Arthur interview needs health warning

As a Derbyshire supporter, it was good to see Mickey Arthur in bullish mood on the interview released by the club yesterday.

In that interview, he revealed the reasons for his delayed arrival and that he should be in Derby in the next 7-10 days.

All well and good, though doubtless a couple of months later than he and we all hoped for. His philosophy seems well-aligned to that of the late, great Eddie Barlow, in that Derbyshire have to be fitter and field better as non-negotiables. We can all get on board with that one, even when I am reminded of the words of Mike Hendrick - 'he wants us to be best team in the country at fetching the ball back, if it gets hit for six'..

Hendo was joking of course, but the worry of the interview was that further recruitment is likely to be a season-long seamer from overseas, with 'someone else' for the Vitality Blast.

I am concerned. While it is laudable that he offers opportunity to contracted players, I suspect that Dave Houghton's last acts as HOC may be ones that stymie Arthur this year.

Let's face it, we have lost our leading batsman and spinner, one of our best-averaging batsmen and keeper and a seam-bowling all-rounder of talent in Messrs Critchley, Hosein and Hudson-Prentice respectively. None look like they are being replaced, though two months from the season that was going to be tough anyway.

Factor in that Luis Reece will do little bowling this year and Mikey Cohen is returning from his latest stress fracture, the challenges are clear.

If Arthur's man management is better than that of his predecessor (which it surely will be) will getting an extra ten per cent from his charges be enough to make Derbyshire competitive?

It is a tall order. The batting was woeful last year, but with Godleman, Madsen and du Plooy out of contract at the end of this season, all have incentives for big summers. My guess is that they were alluded to in his reference to 'a couple of contract extensions'.

Either Alex Thomson or Mattie McKiernan needs to step up to prove a worthy first choice spinner, since we appear to be going with what we have. With 29 career first-class wickets between them, they have less wickets than Critchley took last summer alone, so the challenge is clear.

Much seems to rest on the quality of overseas players and my viewing of Shan Masood yesterday suggested a player who will be enjoyed. Nonetheless, a slow Karachi track is somewhat removed from a traditional English April green top and we shouldn't get too carried away at this stage. We have all seen exciting signings kiboshed by injury before arrival too, so I will keep my powder dry for now. 

As for the season-long seamer we are signing, your guess is as good as mine. I think we can rule out South Africans, since they tour here this summer, as do New Zealand. I did wonder about Scott Boland, who ripped through England this winter and a recent article revealed several county approaches for his services. He seemed wary of committing to it, however and suspect if he came the bidding war would put him out of our reach, with the player likely more keen on a shorter stint anyway and seemingly wary of burn out. 

My guess would be someone from Pakistan, where there are numerous good options, or Sri Lanka, where good players rarely get county exposure. None of these would be unduly expensive, as for most it would cement growing reputations and widen their experience.

Finally, he mentioned 'in addition' to the overseas players, someone else for the Vitality Blast. Logically that may mean a Scotland player, or someone at least with a UK passport.

My guess would mean a return for Mark Watt, who only went for six an over in the T20 World Cup and looked a much fitter, equally canny bowler to his previous spell with us. 

He is a very skilled operator in that format and hard to get after, certainly an asset to most sides. Arthur has referenced a need for a slow left arm bowler before and Mark would fit the bill quite nicely. 

So there you have it. I have said before that Arthur has a 'free hit' this year, but members and supporters need to see a more aggressive, purposeful style of cricket than last year.

We will see if the change in ethos and fitness levels alone can bring dividends, or if more sweeping changes are required in due course. 

Arthur arrival 'imminent'

I am using that in the now-approved Quantuma manner, as noted by Derby County fans in recent weeks.

However, I understand that he is now due in the UK to start work shortly, held up only by the now regulation issues of Covid, international travel and work visas post-Brexit.

He will be wanting to get straight into it and meet the staff, though has some additions to make before too many supporters will have serious expectations. 

The acquisition of Shan Masood for the whole summer is a positive, as his record is good in all formats. However, the Dukes ball in April will be a different challenge and how quickly he comes to terms with it may determine how we do. 

There was positive news last week with Luis Reece likely to be available to bat from near the start of the season. That MIGHT sort our issue at number three, as he could slot in there, allowing Wayne Madsen to drop to four and Leus du Plooy to go in at five. He is unlikely to bowl until later season, so has a chance to consolidate a place in what, on paper, looks a decent top order.

There is, as yet, no replacement for Matt Critchley as lead spinner, nor one for Fynn Hudson-Prentice as a seam bowling all rounder. That top five has to find someone to replace the thousand scored by Critchley last year, though all are capable of doing it.

Which makes me think we may split the other overseas role between a seam bowler for early season and a spinner for the second half of the summer. 

South Africa may offer a source of the former, with bowlers keen for experience on English wickets ahead of their tour here from July.

Marco Jansen exploded onto the international scene this year and currently has 19 Test wickets at just 16 each, those in only three Tests against a strong Indian side. At 6'9 he looks a handful and at 21 years old has the world at his feet. I would expect Cricket South Africa to be keen to further his experience, which would likely be more use in England than in the IPL.

I think our seam bowling pretty solid, for all its relative inexperience. With Aitchison, Conners, Scrimshaw, Cohen, Potts and Melton in competition, there is the talent to bowl sides out. Something different would be handy, someone who can bat and bowl especially so. 

A half season might appeal to a few people, however, leaving the T20 and remaining matches to a spinner, or spin-bowling all-rounder.

I haven't yet seen anything in Mattie McKiernan or Alex Thomson to suggest they could win us matches on the last afternoon of a four-day match, though both were underbowled last year, so it probably isn't fair to pass judgement.

Mickey Arthur did say that he thought we were short of a slow left-arm bowler, of which there are a number in Pakistan and Sri Lanka, who he will know well.

One such may be Mohammad Nawaz, a good enough batsman to be just south of 40 with his career batting average and a T20 strike rate of 123. Throw in over 400 all-format wickets and you have a solid player on the edge of the Pakistan national side but with 49 international appearances.

I suspect he will be under consideration, but the new Head of Cricket will be awash with contacts. 

He will also need another wicket-keeping option, unless we go with Brooke Guest alone and utilise the loan market should a replacement be required at any point. There are plenty of good wicket keepers around and that may be an option if we want to make the budget go that bit further..

Decisions, decisions... 

The fixtures are.. out?

Excuse my feeling of being dramatically underwhelmed, but after waiting ages for the fixtures to come out this year, that is what I am left with.

More 'Meh' than 'Yeah' for sure.

Let's face it, if you were doing the preparatory work on proving the new format competition was better attended than the county game, you would schedule it exactly as the ECB have done. 

If you asked a bunch of primary school kids when best to schedule cricket so they could watch it, they would come up with the answer 'at weekends and during school holidays'.

So why do we have TWO full days of home Derbyshire cricket after the middle of May at weekends? Why do we have just FOUR days scheduled in the balmy (barmy?) month of August?

OK, if you include T20 it rises to the giddy heights of four days, all season after May, but T20 isn't a day out, it is an afternoon or evening. 

It is crazy. People with or without families thus have to take their valued annual leave to see much county cricket, or be retired/unemployed. 

Even my annual 'home' game, against Durham at Chester le Street, is scheduled Monday to Thursday. Given I work Monday to Wednesday, my chances of seeing much of that depend on there being a worthwhile fourth day to warrant a 400-mile round trip. 

My holidays had to be in for this year in October, so only an April date works at all for me. While acknowledging the limitations of geography for me are unusual, I would be surprised if many are enthused. Again, after the middle of May there is ONE Saturday of county cricket - and that a T20 at Chesterfield. 

It is all pretty disheartening for yours truly. Were I a conspiracy theorist I would reckon they are starving us of cricket so we watch the Hundred. Truth be told, I would give up cricket rather than watch that. 

But of course, I would love to hear your thoughts, as always. 

My immediate thoughts are that in between times Derby County are saved. 

Fingers crossed on that one. And a better ending than the saga of the fixtures.. 

Weekend catch up

Sorry about the lack of blogging in the past week, but my old Dad needed major surgery at the age of 93 and it was touch and go for a while.

Thankfully he is getting stronger and a shade of normality can resume in my life, at least for now. 

Truth be told, I haven't missed much. If Ryan Duckett was correct in the recent press release, then Mickey Arthur will be starting sometime next week, and will need to hit the ground running, with plenty to do. 

He won't be signing Ben Brown from Sussex, who as widely expected has moved to Hampshire. They now have three good keepers (McManus and Alsop the others) and might be worth a call for our second one, though there are plenty of others out there.

It was good to see that Daryn Smit referred to opportunities for Academy Pathway players under Mickey Arthur. We certainly need to see them in the second team when studies allow. I saw no point in having lots of trialists last year, with one even captaining the side for a while. By all means bring them in to make up numbers, but not taking opportunity from our own development squad. 

There should always be a staff player who is captain and available. In the grand scheme of things, results don't matter at that level, but opportunities certainly do. I have no doubt that Smit will identify and develop young talent, but there needs to be a pathway, to use that word, into senior cricket.

Fingers crossed this is a step in the right direction. 

Finally tonight, I saw a tweet today that whetted my appetite for the summer that is coming up. It read:

Shan Masood, Marnus Labuschagne, Michael Neser, Peter Handscomb, Shaheen Afridi, James Pattinson, Travis Head, Mohammad Rizwan and Matthew Wade will all be playing in County Championship Division 2 next season

Should be worth a watch, eh? 

Postbag catch up

I have had a few mails in recent days regarding who I think we might target as our 'other' T20 overseas player. The name on most people's wish list seems to Wanindu Hasaranga.

Hasaranga bowled brilliantly in the T20 World Cup and also hits powerfully in the lower middle order. I also watched him in the Dubai T10, where he seemed the only bowler not to get collared. 

He isn't a huge spinner, but he does enough to miss the middle of the bat and take the edge. As Wilfred Rhodes once said, anything more than that is just showing off and few seem to read the googly well from his hand. 

He would be a HUGE signing for Derbyshire, but I suspect a lot of counties fancy his services and those with most money usually, like the Mounties, get their man. If we have an ace in the pack it is Mickey Arthur and he may want to work again with his old national coach. Few Sri Lankans come to these shores and he would certainly enhance the Vitality Blast were he to be persuaded.

We may look again to Pakistan, following on from the signing of Shan Masood, and my wildcard pick would be Mohammad Wasim. There are bigger names out there, but there are good reasons to go for him. 

At 19 he is raw and largely unknown, but he can play. He bowls between 80 and 90mph, hits a long ball and wouldn't cost the earth, as exposure would be key for him at this stage.

Last month he looked very impressive against the West Indies, bowling some searing yorkers, while his ability with the bat can also be seen in the other video. 

With Derbyshire needing to strengthen in several areas, Wasim could be a value for money pick who would capture the imagination, especially of the local Pakistani population. 

I will leave these videos for your comments! Either way, a player to keep an eye on.. 

Bowling

Batting

Happy New Year!

I hope you all enjoyed your new year celebrations and that 2022 is a good one for all of you.

Apologies for the delayed new piece, but things have been a little hectic on the domestic front. 

I have, however been looking back and it is now 50 days since Mickey Arthur was appointed Head of Cricket at the club, to a huge fanfare. Yet there is still no sign of his arrival. 

So what is going on? The silence from the club is deafening. Surely he should have been here by now? Even allowing for him finishing in Sri Lanka, time is passing. He noted on 19 December, on his Twitter account, that it was his last day in Sri Lanka, so 18 days have passed since then.

Is there a problem in his getting a work permit? Or has he changed his mind? I think either way that the club's supporters deserve some kind of update. I would like to think that application for a work permit started well before 19 December. The lead time for such things is usually three weeks. 

The fixtures aren't yet out, but if matches start in late March  the season is fast approaching. The time for he and players to get to know one another is getting shorter, as is the time for additional recruits.

I am sure supporters would like to know where he is, if he is still expected and the reason for the hold up. 

I don't think that too much to ask, is it?

Postscript : the club finally made an announcement this afternoon.

Club statement