Nottinghamshire thoughts and the new guys

Wasn't it great to wake up this morning and think back to that game?

I apologise if my euphoria post-win was over the top for anyone, but if you can't get excited over a game that good, you had best get a doctor to check your pulse.

It was, as I said last night, a genuine team effort, as much down to Sam Conners' gritty defiance in the first innings as the headline-grabbing feats. Were it not for that last wicket stand, our hosts would have been out of sight. 

Speaking of which, our opponents always seem to me to be eleven talented (but desperately under-achieving) blokes, but not a team. In contrast, the closeness of our squad is tangible. From Leus du Plooy pounding his chest after his sublime first innings century, to the jump for joy of Michael Cohen and Fynn Hudson-Prentice as they completed the final two runs, then the comments of the latter at the end of the game. Derbyshire is more than a club, it is a family, the interaction of players with supporters always appreciated. 

So too your interaction with this blog. I love to see them and they are a useful barometer for me as to how you are all feeling about things. Do please remain involved and for those new to posting, I always vet prior to publication, though this is more down to blocking the spammers who attempt to link to sex sites and the like. Your comments will always appear as soon as I see them and get the chance to do something about it.

It is always especially exciting when the club signs new players. The game just finished afforded an early opportunity to look at three young men, all 21 (when the game started), who may just hold the future of our club's seam bowling in their hands.

The one we knew best, of course, was Sam Conners. I have previously written that he looked a talent, even a couple of years back, but the ubiquitous back issues of the young seamer held him back a little, until his physiology caught up with his undoubted talent.

There's a touch of Harold Rhodes in his action, which can't be a bad thing. He is tall, whippy, gets plenty of bounce and swing and is likely to be a very potent force in the next couple of years. His spell of 3-19 on the second evening combined both hostility and skill and while he has a quicker ball, he isn't fixated on pace, which I think is the correct thing. There are plenty of people already taking notice of Sam, who also showed himself no mug with the bat in his support of Leus du Plooy on the second afternoon. I don't think he will bat eleven for long, and his self-effacing support was all the more laudable when you consider that he has played some punishing knocks for the second team.

I thought Ben Aitchison looked better with every spell he bowled. I got the impression on the first morning that he was trying to bowl too quickly, to the detriment of his line and length. He isn't that kind of bowler, but when he reduced his pace he got bounce, swing and lateral movement, becoming a far more tricky proposition. On the third day he bowled beautifully and was treated with respect by the Nottinghamshire batsmen, picking up good wickets in the process. A bowler in the Matt Mason/Terry Alderman mould, I predict a very bright future.

Indeed, I saw enough of Ben in that game to justify a two-year deal immediately and I could see him taking a lot of wickets in the years ahead. Definitely one to watch - and he again looked no mug with the bat, either. A shot through the covers in the first innings suggested he knew what he was doing.

Michael Cohen? Very few are blessed with the natural assets to bowl quickly, which sets him apart from the outset. His pace disconcerted the batsmen, when he got it right, but he will know that raw pace and poor direction will not be a long-term wicket machine. Yet his line also improved as the game went on and, as they so often are, a bowler with that change up in pace transforms an attack. He got five wickets in the match, most of them beating good players for pace. 

He is not tall, more Larwood and Marshall than Ambrose and Walsh, so shouldn't be putting so much strain on his back.Once he locks on the radar, with greater experience, he will be a real handful, as he was at times here. I liked his personality, which bubbled through with regular smiles and an almost coltish enthusiasm in the field. 

With the bat I suspect he will become a fan favourite. In the first innings he was animated, with exaggerated held poses, plenty of movement around the crease and expansive shouts of 'Wait!' accompanied by a pointed bat almost thrust at the non-striker. He looked organised, but it didn't suggest what he produced in the second innings.

A South African friend messaged me on Twitter last night to say that he had never seen him bat like that over there. On which basis we must assume he has worked very hard on his batting over the winter, because he was not at all fazed by the situation. As he pinged a couple to the cover boundary, I wondered if we had sent in du Plooy a second time...

All three will benefit from having bowled at a team where you have someone like Samit Patel in at eight. In many teams you are getting to the dead men at that point, but Samit showed his class in both innings and punished them as they tired and the ball got old. 

They will also benefit from an older head alongside them, like Ravi Rampaul or Tony Palladino, players who have been through that stage and become respected, professional bowlers. 

With Ravi presumably back for Saturday's game, team selection will need careful consideration. One will need to drop out, while I suspect either Alex Hughes or Tom Wood may replace Mattie McKiernan. Again, that would be no reflection on his performance, as he caught well, took two quick wickets in a short first innings bowl and contributed valuable runs yesterday. I just feel the greater team need is for an extra batsman, with both Alex and Tom excellent in the slip cordon too.

There's genuine potential in that squad of ours. 

I look forward to seeing its development in the years ahead.