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.

Fixtures out

Well, that's the fixtures out for the 2020 season, an event that somehow makes the season seem that little bit closer, even if we all know that we have a lot of winter to get through first.

The much maligned (often by me) ECB have got something right and at least put more cricket at the weekend than was the case before. It doesn't take Einstein to work out that if you play more cricket when people are off work, the greater the chance of more going along to watch. I find it astonishing that it has taken until this summer for the penny to drop in that respect.

The only issue, of course, is that the four-day game is consigned to the periphery of the season, rather than playing it in high summer. The irony of Jos Buttler commenting this week on the need for better wickets for the format was lost on many people, when we are committed to early season green tracks or late summer turners. Not that it matters, when Buttler and the England-contracted players are seen in the county game as often as I run a sub-ten second hundred metres.

As a consequence we have just thirteen days of Derbyshire cricket to follow from 22 July until the end of August, with only seven of those at home. It is poor fare, and especially sad that it comes in the summer of the club's 150th anniversary.

At least the RLODC sees us play Somerset, Surrey and Glamorgan, which makes a nice change, as well as playing Nottinghamshire at Grantham. There is a four-day game against Sussex in the scenic splendours of Arundel too.

I'm not sure, right now, which fixtures I will be attending. The Durham home game that starts on 8 May is a likely starting point, mainly for my only having to take one day's leave to attend most of it. Or I could wait until the Sussex game two weeks later.

After that I am struggling at present to reconcile family needs and eking out my holidays. I may take three days to go down to Durham in August, but it looks like much of my season's viewing may perforce be at a distance in 2020.

We'll see. I need to sort family holidays first, then take it from there.

Yet for the traditional cricket fan in your life, a warm fleece and a beanie hat seem like sensible Christmas gifts this year...

A measure of success

Billy Godleman on a trip to Nepal, Wayne Madsen starring for Team Abu Dhabi, Luis Reece signed up for the Bangladesh Premier League.

Four players picked up for the new tournament, with our two overseas players for the T20 both playing for Australia, No wonder people are starting to look differently at Derbyshire.

I am very excited about the 2020 season and look forward to seeing an exciting side play a purposeful brand of cricket. We may be on the verge of a golden period for the club and Dave Houghton deserves credit for how he has brought together a small squad of considerable talent and potential.

With others, including Fynn Hudson-Prentice and Matt Critchley, doing well overseas, there are plenty of reasons for optimism. The announcement of the fixtures for next season, due shortly, will make it seem that bit closer and we can all start looking at where and when we can get to matches.

I always look for the Durham fixture at The Riverside, as it is as close as I get to a home game, while an early season home game at Derby affords an opportunity to say hello again to friends old and new. Even if you generally need too many layers for genuine comfort...

Between times, after Christmas, I will be running a series of pieces from an interview I did with Tony Palladino in September. We discussed his career with Essex and Derbyshire, as well as his hopes for the future, in an interview I thoroughly enjoyed with an engaging man.

Something to look forward to!

Hosein the latest to sign new deal

The news announced today, that Harvey Hosein has signed a contract extension at Derbyshire until the end of 2022, is welcome for a couple of reasons.

First, he's a good cricketer. He did well in four-day cricket last year, had a decent average with the bat, kept wicket pretty well and can still improve further. At 23 that is a given, as despite his being around for years, he is nowhere near his peak. Once he can marry his exemplary technique to greater power at the crease, he will be some player. I am sure he will work with Ben McDermott on that, a man who will likely keep in at least the RLODC next summer.

Second, it reaffirms the club's commitment to its own. Plenty of people, some within the support, feel we don't do that enough, though I am a firm believer that the cream will rise to the top if they are prepared for the graft that goes along with it. I also believe that we shouldn't just persevere for the sake of it. While I have long since acknowledged that players don't come to know their games until their mid-twenties, if there are signs earlier that it isn't going to happen, for some fundamental reason, we aren't sufficiently well off to hang fire 'just in case'.

Alex Hughes has managed it. There's been plenty of criticism in his direction over the years, but he has become a key part of the side as a gritty, sometimes flamboyant batsman, a tricky one-day bowler and a brilliant fielder wherever required. It hasn't happened by accident, but by a lot of graft. A willingness to get fit, play through injuries and work at his game.

So too Matt Critchley, OK, he isn't from our academy, but he has spent a few years with the club and has emerged from the second team to become a good cricketer. Again, there's plenty of work to be done to make the batting more consistent and the four-day bowling more penetrative, but Critch is a fine player, hopefully the next to sign a long-term deal.

Sam Conners could get there too. The whippy pace and bounce is there, he looks like he has all the raw components for success and he now needs to tap into that work ethic to get and stay fit. He and Michael Cohen could be long-term opening bowlers for the club, perhaps for some time after Tony Palladino and Ravi Rampaul retire, but the work starts now, for both of them.

It has been a very good winter, so far, for county supporters. I don't anticipate any more new signings, but I guess it depends on who becomes available.

Enjoy your weekend.

Book Review: Back From The Edge: Mental Health and Addiction in Sport by Luke Sutton

A few years ago, I sat on the boundary edge at Chesterfield with the then Derbyshire coach and chatted about all things cricket.

It was a second team fixture, so afforded such an opportunity and the conversation moved on to the growing criticism of players on social media, especially on one platform, which was increasingly, at that time, a cause of concern.

The coach, who trusted me, went on to tell me about one player and the problems that he was currently experiencing in his personal life. It was fairly horrific and fully explained the dip in form that player was suffering, something to which the armchair critics were oblivious, of course.

And yet we should be, all of us. We all have bad days and periods in our lives when it appears that everyone and everything is against us. Our lives and performance suffer as a result, so why should it be different for sports stars? A job that many of us envy does not give them immunity to life's challenges.

That player wasn't Luke Sutton, but his brutally honest account of his struggles with alcohol and mental health issues should be compulsory reading for everyone who has ever gone onto social media to berate a player, irrespective of the sport. It is an important book that deserves a large audience, enabling a greater understanding of the subject among laypersons, inside and outside of sport.

To those of us on the boundary edge, Luke had it all. A good looking, super-fit sportsman from a privileged background, a reliable and admired county cricketer and sometime captain of the club, a man with a lovely partner and a future that seemed to be bright, in and out of the game. He was always approachable, friendly and professional, but that persona masked an increasing dependency on alcohol.

Like many others over the years, he partied hard and then trained harder still to get the nights of excess purged, but was tipped over the edge by the death of his partner, Nia, in a tragic car accident. It eventually saw him leave the county for a fresh start at Lancashire, but drinking became an increasing part of his life. Long nights became even longer days, mornings of waking up somewhere, anywhere - then starting all over again.

This is far from an easy read. How could it be, when you are a spectator at the gradual deterioration of a sporting hero? It cost Luke his marriage, yet it could, as his account of time spent in The Priory confirms, have ended so much worse.

His encounter with 'Jonathan', a successful lawyer who 'genuinely looked close to death' and knew he was drinking himself to an early grave is a harrowing one. Then again, so is the entire book, which is why people should read it. The list of sports personalities who have fallen foul of drink, drugs and addictions is a long one and continues to grow. Luke discusses several here, and while everyone wanted to be Gazza and chuckled at his excesses, his descent has been slow and painful. So too Robin Smith, whose battles with alcohol are well known. So too Ben Cousins, an Australian sporting deity with a nigh-perfect body, whose ability to party hard was 'admired', until it caught up with him and resulted in a  crippling drug addiction.

Don't buy this book expecting to see lots of anecdotes on Derbyshire cricket. It isn't that kind of book, though Luke tells of the 'incredible' support that he had from Dave Houghton in his time at the county. Things could have turned out very differently for him, except for interventions by Jimmy Anderson, Mark Chilton and Glen Chapple, who with their wives appear to have been wonderfully supportive.

The support of such friends is crucial for those facing mental health challenges and it is admirable that Luke, now a successful agent who has come through the other side and found love again, is brave enough to tell his story.

It shows what is possible, yet things could have turned out very differently. Indeed, for a long time that appears to have looked more likely.

He deserves great praise for his bravery in telling his story, warts and all.

At a time when mental health is slowly becoming less stigmatised and hidden, it is a very important read for all of us. With greater understanding comes acceptance and there are always people out there to help.

Back From The Edge: Mental Health and Addiction in Sport is written by Luke Sutton and published by Pen and Sword Books. It is available from all good booksellers, priced £12.99

No news on Lace

The first club members meeting is tonight and I expect that at some point Dave Houghton will shed some clarity on the Tom Lace situation.

After the announcement of the signings of Sean Abbott and Ben McDermott in the last 48 hours, Lace would appear to be the 'outstanding business' for the county. Yes, in an ideal world we could do with an off-spinner of quality, but looking around the county circuit I don't see too many who are available and good enough to force a way in. Besides, with better luck with injuries, Mattie McKiernan could well enjoy more cricket next season.

This is already a strong Derbyshire squad. I agree with many of you on that and if we approach next season as professionally as we did the last we will do fine. Yet Lace showed last season that he could provide quality ballast in the engine room, averaging over forty and looking every inch a player of class, at the tender age of 21.

The problem is that he is still contracted to Middlesex for another year, while the even greater one is that I don't now see them willing to let him go, having already lost Dawid Malan to Yorkshire.

I know how much Tom enjoyed his time at Derbyshire last summer and he has made great friends among the squad. Were the decision his alone, I am sure he would be heading up the M1 to sign on the dotted line for Dave Houghton, for who he has considerable respect. Equally I am sure that Dave would have him signed up by now, were it a possibility.

Perhaps Middlesex have guaranteed him an early slot in the side next summer, as much as a sports side can ever do that, but if he isn't in the side then I wouldn't be surprised if a loan move was requested by him. The Lord's camp doesn't appear an especially happy one at present, from reports.

I'd equally be surprised if Derbyshire didn't make a prompt expression of their interest to sign him by putting in a 28-day notice at the start of June. There may be other interest, of course, but Tom is at an age where he needs the right environment and the right coach to get the best out of him. From what I have read and heard, I don't think that is at Middlesex.

It's awkward for Houghton though, because if Lace does stay down south, we end up a batsman down for the summer. If he becomes available and he has signed someone else, it is an even greater problem, because the budget will have gone.

The player I really feel for here is Tom Wood. I don't think there are many supporters who wouldn't want to see Tom Lace at the club, but Wood has done little wrong in the past three years. He has scored prolifically at all levels other than county, where he has had no chance and is now coming to his prime when we have our best batting side in a decade.

There may, of course, be an option for a contract for the RLODC, when we will be shorn of Madsen, du Plooy and Reece for this Hundred malarkey, but I'm not sure how many people around the country could drop commitments in other jobs to go and play cricket for a couple of months.

It is a big ask for any player to go from even top club cricket to county level, with no intermediate step. Maybe Derbyshire feel they can cope with the staff they have for the RLODC, assuming there are no injuries, but options may be very limited, for us and everyone else.

If anyone is going along tonight, do make sure to let us know what is discussed. I don't expect much more in the way of signings, after a busy old end of season and Autumn.

But you never know...

G'day to Ben McDermott as county go full Oz

It is a sign of advancing years when your club signs a new overseas player and your first thought is of his father...

Such was the case when I heard that Ben McDermott, son of Australian fast bowling legend Craig, was coming to Derbyshire as overseas player for the Vitality Blast T20 and Royal London One-Day Cup.

Having announced the signing of Sean Abbott yesterday, Derbyshire have completed a full set of Australians with the signing of McDermott, who at 24 has already established himself as a one-day specialist good enough to play for his country in eleven T20 internationals.

It is a very sound, common sense signing, a horses for courses affair. Abbott will play the early season four-day cricket and T20, while McDermott will join him in the short form and be the permitted player in the RLODC. Presumably, if the early season championship matches go well, a decision will be made down the line regarding someone for the final four-day games, but Dave Houghton, as he likes to do, has got his signings in early - and well.

Ben has a strike rate of just under 130 in T20 cricket, which is just less than Virat Kohli and a few higher than Steve Smith. I'm not claiming he is a better batsman than those two, but it gives an indication of the speed at which he scores his runs. With a List A average of 54 and a T20 one of 31, he can obviously play and a look at Youtube confirms him as a batsman who can clear the boundary on his day.

There is always a concern with big-hitting overseas players that they may come undone in English conditions. Loots Bosman didn't really come off, though an ankle injury didn't help him, while Shahid Afridi generally produced one innings a tournament, as we found out to our cost three years ago. I get the impression that there's more to McDermott than a slog, however and he was won matches with well-paced innings too. Perhaps he will be more Adrian Kuiper then, which would do quite nicely.

Interestingly, and reinforcing my assertion of it being a common sense signing, he is a wicket-keeper too, which would give us a genuine, dynamic batsman in that role. While Harvey Hosein is a talented young player, and Daryn Smit an outstanding wicket-keeper, neither has shown sustained ability to change a game with the bat in short form cricket. Ben would take his place in a top five with Godleman, Reece, Madsen and du Plooy, giving us a serious line-up along the lines of:

Godleman
Reece
Madsen
du Plooy
McDermott
Hughes
Critchley
Hudson-Prentice
Dal
Abbott
Rampaul

Welcome to Derbyshire, Ben.

God's own county awaits with considerable interest - and here he is in action.

Abbott seems perfect fit for Derbyshire

The signing of Sean Abbott, announced today by Derbyshire, ticks all the boxes.

Quick, with the ability to zip the ball about, he should enjoy bowling in early season conditions here. The Australian, who plays for New South Wales and the Sydney Sixers, has a fine record in all formats and was a stand out in last year's Big Bash competition.

At 27 he is coming to his prime and has the ability to make the national side, something that a good English summer could help with. The prospect of Abbott and Ravi Rampaul opening the bowling is an exciting one, perhaps supplying the missing ingredient from last season. What side wouldn't benefit from a quick and hostile opening bowler? Perhaps two, after the addition of Michael Cohen last week.

He can handle a bat too, as most of his countrymen seem able to do. Don't be surprised to see valuable late runs and some powerful hitting in the T20.

He has done very well to put the Phil Hughes tragedy behind him. It will always be there, of course, but it was an accident, the kind where perhaps the real surprise was that it hadn't happened before.

Of course, we shouldn't get too carried away. You don't need the longest of memories to recall how the signings of Billy Stanlake and Kane Richardson failed to go to plan this year and we all know that quick bowlers can pick up injuries at any time.

But if this goes to plan...well, we have an attack coming together to match the batting line up that produced so well last year.

With another overseas player to be announced tomorrow - and my money on another bowler for the second half of the summer - things are really looking good for 2020.

Welcome to Derbyshire, Sean.

You are joining the friendliest club in the country  - and one very much on the up.

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?

Season review

For a side that based on the predictions of most critics was supposed to roll over and die, before ending bottom in everything, Derbyshire punched above their weight in 2019.

Mid-table in the RLODC, seventh in the four-day game and semi-finalists, praise be, in the T20 was a fine start for David Houghton. He recruited shrewdly in his coaches, Dominic Cork doing especially well in the Vitality Blast, and oversaw the season by exuding a reassuring calmness. I have heard no ill spoken of him and the respect of the players and supporters is evident when one walks around the ground.

The perennial financial constraints meant that he needed his big players to stand up to be counted and he was rewarded in spades. Billy Godleman had his best season, captaining in all formats and doing a solid job. He passed a thousand runs in the county championship and was only 26 runs short in the one-day formats. He led from the front, batted in his unique style and was a run machine, topping two thousand runs for the summer. We are lucky to have him.

His opening partner Luis Reece perhaps suffered from having to do too much bowling, but also had a fine summer. Over 1400 runs and almost seventy wickets in all formats made him a massive player for the club, all of it done with a smile on his face that showed a man who was enjoying life. Maybe a middle order role would be more beneficial for his batting, as well as his body, but his 184 against Sussex in the final home game will live long in the memories of those who saw it. He can rest easily this winter, like his captain, having done as much as anyone could have wished.

There was a little decline in the four-day returns of Wayne Madsen, who got 204 at Bristol but only 590 runs in his other 23 innings, but he remains the wicket most wanted by opponents and over 1650 runs in all competitions confirms there is plenty in the tank yet. In full flow he is still a joy to watch, while his fielding saw him take 35 catches in all formats. He remains a huge player for the club and one to enjoy for as long as it lasts.

Tom Lace enjoyed a fine summer in the middle order, though making only occasional appearances in the one-day side. His poise and balance at the crease was reminiscent of Ian Bell and three centuries and the same number of fifties in nineteen innings suggested him as one to watch. If Houghton can persuade him to make Derby his home for the next few years it would be a major coup this winter. A top five of Godleman, Reece, Madsen, Lace and du Plooy would give us our strongest in many a summer. At 21, Lace has the potential to go a long way in the game.

Leus du Plooy came in after the summer started and missed several weeks after breaking a thumb at Durham. Thereafter, he exuded class, exquisite timing and a destructive inventiveness in the one day game that is the preserve of the best. He took time to come to terms with the red Dukes ball on English wickets, something he had not faced before, but still averaged 40. In the one-day game he had a shot for every ball, while his fielding was reliable wherever required. If his bowling develops as it looks possible, we will have an extraordinary player on our hands, Houghton sensibly having extended his contract to the end of 2022.

It was a mixed season for Alex Hughes, whose early century at Bristol was his only one of the summer. He had few opportunities in the one-day game, such was the form of those above him, but was a key member of the attack in the T20, where his accuracy and variations made him hard to get after. His fielding remains brilliant in any position and criticism needs to take account of an injury that saw him struggle over the season's closing weeks

There were mixed returns too for Matt Critchley. He endured one of those seasons encountered by most young players, a batting average of 22 half that of his bowling one, where he struggled to take wickets in the four-day game. The injury that saw Matt McKiernan miss most of the summer, together with the lack of development with Hamidullah Qadri gave him a free run at the spinner's role. Mark Watt bowled tidily on occasion, but looks a one-day player only, so the club needs Critchley to kick on another year. The talent is there, for sure, but the spinner's role is very much up for grabs at the club and winter work is needed for a player of obvious talent.

Fynn Hudson-Prentice started the summer in the second team on trial and after some fine displays earned a 2.5 year contract. When he broke into the senior side he became a key member, playing some punishing innings and having a knack of breaking partnerships. Time will tell if he is a genuine all-rounder, but he has all the assets to become a really good county cricketer. Sussex's loss is very much a Derbyshire gain and he will prove another fine acquisition by the Head of Cricket.

It is hard to over-praise Ravi Rampaul. At the end of last summer he looked unfit and a shadow of the erstwhile international bowler he was. This year he responded to being the leader of the attack with remarkable consistency and fitness, taking 75 wickets in the various formats. Time after time he broke through, maintained control and was both shock and stock bowler. With better support at the other end we should have earned four-day promotion, but Logan van Beek disappointed as overseas player and Tony Palladino, while still a model of accuracy, struggled with injury as the season went on and understandably lost a little nip at the age of 36.

Harvey Hosein was entrusted with the gloves for most of the summer and was steady, both behind and in front of the stumps. Standing up his handling is not so sure, but the lack of quality spin meant this was rarely an issue. His batting was stylish when he got going, though early uncertainties took his average under thirty and more power at the crease would see him cement his role in the side. Daryn Smit took over for the T20 and kept beautifully, standing up as the pace was taken off in the middle overs and making few mistakes. He skippered a largely experimental second team well, but had few opportunities to bat at senior level.

The lack of progress by James Taylor and Alfie Gleadall saw both released, though they have only to look to the example of Hudson-Prentice to see what can happen if you go away and work at your game. Sam Conners did better and was retained, but will know that he has to get fitter over the winter. There is an opportunity for him if he does so, as his natural talent, whippy pace and height give him the basic tools of the trade.

Dustin Melton earned a contract for next year towards the end of the summer, on the back of some good displays for the second team. His pace was undeniable, but he will need to work on the line and length to become a regular next year. Like the departing Logan van Beek, raw pace is fine, but at senior level they will just wait for the bad ball and punish you. The potential is worthy of examination, but time will tell if senior cricket is a reality for him.

Finally, and a little out of turn, Anuj Dal. Released by Nottinghamshire, he looked good as a batsman but lacked opportunity, then turned out to be a very useful bowler, with a bustling medium pace. He too was rewarded with a contract, this time for two years, and it was well deserved. A batting average of 22 and bowling one of 20 suggests he too could add to the county's clutch of talented all-round cricketers, while his brilliance in the field is always likely to give him an edge in selection discussions.

It was an exhilarating summer, for Derbyshire and for cricket supporters generally. There were frustrating sessions of old-style Derbyshire ineptitude, but there was increasing evidence of a proper side emerging. If one of the spinners develops, or we sign one from elsewhere, with a good overseas seamer it would make a huge difference to this side. A deal for Tom Lace would leave no concerns over the batting and supporters can look forward to 2020, and all it offers, with a degree of anticipation and excitement.

Thanks to all of you for your support of the blog over the summer. Growth has again been remarkable and the two million views barrier has been left well behind.

I will be back soon - and I look forward immensely to your end of season comments.

Middlesex v Derbyshire day 4

Middlesex 260

Derbyshire 304-7 (du Plooy 100*, Hosein 57, Bamber 5-93)

Match drawn

There's not much to say about the shortened final day of the summer's cricket season than that two players who emerged during it made the biggest impression.

Leus du Plooy became the first Derbyshire batsman to make home and away centuries against Middlesex, ending a highly impressive first summer with the county in a way I expect to become quite commonplace. The raising of the bat and removal of the helmet to reveal a bandana could become a regular occurrence if this summer is anything to go by and his class has been evident from the start of his career with us.

So too that of Fynn Hudson-Prentice, who again showed how he could become a key player in the years ahead with a breezy cameo. Twenty wickets at 23, together with a batting average of 34 suggests that in Fynn and Luis Reece we have two genuine all rounders, not just bowlers who bat, or batsmen that bowl.

The recruitment of those two this summer has been a massive plus, but a look at the playing staff on the club website shows that strengthening is needed over the winter.

It lists twenty players on the staff, but that includes Tony Palladino, who plays only four-day cricket, Mark Watt who played only a few one-day games and Daryn Smit, who has been primarily in the seconds. With Logan van Beek there and already gone, Darren Stevens another and likewise, Qadri a third and going, it leaves a paper-thin squad in urgent need of reinforcement. Hopefully one of those might be Tom Lace, who is also up there, but still technically a Middlesex player.

I will be back over the weekend with my end of season review, and I look forward to your comments in due course.

Middlesex v Derbyshire day 3

Middlesex 260 (Reece 4-61, Hudson-Prentice 3-65)

Derbyshire 199-4 (Hosein 56*. du Plooy 55*)

Derbyshire trail by 61 runs

Maybe because it was the season's penultimate day, perhaps because we did pretty well, but I really enjoyed today's cricket from Lord's.

I thought Luis Reece and Fynn Hudson-Prentice bot did very well in the morning session, and whatever else happens over the winter, I think that we have two genuine all-rounders in that pair. Both average more with the bat than the ball  and will continue to progress in the years ahead.

Later, Godleman and Reece came out as if it was a Vitality Blast match, putting on 49 runs before each was out quickly, Wayne Madsen going in between for a first baller. At 55-3 a rebuild was needed, but Hughes helped Leus du Plooy add 48, before an unbroken stand of 96 between the latter and Harvey Hosein gave Derbyshire a position of dominance.

It was as well as I have seen Hosein play, the caveat being that Middlesex had a bizarre theory that he was weak against the short ball. This was disproved in convincing fashion, with a series of powerful hooks and pulls that merely confirmed it as one of his stronger strokes.

At the other end the silky du Plooy also eased to a composed fifty, an innings replete with the caressed cover drive that is fast becoming his trademark shot. Increasingly I am of the opinion that I have seen no better timer of a ball since Azharuddin and the thought of watching him over the next few summers is an engaging one.

As for the game, if the weather allows a full day tomorrow, there will doubtless be a last afternoon run chase. Derbyshire may want that extra run for a bonus point, but with the forecast showery a positive result looks unlikely and they may just aim to bat on.

A draw would make no difference to our league position, however, so we may be in for some interesting cricket tomorrow.

van Beek returns home

Logan van Beek ran in hard for the first game of his Derbyshire career, did the same in his last and maintained that same, one hundred per cent commitment throughout.

No one could fault his efforts for the club and despite his on field struggles he remained a genial, approachable lad. There was a ready and regular smile on his face and he bought readily into the club ethos.

Yet the bottom line was that his figures were not remotely close enough to a level required for the high pressure gig of overseas professional. In the county championship there were just nineteen wickets at 38 runs each, figures that ideally needed reversed, while a career batting average in the mid-twenties slipped to the mid-teens in Derbyshire colours, as the Dukes ball and English wickets proved challenging.

After a domestic winter in New Zealand where he had over forty wickets at fourteen each, we can only assume that whatever the quality in their national squad, there is not a lot of depth. Logan never found the right line and length consistently, and while he had a good bouncer that surprised a few with its venom, the perception from the boundary edge was that he was an 'Ooh' bowler, who beats the bat enough to impress those viewing, but bowls a length that will do that but not take wickets.

I watched a lot of him this summer, with time to do so post-surgery, and spent a lot of that time willing him to succeed. There were good spells, when he troubled batsmen, but most overs contained a 'release ball' that the batsman could get away for runs without being frustrated out. He would continue to run in hard, sometimes ending up on all fours with the effort, but it just didn't work out for him.

He never let us down in the field, where he was athletic with sure hands. His catch against Durham at Derby in early season turned the game, his subsequent spell perhaps as good as it got. Maybe, had he been playing under a European passport as a Netherlands player we may have been more understanding and he may have done better, but that overseas role is a tough gig.

He was not the first to find the going tough. Several before him came over in Kolpak and overseas roles and buckled under the strain. A player as brilliant as Lawrence Rowe couldn't cut it, nor Nantie Hayward, Hashim Amla, Dilshan, Telo, Rutherford, Broom et al. There is a world of difference between being expected to contribute to a win and being the one who does the winning.

I'd be surprised if he makes his goal as a Kiwi international, but you never know. Matt Henry struggled at Derbyshire, stood out for Kent and played a pivotal role in the World Cup this summer, as did Jimmy Neesham. None of those above were bad cricketers, some were great, but for whatever reason it never really worked out for them in Derbyshire colours.

The wording of the news in the club Twitter feed today suggested that he won't be back another year, given the benefit of the doubt on improvement. I think that is right, because to take the next step as a team we need a seam bowler who will lead the line. Rampaul has been brilliant this year, but will likely be in the new competition next year, after a stellar T20. Tony Palladino cannot go on forever and both Melton and Conners have much to do to prove themselves.

I think we may look to Australia, who have no international cricket over the next English summer and there are several players there who could do us a fine job. We would do very well, and may need to rob a bank to afford the likes of Hazlewood and Cummins, who may prefer to rest anyway, but there are others who would be very good options.

I am sure that Dave Houghton already has options and with Cameron Bancroft already signed for Durham and Travis Head for Sussex, other counties are already moving fast.

Last winter's evidence suggested that Houghton likes to move quickly on contracts, so expect news from Derbyshire in the coming weeks.

Middlesex v Derbyshire day 1 and 2 - plus Qadri leaves

Long, compressed hours at work have meant that I had no time to write about the little play on the first two days of this game, but the upside is that, weather permitting, I may get to see some play on the last two days of the summer's cricket.

I haven't missed much to be fair, though Luis Reece reaching fifty wickets for the summer was a terrific landmark. If the game has sufficient time left for him to reach a thousand runs - and he needs a further 82 to do so - he can put his feet up in the knowledge of being the first Derbyshire player to complete the 'modern double' of a thousand runs and fifty wickets. Either way, he can reflect on an outstanding summer.

There was a wicket at Lord's too for Sam Conners, who just might be the young breakthrough seam bowler we have been waiting for. He seems to have the requisite attributes, and just needs the luck with injuries and the right mindset to progress now.

Yesterday's news was dominated by the departure of another young Derbyshire player, following those of James Taylor and Alfie Gleadall last week.

Hamidullah Qadri will be joining Kent from the start of next season and, like all Derbyshire supporters, I wish him well.

As an honest man, I am not devastated by the news, nor surprised, as there were murmurings of Kent interest a few weeks ago. They have sought a spinner since Adam Riley's departure, another of those young players whose promising career was wrecked by too much advice (Tom Knight, anyone?) and asking him to change the muscle memory of years of bowling to his detriment. They are in division one, so you can't blame the player for seeing greener grass on the other side of the fence.

Maybe, if they let Hamidullah progress naturally and give him time, there will be a decent bowler in there. Spin bowling skills take a long time to master, but he didn't seem to have kicked on since his early performances for the Derbyshire senior eleven. I watched him in a few second team games and he didn't look especially threatening, though his summer has been dominated by his studies.

Truth be told, it was hard to see where he could break into this side. Matt Critchley is not much older but considerably better, at least in limited over formats, as well as having the talent to become a genuine all-rounder. Qadri doesn't appear to have that natural ability with the bat and Mattie McKiernan may well be a good additional option for the club across formats.

We will remember his five wickets in Cardiff a couple of summers back, which won us a memorable victory. That may prove to be the precursor to a career in which he becomes something special, or might just be another of those occasions where a player has his afternoon in the sun.

Either way, his future feats lie elsewhere and a club with a limited budget must ensure that the money we would have spent on these young players is well used.

An affordable and quality overseas, a younger seamer and a spinner (unless we sign one as overseas) would appear the major winter needs. Yet the academy failure to produce cricketers with the ability to progress is an ongoing issue, one that doesn't yet appear to have light at the end of the tunnel.

Middlesex v Derbyshire preview

My last preview of another season in which blog visiting figures have been broken and it seems to have flown by. A sure sign of having fun, as the old saying goes...

We visit Lord's tomorrow for the final four days of cricket this summer, which is not the worst place in the country to reach a conclusion. It affords a quick opportunity to put the travails of Saturday behind us and give the supporters a last winter warmer, before we replace baseball caps with woolly hats and follow the lesser sports of winter.

A squad of thirteen has been announced which holds no real surprises. I'd be surprised if Alex Hughes plays, but it would be nice to see Sam Conners get a run out at the end of a truncated season, to see what he might offer another year.

The squad as announced:

Godleman, Reece, Madsen, du Plooy, Hosein, Hudson-Prentice, Critchley, Dal, McKernan, Conners, Rampaul, Melton, Hughes

McKiernan v Conners for the final place, I think, both of them keen to have a bowl in senior cricket before the season end, having had seasons too truncated for either of their satisfaction.

It would thus appear that Logan van Beek has played his last game for the club, barring a close season contract offer that would surprise pretty much everyone. No one will ever doubt his commitment to the cause, because he gave a hundred per cent in every game, but the statistics on which cricketers stand or fall do not add up for the genial Kiwi.

More on him later, but tomorrow's game could, if one believes reports in the weekend media, be the last for Middlesex by Dawid Malan, apparently a target for Yorkshire. The white rose county seem to be heading into Nottinghamshire territory, though this will be worth watching, as he has two years on his current deal.

Whether it makes any difference to a potential Derbyshire move for Tom Lace is the angle in which I am most concerned.

Derbyshire V Essex T20 Semi-Final

Essex 160-5 (Delport 55, Westley 39, Hughes and Reece each 2-24)

Derbyshire 126 (Hughes 23, Harmer 4-19, Nijjar 3-26)

Essex won by 34 runs

Alas, the writing was on the wall for Derbyshire today, from the moment that Simon Harmer won the toss for Essex and opted to bat.

The wicket was slow, it enabled the ball to grip at times and later, when Harmer came on, the spin was considerable.

Delport could have gone early, a skied pull going between converging fielders, but the fielding wasn't quite there for us today. There were several half chance run outs that need to go your way on the big occasions, while a handful of ground fielding errors were untypical of recent form.

Delport took advantage of some variation of line and length to play the match-winning innings of 55 from 31 balls, while Westley kept the other end ticking over.

There wasn't much wrong with the bowling. Fynn was a little more expensive than usual, while it never seemed a wicket for van Beek. I said on Twitter during the first game that I would have gone for Stevens in his place, and it may just have been his type of surface. Still, it didn't happen and we actually did well to drag Essex back to a total of 160 in their twenty overs. Hughes and Reece did especially well, further proof perhaps that the Kent man might have enjoyed conditions.

Luis Reece set off like a train with two fours and a six in the opening over, but a brilliant catch by Wheater saw him depart before he inflicted enough damage to make a difference. Godleman smoked two fine boundaries, but was then bowled by a ripper from Harmer, who got extravagant turn throughout.

Madsen looked good on the sweep and was taking toll of Nijjar's left arm spin, before he miscalculated against a quicker ball, left his leg stump open and was bowled. Du Plooy went to another that turned a long way, while both Critchley and Dal went to shots that didn't warrant replays.

Hughes fought for a while, but Nijjar turned one past his outside edge as he came down the wicket and he was easily stumped. With 75 needed from 44 balls at that point, the game was gone.

Essex brought on Lawrence's off spin to capitalise on conditions and he bowled Hudson-Prentice, as the collapse became definitive. Derbyshire were eventually all out for 126, after some late blows from Smit, van Beek and Rampaul took the score closer than was actually the case.

It was a disappointment for the support, both those who travelled and those at home, but the Derbyshire squad has broken new ground this summer and can be proud of their efforts. A small squad has done very well to get through to the end of the season, though not without injuries. Smit undergoes surgery on a shoulder injury on Monday, while others have been held together with tape for a few weeks now. With four days to go, they will be ready for a deserved rest.

It was no disgrace then, in a summer when they have mixed it with the best and often come out on top. Something to build on in future years, when having experienced the occasion, they will be more ready for it next time.

Earlier, Nottinghamshire completed an awful year with a late collapse that was as inexplicable as it was inept. The difficulties of batting second notwithstanding, they should have made 11 from the last 12 balls with wickets in hand. Why they sent in Patel, the slowest man in the team, when quick running was going to be needed, I have no idea. It  suggested muddied thinking that has ravaged their summer.

Still, every cloud has a silver lining, eh?

As for the final, the winner will likely be the side that wins the toss. I suspect Worcestershire, who held their nerve well, will retain their trophy.

Vitality Blast Finals Day preview

Somewhere in Australia, tomorrow, Kane Richardson and Billy Stanlake may well flick through the Sky TV channels and sit down to watch the Vitality Blast finals day from Edgbaston.

In their turn, each could have been there. Richardson withdrew from his Derbyshire contract to 'protect his workload' after selection for the World Cup, in which he played two warm up games, together with two in the tournament. He then failed to gain selection for the Ashes tour, which has left him protecting his workload for quite a long time.

Stanlake meanwhile sustained the latest stress fracture to blight his career and we will likely never know if his ninety miles an hour projectiles from around seven feet in height would have proved effective. Certainly it would be a brave man who went down that path again.

Yet despite those disappointments, despite what appeared then and now as panic signings of Darren Stevens and Boyd Rankin, Derbyshire will turn up at Edgbaston tomorrow with every chance of creating a shock.

To most, we are making up the numbers. 'Little Derbyshire', they usually say in a patronising manner, before they roll out that perennial phrase 'the only county to have never been to finals day'. It has frustrated and annoyed us all, despite, until now, its accuracy.

Essex supporters, on hearing the draw for the day, raced on to Twitter to proclaim it 'almost like a bye into the final', which betrayed a lack of class, together with a lack of knowledge. Because in sport, as in life, anything is possible.

Those of us who are battle-hardened over decades of supporting the county know that there are two sides to our cricket. We never know which side will turn up on a given day, yet in the season now drawing to an end there are increasing signs of a side that is learning to win with discipline, talent and professionalism.

We are still capable of sessions of madness, yet there is an increased resilience down the order that is starting to see the sprouting of something that could be special down Derby way. Yesterday's four-day win over a good Sussex side was an example, fighting back from being all out for 138 on the first day to win by nearly 200 runs. All that with an attack of three 23-year olds, plus one of 24 on his championship debut.

Regardless of tomorrow's results, Dave Houghton has done an admirable job in his first season. Likely mid-table in fifty-over and four-day cricket, which has seen them punch above their weight in the eyes of many critics, they have knocked out supposed heavyweights and strapped the belt around their waist in a tough T20 group. It saw them beat Yorkshire twice (comme d'habitude) do the same to Lancashire at Old Trafford, then beat the reigning champions at Derby, after narrowly failing to do so at Worcester.

Any side that takes beating us for granted is in for a surprise. The top four of Godleman, Reece, Madsen and du Plooy is a match for any in the country, with 1500 runs between them in the tournament. While the concern may be what happens if they don't come off, the threat is also what happens if they do. With a quartet of all-rounders to follow, as good a wicket-keeper as there is in the country and the tournament's leading wicket-taker to spearhead the attack, we need fear no one.

On these big occasions, the best roll up their sleeves and get on with their job, respecting, but not worrying unduly about the opposition. Essex will be tough opponents, and on a likely slow, previously used end of season wicket, their spinner, Harmer, may be a danger, as will be the evergreen Ravi Bopara. Likewise they have some fine batsmen, but I wouldn't swap top fours with them. With neither Amir or Zampa available, the game will not be dominated by overseas players.

Worcestershire have Wayne Parnell and Hamish Rutherford back, the latter well-known to Derbyshire supporters. With Rikki Wessels and Moeen Ali in prime form and a parsimonious bunch of seamers headed by Pat Brown, I think they will be too much for Nottinghamshire. Our local rivals need Alex Hales to fire at the top of the order or it will heap pressure on a young middle-order that has been exposed in four-day cricket this summer. Steve Mullaney will also be a key man, while Dan Christian is always a danger in the closing overs.

Supporters might like the idea of a final against our local rivals, though our record against them in the competition isn't the best. I'd prefer Worcestershire, but of course we need to win against Essex before getting too carried away.

Either way the players and staff have done an extraordinary job to get here and I applaud Dominic Cork for giving us our day in the sun. After that dreadful performance against Leicestershire, hardly anyone expected us to progress, yet Cork, in true bullish fashion, said that we now needed to win the next three.

We did, and the one after it, in a performance of great professionalism at Bristol.

Don't yet discount similar heroics tomorrow, as someone could be the Frankie Griffith of 2019. While there may be a consideration of  recall for Darren Stevens, after recent stellar form for Kent, his value as a closing overs hitter is likely to be overlooked in favour of Anuj Dal, whose brilliance in the field offers additional value to his fleet-footed running between the wickets and tidy bowling.

Good luck lads. You have made us proud.

You can win it from here.

Likely side: Godleman, Reece, Madsen, du Plooy, Hughes, Critchley, Hudson-Prentice, Dal, Smit, van Beek, Rampaul.

And now for your comments...

Gleadall and Taylor depart as winter overhaul begins

At least for now, the future of Alfie Gleadall and James Taylor does not lie with Derbyshire.

Both have been released from the club and are free to pursue their ambitions elsewhere. At nineteen and eighteen respectively, it seems harsh, but then professional sport is harsh and unforgiving.

That both boys have talent is undeniable. You don't play national age group cricket without that, but to progress to senior ranks, so much more is needed. You need the basic skills, but the mental approach has to be right, so too the willingness to get the body ready for the demands of the senior game.

Talking to Derbyshire players this week, most of them are carrying injuries. In some cases they have been for weeks, but it is this willingness to handle the pain barrier that sets apart the best. To make it as a contracted county cricketer, you are in the top 0.5% of players in the country, but it needs everything to be right. Not just ability, but a desire to get better, a willingness to listen and learn, as well as get your body right. Miss out one of those things, and all the natural talent in the world won't see you make it.

Few teenagers are blessed with strong physiques, but both these lads looked like they need to do some growing and filling out before they could potentially become county players. Sam Conners has been retained, and he has shown, in glimpses, the aptitude for the professional game, as well as the height, which is always an asset for a quick bowler.

Whether he will make it is a moot point, but he will know the work that lies ahead, A county with a limited and finite budget that allows only a small squad cannot gamble on two youngsters being fit next year, when they weren't for most of this. Better the budget goes on someone further on in his development, who can make the transition NOW to first-class cricket.

It seemed to me that neither Alfie nor James were close to the requisite standard at this stage. It may be that two or three years of mental and physical development might make a difference. They may get another chance to play second team and may make a better first of things next time, but wouldn't be the first lads to dominate at age group level and fail when they mixed it with the big boys.

I will retain the memory of Alfie bowling a rip-snorting yorker at Durham last year, ripping out a stump in the process, but he needs to fill out a lot to do that consistently. So does James, though both may make tracks elsewhere for trials over the winter.

There is a lesson for the county here, however. Last winter we were told that the three youngsters were making excellent progress and it was expected that they would push for the senior side. They didn't, and while bullish comments are fine in the world of sport, reality is also important.

They need look no further than Fynn Hudson-Prentice for inspiration. A player engaged by Sussex at 18, he was released at 20, but look at him now, at 23. He learned from the experience, went away and worked on his game (and physique) and this weekend will be a key component of a Derbyshire side in the Vitality Blast Finals Day. The same goes for Anuj Dal, released by Nottinghamshire at 21, but now looking better prepared for the game two years later, perhaps reinventing himself in the process.

Gleadall and Taylor's turn may come again, but for both there is a lot of work ahead,