Brexit, but no one really has any idea on how that will unfold. When Irish players are classed as overseas, but Dutch players are fine to play on European passports, it is all rather muddy.

I read this week that counties may well be allowed two overseas in county cricket, which would enable the better ones to stay here under that heading. Yet given the way that most struggle to find players who are suitably qualified, or available at present, a rethink on qualification criteria may well be needed sometime soon.

Anyway, welcome to Derbyshire, Michael. I hope you enjoy yourself, find a new home in God's Own County and are successful at the friendliest club on the circuit.

For those who want a taster, here he is in action for the Cobras, the left-arm bowler in this clip earning praise from Dane Piedt.

Enjoy!

Postscript - and here's one of him being interviewed

Taylor picked up by Surrey

So James Taylor has been picked up by Surrey, after his release by Derbyshire.

One thing is for sure - one of them has made a mistake, and time will tell which one.

There can be no doubting the talent of the player. You don't become an England age group cricketer without that, but for whatever reason, Derbyshire saw fit to dispense with his services. 

On the occasions I saw him, he looked the furthest back of the trio of young bowlers on the staff at the start of the summer. He didn't have the bounce and pace of Conners, nor the bustle of Gleadall. Then again, plenty of bowlers have made fine county careers without those attributes, the names of Derek Shackleton, Tom Cartwright and Darren Stevens among them.

Something wasn't right from a Derbyshire perspective, and whether it was fitness, attitude or simply budget, they saw fit to dispense with his services. The finances of Surrey and Derbyshire are diametrically opposed and the southern county has the capacity to take a risk on a young player of undoubted promise, as well as being better able to absorb the loss if he doesn't make it.

On the one hand it is an excellent move for the player, but he will be way back in the pecking order at Surrey, behind - deep breath - Curran, Curran, Morkel, Meaker, Plunkett, Clarke, Clark, McKerr, Dernbach, Topley and new overseas seamer Michael Neser. While some of these players are single format only, and others limited by international calls, eleven seamers is around three or four teams worth. It must be very difficult to keep them all happy, I would have thought. Mind you, to be on a good contract for minimal cricket might keep a few with a smile on their face...

One for the future then, and I wish him well. 

Let's just hope that we can pick up someone else, besides a good overseas, to take up some of the workload.

Thoughts on the Hundred

I didn't watch the draft for the new competition last weekend. By all accounts it was a glorified game show and, as regulars will know, I have no interest in the competition.

Unlike some who have been quick to criticise 'greedy' players in social media, I have no problem with players putting their names in the frame for it. They are professionals and, like any one of us, will provide for their families and their own lifestyle in the ways that are available. We'd all do the same, so don't lie and say otherwise.

I just don't see the need for the competition, then nor now. Were innovation required, there was scope to do something within the eighteen counties, either changing the fifty-over competition to a knock out or mixing up the T20 so you don't play the same sides every year. They could have made four-day cricket a three-tier system. All of these options would have been far less costly than introducing another competition, downgrading the format in which we just became world champions and alienating a fan base that supported the most successful T20 summer ever.

Players have complained in recent years about a lack of down time, yet here we introduce more cricket for the 'chosen elite' that will add to the pressures on body and mind. A competition that no one, outside those set to make a nice little earner, can find positive noises to make about it.

Let's be clear. Since it was first touted, the marketing and publicity behind this competition has been a shambles. From saying it was not aimed at the traditional fan (silly) to simplifying it for Mums and kids (patronising) to choosing Test Grounds to host it, but not Durham (absurd) it has been pathetic. Laurel and Hardy does marketing. The costs incurred are hideous and rising, the repeated evasiveness of Tom Harrison and Colin Graves at yesterday's DCMS hearing telling a damning tale worthy of Roald Dahl, perhaps even Stephen King.

Had I been 'consulted', which apparently happened with us all but no one seems to have noticed, I would have suggested, if there had to be something different, having one team based in Edinburgh, to tap into that new audience. Or at least use Durham, which is a fairly easy drive from the north. Why not do a pro-celebrity cricket league, an amalgam of Strictly Come Dancing, the old International Cavaliers and a charity match? You could have included some recently retired legends, some reality stars and celebrities. The standard might not have been high, but you could have got your photo taken with Olly Murs or that bloke from Love Island, as well as seeing Trescothick or Ramprakash bat one last time, or Warney turn his arm over at the opposite end to Katherine Jenkins. Before you laugh, remember that charity match at Derby last year, where the standard was as varied as the bowling lengths, but the ground was full? Remember how crowds used to flock to see the Cavaliers?

Few fans of my acquaintance have any interest in the new competition. More worryingly, no one who currently doesn't follow the game seems to either. For them, it is like putting lipstick on a pig. Dress it up all you like, but as soon as the 'c' word is mentioned, they don't want to know. I have tried it on friends and they aren't interested, despite ECB protestations to the contrary, based on their 'research'. Perhaps like the research done for these adverts on TV, where 72% of 67 surveyed, it says in very small print, reckoned it helped their dandruff...

Yes, Derbyshire will lose four of their best players to it, but many of our rivals will do the same, though the selections last weekend raised some eyebrows. Certainly mine, when I saw them, with short form poster boy Chris Gayle ignored, the same Chris Gayle that pre-publicity said would attract new audiences to see him bat.

Nottinghamshire lose an entire team, but their parochial picking, which saw no one from their neighbouring counties selected and seven from Trent Bridge, did little to erase the thoughts that this is a backdoor approach to rationalising the county set up. Were the four Derbyshire players selected in an East Midlands squad, I could have understood it more, but watching two of our players in opposition, playing in manufactured sides, holds as much appeal as one of the old 'Smokers v Non Smokers' matches.

It highlights, of course, what excellent players we have at the club. Another two or three could deem themselves unlucky not to be selected, but the likes of Josh Cobb, Colin Ackerman and many others around the country could say the same. While on the one hand you might have wanted to retain all of your players for the RLODC, you also want them to be picked, because otherwise the perception that you need to play for a bigger county to get noticed becomes stronger. Isn't that the case for Leicestershire (none selected) and Northamptonshire (one)?

The frustration is that the competition takes up high summer, the best days for cricket-watching. Balmy days on the boundary edge will be more sporadic, unless you decide to go to these games, which are evening matches anyway. It won't affect me too much, as it is then that we take our family holidays, but for many others it is like the loss of a friend.

As for Derbyshire, we lose three of our top four. I am not sure what more Billy Godleman could have done to earn selection, but perhaps the unorthodox manner of his game did for him, as it did for Kim Barnett before him. Yet our squad, as a few of you pointed out, can still produce a decent side for fifty-over cricket, unless we lose another one or two to forthcoming  'wild card' picks, which sounds too Simon Cowell for my comfort.

Notionally, we could field:

Godleman,
Lace (or another batsman)
Dal
Hughes
Critchley
Hosein
Hudson-Prentice
McKiernan
Conners
Palladino
Melton/new bowler

Question marks over the batting, perhaps, but we will be largely playing second teams anyway. One or two of you came up with the same side (because it is all we have left) but my understanding is that no overseas players will be allowed in the competition, unless I missed a recent change to that.

Whether it means short-term contracts for a couple of players I don't know. It may afford opportunities for good Minor Counties players, while Tom Wood might be a local beneficiary, but it is all rather messy.

One thing is for sure -  most of us don't and won't like it, but it is going ahead now. It may turn out better than we expect, or produce matches totally devoid of interest and atmosphere. But it is happening, so we must like it or lump it.

Don't expect to read old Peakfan reporting on it, as I won't watch it. It holds as much interest for me as a domestic game in Sri Lanka, or a match between two league sides in Cornwall. I like my cricket, but not between sides that are the cricketing equivalent of The Monkees, the Sixties pop band put together to capitalise on the appeal of The Beatles, specifically for television. They were a pale imitation of the real thing too.

Sadly, while it lasts, summers will never be the same.

But whoever wears those eleven county shirts will have my support.

Postscript : overseas players CAN play in the RLODC

Four signed for The Hundred

Wayne Madsen, Ravi Rampaul, Luis Reece and Leus du Plooy were all picked up for the Hundred tonight.

Good luck to all four of them, but while I wish them well, the tournament holds zero interest for me. 

My concern is where it leaves us for the RLODC, with three of our top four missing. 

I won't have time to give my thoughts on this until Tuesday evening, so any comments you have, please append here! 

The winter blog

After taking a few days break from blogging, it's time to return with a few updates.

The draft for The Hundred takes place on Sunday. Not that I am bothered, but I fully understand why people whose job is cricket have put their names in the frame. From my cursory look at the players in the draft, the only Derbyshire players not in for it are Tony Palladino, Harvey Hosein and Dustin Melton, none of them with a T20 record to speak for them.

What amused me was that of eight players with a reserve price of £40K, one was Wayne Madsen, which I fully understood, and the other Hamidullah Qadri. The latter astonished me and suggested a player poorly advised, when one looked at the talent pool with no reserve price, some from overseas. His chances of being picked up, I would reckon, are slightly better than mine, especially at that price.

Bizarre.

Anyway, I will henceforth only write about that competition as it affects Derbyshire. We will know soon enough who will miss a part of the county season, the only concern for me. My guess is that Madsen, Critchley, Rampaul and Reece will get a gig, but others may be unlucky. We'll see.

As for the blog over the winter, I will naturally report on any news and offer my thoughts, as well as running a fascinating interview that I did with Tony Palladino before the end of the season. Tony discussed his long and impressive career with me  and gave his thoughts on a number of things that interested me.

I will also, as the club prepares for its 150th anniversary celebration next year, be writing about my memories of the 100th anniversary in 1970, which is still one of my favourite cricket seasons.

It was a summer when the South Africans were banned from touring, so a Rest of the World side played England in some enthralling matches. A year when Ian Buxton led the Derbyshire side well and to a Sunday League challenge, and when Chris Wilkins exploded onto the county scene with a series of punishing displays in both three and one-day cricket.

A summer of three formats, memorable matches, considerable sunshine and golden memories for me, as my Dad and I travelled the length and breadth of Derbyshire in his Ford Anglia. I probably saw more cricket in the flesh that summer than since, on reflection, as our travels took us from Derby to Chesterfield, Buxton and Ilkeston.

There was much to enjoy and I hope our 150th proves equally memorable.

I just have to write it now...

Fantasy League winners look familiar

This year's Peakfan Blog Fantasy Cricket League winners roll has a familiar look.

With the inevitability of a Madsen cover drive going for four, David Aust came top again, beating runner up Marc Perni by six hundred points. Marc also came third with his other team, which represents a fine summer's work by him.

Sadly, there is nothing in fantasy cricket for runners up, because David Aust gets the medal for first place. However, Clive Whitmore won the runs league, while Marc won the wickets equivalent.

If all three gentlemen can get in touch in the next week or so with their addresses, I will get their medals in the post to them. As always, you can get me at peakfan36@yahoo.co.uk

As for yours truly, I am quite happy with mid-table respectability, or mediocrity if you will. Considering I never changed my side after the commencement of the Vitality Blast, I did pretty well really and never came close to using all my substitutes.

What I did do was pick Wayne Madsen and Luis Reece, each of who rewarded me with fine seasons. So too Dane Vilas at Lancashire, but I should have replaced out of form and injured players.

Maybe next season I will do better, but in all likelihood I won't. The advent of summer holidays normally spells the end of my close monitoring of the league and my team.

But it is fun and this year's 33 teams was a new record. Thank you to all of those who took part and I hope you enjoyed it.

See you next Spring, all being well!

Stumbling block to Lace deal?

It would appear that I and a few others may have been premature in suggesting that Tom Lace will be at Derbyshire next summer.

It may still happen, but a Google search in a quiet moment this weekend revealed that the player is contracted to Middlesex until the end of next season.

That Derbyshire want to sign him is almost certainly a given. Not just the runs he made, but the way that he made them suggested that Tom is a player to watch, one who thrived under the tutelage of Dave Houghton.

It's a funny game. Tom didn't score too many in his Derbyshire Premier League appearances last summer, whereas Tom Wood racked up the runs in his time honoured way. It was the same the year before, when Lace averaged 25 for Middlesex seconds, while Wood was just under 40 for us.

Yet Lace took to county cricket as a duck to water, registering three centuries, the support of Billy Godleman and Wayne Madsen key in his development. Indeed, if you look back at the footage of when he reached a century for the first time, against Glamorgan, you can see his captain, importantly at the crease with him, celebrating almost as much as the player himself  as they ran the run to get him to the landmark.

Such altruism is indicative of the positive culture that Dave Houghton and Billy have engendered at the club. It was evident again after Luis Reece reached a sublime century against Sussex, when Godleman gave him the longest hug I have ever seen on a cricket pitch. It showed a captain who cared, a club that had a tight and supportive dressing room. Who wouldn't want to play in such an environment? Reece's willingness to commit his next four years to the county last week spoke volumes.

I know Tom loved his summer in Derby and has made good friends. If the decision was solely his, I am sure that he would be signing on the dotted line at the earliest opportunity. That he has developed under Dave Houghton's coaching is beyond dispute.

But it isn't his decision alone.

IF he has requested to be released from the final year of his contract, my guess is that we should hear something by the end of this month. Stuart Law and Angus Fraser will want to move on with their own team building plans and Law has already said that he wants to bring in 'greater experience' to a Middlesex side that under-performed this summer.

Of course, that doesn't fit especially well with offering greater opportunity to a 21-year old with a handful of first-class matches under his belt. They could, however, insist that he stays as an option in a batting line up that has lost Paul Stirling (now classed as overseas) and looks set to lose Dawid Malan. Rumours suggest an Australian batsman coming in as captain, which would fill one of those positions, while there are plenty of candidates for the other within the club.

We all know, of course, that contracts have been cancelled by plenty of counties around the country when a player is keen to move. Tom doesn't strike me as the sort of player to go in a huff if he doesn't get his way, but the point of keeping a player who wants to be somewhere else, and feels such a move perhaps best for his development is debatable.

What might happen is that Lace starts the summer at Middlesex, but is then made available for loan if seen then as surplus to requirements. Houghton would undoubtedly be interested at that point, as I am sure he is now, but the beneficiary might be Tom Wood.

If Lace were at Middlesex until, say, June then Wood might be a handy batsman to have on the staff until that point. Equally, were Godleman, Madsen and Reece to be picked up for The Hundred, then Wood again could be a more than useful player to step up.

It is all up in the air, but I suspect we will know more before the fireworks night party at the 3aaa County Ground.

Recent signings make Wood move unlikely

A comment from Chaddesden Jim below my season review made me think a short piece was in order on Tom Wood.

Jim suggested that Tom was worth signing as batting cover, after his prolific run-scoring in the Derbyshire Premier League, for the second team and in Australia for the last few winters, where he has been a consistent and prolific scorer in first grade.

I am a fan of Tom and there is no doubt that he can play. At most points of our recent history, up to and including the early summer this year, I would have said him worthy of greater opportunity than he has had.

Then we signed Leus du Plooy and Fynn Hudson-Prentice, followed by a deal for Anuj Dal for the next two years.

The first two have made a big and immediate impact, both delivering runs and Fynn appearing to be an all-rounder of considerable talent. Anuj just missed out on a maiden century batting high in the order, fielded brilliantly and showed himself a bowler of some potential.

I just don't think that we can afford a batsman as cover, especially when one looks at the strength in depth of the current squad and people able to step up.

A notional first choice twelve for next summer would be Godleman, Reece, Madsen, du Plooy, Hughes, Critchley, Hosein, Hudson-Prentice, Dal, Overseas, Rampaul, Palladino.

That ignores the possiblity of signing Tom Lace on a permanent deal and sees good players already outside the squad. Most in that top nine could move up the order a place or two, and the ability of almost all of them to offer something with the ball makes them valuable cricketers.

Tom bowls a little off spin, but not to the standard of the others. Nor is he as fleet-footed in the field, though he has a fine pair of hands.

I think him deserving of an opportunity, based on his returns at lower levels, but I also think we would have heard by now, had that been an option. We cannot afford £20K-plus for a second team player for the summer, who may likely not be required in all but exceptional circumstances.

I feel for him though. He has put a career on hold to try to make it in the first-class game, travelled around the country for expenses only playing most second team matches over the last two summers and not got anywhere at the end of it. It's a shame, but such is professional sport, as such is life. It is a competition and a lot of people don't get what they want, or perhaps deserve in it.

Maybe, just maybe if Lace stays at Middlesex, there will be a gap in the resources, but I have a feeling that the staff can see and are buying in to what Dave Houghton is building at Derbyshire. I would be more surprised if Tom didn't sign, than if he did, but as his current employer Middlesex are entitled to enter and conclude contract discussions before we can make a move.

We'll see.

Reece news a weekend and winter tonic

Once again Dave Houghton has moved quickly to protect Derbyshire's prime assets from predatory rivals, with today's news on a contract extension for Luis Reece.

The all-rounder has signed a two-year contract extension, taking his current deal, which expired in 2021, to the end of the 2023 season.

There are few players in the game who return 1420 runs in the summer, fewer still who add to that with 67 wickets, also across all formats. That Luis has done so while opening the batting and sometimes the bowling makes his efforts all the more laudable.

While a sizeable section of the club support feels those demands are putting unnecessary pressure on him, the bottom line is that the player must feel that he can handle it. It is most likely to be an issue if a long session in the field is followed by his needing to 'switch on' his batting head, but Luis will rightly point to his performance against Sussex at Derby, where five wickets were followed by one of the finest innings you could wish to see.

He is a one of a kind player. Jacques Kallis bowled first change and batted three, Eddie Barlow opened for South Africa and was often second or third change. Yet Barlow bowled only occasionally for his country, whose attack was strong enough without him, while Kallis bowled less as he got older.

Lancashire supporters have been proved correct on this one. When he moved to Derbyshire, I was told by a number of their fans at cricket talks that we had a fine player and they had made a mistake. He had looked a player of talent at Old Trafford, but in cameo bursts, without stringing performances together. Perhaps they weren't sure how best to use him, but Kim Barnett, to give him his due, spotted something and gave him an opportunity.

He has repaid that in style. There was a brief flirtation with slow left arm, but he has since gone back to left arm seam and swing bowling that always threatens and usually delivers wickets, late inswing and one that goes across the batsman being potent weapons. He bowled at a good pace in 2019, though reducing it to good effect in the one-day game.

A stress fracture of the foot in 2018 was followed by an ankle issue this year, but he played through it and gave extraordinary value to the club. He played with a smile on his face too and what I like about Luis is that he looks like he enjoys and appreciates every minute on the cricket field. He bristles with aggression, but it is channelled correctly and he is a very good man to have on your side.

He can get better still. He is still at the crease and correct in technique, a man capable of teeing off from the start in one-day games, while digging in to bat time in the longer format. I don't expect to see many better innings than the one he played at Derby in the season closer, when a century between lunch and tea could have been followed by another between tea and the close, had a mix up with his skipper not seen him run out. Such mix ups cost him runs early season, but we must hope they are more used to one another now.

Anuj Dal has signed for two more years, Leus du Plooy for three, Reece for four. That has been a fine few weeks work by the Head of Cricket. Derbyshire supporters can head into the winter in fine fettle, more confident in the club's future than for a number of years.

That jigsaw is coming together very nicely.

What next?

After a busy spell at work, I now have eleven blissful days off. Mrs P and daughter are heading to Poland for a few days next week, while son is in London for a long weekend.

I'll be at home with our dog, enjoying long walks, writing a few articles and perhaps making a start on my third book, which isn't about cricket...

It will also give me a chance to catch up on correspondence, which has slipped a little, so apologies if you have not heard back from me. There has been a regular subject in my emails, namely what do I expect us to do over the winter?

To be honest, I don't expect major business.I hope that we will see Matt Critchley sign a new deal, his current one running until the end of next summer. I think Matt is happy at the club, where he is respected and liked, as well as being in a set up that is settled and positive. He will have seen the travails of his good friend Ben Slater, who moved to the club down the road, averaged 20 and had a season-highest in four-day cricket of 76. At this stage, Ben will not be thinking he made the right move and he may not start next season in the first team, if his county do their normal winter scouring of young talent elsewhere and waving of a cheque book.

Matt's 2019 summer was not of the kind that made others sit up and take note, but he bowled well in the T20. He needs to work on his batting, which looks good but doesn't last long enough, and could then be a special player.

Indeed, his not signing is the only way I could see us show interest in Ollie Rayner. Several asked if I thought we might move for him, but he is an experienced, solid county player on commensurate salary. Unless someone leaves, or the club finds a suitcase of used notes buried under the Gateway Building, I don't see him being high on our list of needs, nor how we would fit him into a first-choice side, to be honest. A compact, competitive squad is Dave Houghton's preference and most of them did a good job in 2019.

I would like to see us sign Tom Lace, but then Middlesex may well want to keep him. What I saw of their batting this summer looked anaemic and rumours suggest another dressing room that isn't the happiest. It is a big decision for Tom to make this winter, but for not just parochial reasons I think playing in a welcoming, positive environment would be best for Tom's development. If he signed, it would give us a very strong top five in which I would have considerable confidence.

Our great need, touched on today in an interview by Dave Houghton, is a reliable strike bowler. I didn't realise that Logan van Beek had a knee injury all summer, though I know he struggled towards the end. Maybe, fully fit, he could have made a difference for us, because a promotion spot was definitely there for the taking, if we had that special overseas bowler who wins matches.

This summer's Australian squad had several fine bowlers, though I suspect their main international ones will struggle to get a No Objection Certificate from their board. More likely are the second tier ones, and as I said at the time, I thought Michael Neser looked a player of real quality against us. He took thirteen wickets on the tour for only 176 runs and is a good enough batsman to average mid-twenties too. I wondered about Joe Mennie, but I think his last international appearance is now too long ago to qualify to play, unless he has a UK passport in his ancestry. Neser hasn't yet played a Test match either, which would appear an issue, but I have every confidence that Dave Houghton will have irons in the fire.

One of them will be getting nicely hot in the coming weeks.

Add in, perhaps, another young bowler from elsewhere, I suspect that will be our winter.

But it will be a pretty good one, if that all comes together, don't you think?