Weekend warmer

It was great to see the bumper crowd that attended the bonfire night celebrations at the Incora County Ground on Friday.

An equally successful festive season will be perfect for Derbyshire, generating the crucial off field income that will allow Mickey Arthur the money required to improve fortunes on the field.

I doubt that anyone is unhappy with the way that the winter has gone so far. Logically, all that remains is the recruitment of the overseas player, or players to replace Shan Masood.

I am not sure if the World Cup has featured those players, but there have been some standout performers. I was less impressed with Sikandar Raza as the tournament went on, his batting looking a little too frenetic against good bowlers. His bowling was more impressive and while I am sure there will still be interest from the county circuit, the recent recruitment of Mark Watt pretty much legislates against him being on Derbyshire's radar. I can't see us needing four spinners, with two then unlikely to play much cricket.

One player who has impressed me has been Suryakumar Yadav of India, who batted well against Derbyshire last year. He seems to have elastic wrists and some of the shots he has played have been quite spectacular. I was surprised to find out that he is 32 and thought him a younger man. Which in its own way speaks volumes both for the sheer quantity of talent in that country, as well as the merits of the later developer.

It is a shame that Indian players cannot play in the Vitality Blast, as most of their stellar line up would be huge draws. It is hard to gauge though whether any would be equally successful, or interested in a contract for longer form matches.

I would be surprised if Mickey Arthur was able to find a player available for most of the season, as Masood was last year. Even more so if that player was as successful. While not in any way meaning to diminish his efforts, he perhaps had the best early season wickets for a decade on which to bat, while Suranga Lakmal probably thought he had arrived in the wrong country, with what he had to bowl on.

It could be that this time next year we are all hailing the latter, if April sees more traditional English wickets. I suspect had he not had the elbow injury, some of the wickets as the season progressed would have been perfect for his talents.

As a bit of fun, here's some nice thoughts to occupy you over the next few days.

Which Derbyshire overseas player of the past would you recruit to enhance the current squad?

I am going to ban the selection of Eddie Barlow, because anyone who saw him would appreciate that him in the side would automatically improve it by 20%, regardless of his individual contribution.

There is no right or wrong answer, but I would be curious and delighted to see everyone's thoughts. I will then tell you my decision next week.

Have a good one!