Welcome back!

After an absence and holiday of over two weeks, Peakfan is back, ahead of a hectic year in which Derbyshire will celebrate their 150th anniversary as a club.

Happy 2020 everyone!

On social media today, the club has launched a search for its greatest-ever eleven. It is a fine and laudable project, though my caveat with this is the same as with any such polls. Social media is more often used by the young, therefore the results are heavily skewed by the better known , more recent players. I have seen several 'Best England side ever' polls, where the players were without exception from the last thirty years.

Was Graeme Swann really a better spinner than Hedley Verity, Jim Laker or Wilfred Rhodes? Was Alastair Cook better than Jack Hobbs, Len Hutton or Herbert Sutcliffe? It is easy to denigrate the efforts of players before World War One, and between the two wars. In many ways it was a different game, but good players were always good players and you can only be judged as being among the best of your time. A batting average of thirty pre-war, often on uncovered wickets, was likely the equivalent of forty-plus these days.

Thus, coming back to Derbyshire, Bill Bestwick must have been a fantastic bowler. With 1400 wickets at 21 he had to be, though for many today he is unknown. To take 147 wickets at 16, when he was 46 years old in 1921, was an extraordinary effort, needing outstanding skill, as well as a high level of fitness. He liked a pint or two, often enjoying them at lunch in the beer tent, but he could bowl. Usually did too, for a long time...

So too William Mycroft, back in the nineteenth century. He took 863 wickets with his left-arm pace for the county, at an average of only TWELVE. You could argue about the quality of wickets, and whether all of the opposition were particularly good cricketers, but cannot deny his eligibility to be considered in such an eleven.

I have already voted, and hope that a number of you do too. I would only urge you look at the records of those concerned, what they did for the team at that time and how they performed for the county on grounds of consistency and longevity.

Go to http://cricket.derbyshireccc.com/vote-for-your-greatest-derbyshire-xi/

In so far as my absence has been concerned, I haven't really missed anything. The Derbyshire players have done all of their fitness work and are now honing their techniques in the indoor school. I remain confident that the summer ahead will see us do well. Given good luck, the continued development of young players who have emerged and good fortune with injuries, this is a squad that will challenge.

To answer a question that I had a few times - do I think we should look at Aadil Ali, who has been released by Leicestershire, now Tom Lace has signed for Middlesex - I am not convinced.

He did alright at Leicestershire, but has reached his mid-twenties as a specialist, rather dour batsman and a highest score of only 80. I don't think he would be close to a one-day player and can't see him near a first-choice side. Maybe he would be decent cover for the RLODC, but I don't think we can offer full-time contracts for a few weeks of the summer. Were there money for such a thing, I would sooner have seen what Tom Wood could do, a deserving lad if there ever was one.

Given we have signed two quality overseas players and re-engaged Dominic Cork as T20 coach, I can't see there being lots of money being available. If there was, my suggestion would be someone better than we already have, not additional competition to what I regard a strong squad.

That's all for me for now. Starting this weekend, the first instalment of my interview with Tony Palladino, which I think you will enjoy!