Merry Christmas!

There is just time, before the season is upon us, to wish you all a very Happy Christmas and the very best for 2020.

Your support is essential to the blog and is very much appreciated. Thank you so much to those who have sent kind words and appreciations in recent days. They have all meant a lot.

I look forward to hearing from you all and hopefully seeing you next summer.

The year of the Falcons?

It could be, you know... 

Cork back for Vitality Blast!

And a very happy Christmas to you too, Derbyshire!

The news that Dominic Cork is returning for the T20 as coach is an exciting festive gift for us all and I am sure you are equally pleased as me.

Last season he inspired a fine brand of cricket from a very small squad, in which there was only one overseas player - and he was injured.

This coming summer, with two fine Australian cricketers in the side bolstering the batting and bowling, it is not fanciful to dream of a repeat of this year. Finals day is not beyond a talented squad, but no one will underestimate this side from now on. 

We know the talent in that squad and while the challenge is to eliminate, or at least reduce the times it lapses into mediocrity, there were sufficient examples of brilliant cricket last year to be confident in prospects. 

Corky will be keen to replicate or surpass last year's efforts and it would be a silly man who bet against him doing so.

Perfect news for festive cheer!

Roll on summer... 

Lace deal opens a door for someone

Like most of you, I entertained hopes that Tom Lace would be back in Derbyshire colours next summer.

His full season with us, on-loan from Middlesex, contained several innings that confirmed him as a player to watch. At 21, international recognition is very much on the agenda for a talented and stylish batsman and affable young man.

His season was curtailed by a nasty hand injury, but I know how much he enjoyed his time at the county.  It was patently obvious in every conversation I enjoyed with him over the summer. So too the friendships that he built up among the squad.

Signing a new deal at Middlesex would therefore have been a decision to think about. Yet a new administration, presumably guarantees of opportunity and a three-year and appropriately remunerated contract swung the deal for his home county. He had been there from the age of ten, so loyalty came into it too, of course.

Nor should we discount the fact that international recognition is more likely at a southern county than at Derbyshire. We may not like that, but the journalists who will 'push' a player's case are more likely to be present when they don't have to travel to do so.

I wish him well. He is a lovely, friendly lad with a ready smile and a shared love of dogs. I will watch his progress through next season and beyond with great interest and wish him all the luck in the world. The talent is there and I suspect the mental toughness is too, having already registered first-class centuries to dismiss one psychological barrier. 

As for Derbyshire, there is opportunity for someone. I understand that budget had been set aside for signing Tom, had he been available. That could now be spent on another batsman, unless Dave Houghton decides to go with what he has and elevate Anuj Dal or Fynn Hudson-Prentice in the order. 

Might it be for Tom Wood? All I know is that when we lose Reece, Madsen and du Plooy from the batting for the new competition, it leaves us short in that area.

Perhaps we will take someone on loan again? Maybe, but counties will be aware of the need for cover, at least for the RLODC.

We will see what happens in the new year. 

Between times, all that remains is to thank Tom for his time at the club. His style reminded me of a young Ian Bell when he was at his best, which was often. 

Don't be surprised if his career follows a similarly impressive trajectory.

And be proud of our part in his development. 

Go well, Tom. 

Weekend warmer

Apologies for the lack of blogging at the moment, but there is little to tell, for one thing and work in retail, together with family commitments is taking up a lot of my time as we approach the festivities.

Still, I have only three days to go until I finish for Christmas, so that makes up for it quite nicely and I look forward to a lovely family time, as I am sure most of you do too.

This week's big news is that the Derbyshire squad will head out to Zimbabwe in March for three weeks. There they will hopefully get plenty of outdoor practice, as well as two three-day matches, two fifty-over games and two T20s. There will also be 'life experiences' as Dave Houghton called it, and the chance to see a country that has had its share of issues in recent years.

Hopefully the tour does a little to help the cause of Zimbabwe cricket, which has slipped back of late from its heyday when Houghton himself was a member of a strong side with a number of talented players.

It will also be a return home for Dustin Melton, who will want to make an early impression in the chase after a first team slot. Last year's attack largely picked itself, but this year looks set to be much more competitive and Melton, with Sam Conners and Michael Cohen, will hope to stake an early claim for a senior spot.

Meanwhile, Fran Clarkson says she is delighted with the work ethic and the fitness training of the players as they build up to next season. In  just over a fortnight we can talk about 'this year's cricket', which seems somehow a little closer.

I'm looking forward to it immensely.

King of swing at Derby...

So Michael Buble is making an appearance at the Pattonair County Ground next summer.

Good news for the club coffers, I would think. A rival for Tony Palladino too, long established as the king of swing in Derbyshire...

In cricket matters, it was good to read of Dave Houghton talking about our challenging not just in the coming season but in the longer term. He has done very well to build a squad with the right spirit and personnel to do that and the possibilities of the current squad are quite exciting.

We all know that the batting has power and depth, something that will undoubtedly carry through to 2020. Houghton has addressed last year's weakness, an over-reliance on Ravi Rampaul and Tony Palladino, by recruiting a quality overseas seamer in Sean Abbott, together with South African quick Michael Cohen. They, with Dustin Melton will give us much more edge than last year and enable all-rounders Luis Reece and Fynn Hudson-Prentice to be all the more effective in not being over-bowled.

There will be times when our one bowling weakness, the absence of a quality spinner, may hurt us, but both Matt Critchley and Mattie McKiernan are young enough to develop as a spin-bowling all rounder.

It is all very exciting as we come to the end of 2019 and look forward to the 2020 summer.

The week's cricket has been dominated by the death of Bob Willis, the former England and Warwickshire quick bowler. He will forever be remembered for his feats in 1981, when 'Botham's match' could quite easily have carried his name forever, after a stunning second innings performance.

He was a fine bowler and a commentator who 'shot from the hip' in his summaries at the end of a day's cricket. His on-screen persona suggested a dour man, yet the tributes paid to him suggest a man quite different, one who was good company and a loyal friend.

Such a man is welcome in any gathering and he will be missed.

Rest in peace, Bob.