David Lloyd signs three-year deal

If anyone is going to know the ability of David Lloyd, then Mickey Arthur and his Derbyshire players will be high among them.

After all, it is not a year since the Glamorgan all rounder posted the second-highest score in Glamorgan history, in making 313 against us at Cardiff.

He is a solid, experienced, professional cricketer. The type that Derbyshire needs if we are losing Leus du Plooy as well as Billy Godleman and Suranga Lakmal. 

He has been captain at Glamorgan, but there is no suggestion at this stage that he will fill a similar role at Derbyshire. Logically, if du Plooy leaves he is the standout candidate and he can offer good runs at the top of the order or in the middle, depending on our greater need.

He can obviously bat for a long time, but is also a quick scorer in limited overs cricket. An additional asset is his medium pace bowling, which can be effective in all formats.

At 31 he is coming into what should be his peak seasons. While his career averages are not remarkable, they suggest a solid cricketer of the kind that Derbyshire's young squad needs to aid their development.

For the record, I see him as a replacement for Billy Godleman, not du Plooy and not Luis Reece. I still see a role for the latter, even if his statistics in the last couple of seasons have suggested a decline. Let's face it, having all rounders at 6 and 7 in Dal and Reece, with another at the top of the order in Lloyd, offers Derbyshire flexibility on the makeup of the rest of the side, in all formats.

In other news, a report in yesterday's Telegraph suggested that Pat Brown of Worcestershire is coming to Derbyshire.

If this is true, then I would be very happy, because he is a very talented young bowler and a brilliant fielder, as he amply illustrated with the catch that removed Wayne Madsen last Sunday.

Yet the time to get excited about this will be when it is announced by the club, assuming that it does happen, of course.

It is the time of year when clubs can speak to players coming to the end of contracts and it is highly likely, as happens in all sports, that agents can generate 'interest' to stir up rival bids for the services of their client.

Brown coming to Derbyshire would be great, as he has played T20 cricket for England and presumably wants to play more than one format. I am not sure, if the story is true, how Worcestershire look to replace him, as well as Dillon Pennington and Josh Tongue, who the same story said were going to Nottinghamshire.

That would appear likely, but again poses the question as to what point there is of Nottinghamshire having an academy, when they go out and buy the finished talents of others.

Perhaps Derbyshire might be a beneficiary of an unsettled player from those parts, as we look to revamp our side this winter.

Time will tell. 

But for now, the first piece of the 2024 jigsaw is in place and I think David Lloyd will prove to be a shrewd acquisition over the next three seasons.

He is also, to my knowledge, the first Derbyshire player to come from Glamorgan, unless we consider Bill Bestwick, who played there briefly between his two stints with us either side of the first world war.

Welcome to Derbyshire, David!