6'4, capable of bowling around 90mph and getting a lot of bounce, he should fit in well with a Derbyshire attack that isn't exactly vertically challenged. The wickets in New Zealand are fairly similar to those here and I would like to think that Tickner, who is closing in on 450 career wickets, will be an awkward proposition in early season.
There are a lot of excellent quick bowlers in New Zealand and for him to have reached international level in such company is a good effort. The highlights reels I have seen today suggest a wholehearted bowler who will quickly become a fan favourite. Supporters will always get behind a player who is giving his all and that appears to be his modus operandi.
As I mentioned earlier, I am unsure how many times he will share a new ball with Mohammad Amir, but I suspect opposition opening bats will not rejoice if they see both names on a team sheet.
My thoughts now are that he will take his place in the side for the season opener. I suspect that we will break Amir in gently and, for what it is worth, I would go with the following side to start our summer:
Reece
Came
Lloyd
Madsen
Guest
Lamb
Donald
Dal
Chappell
Conners
Tickner
That side has good depth in batting, not to mention six seam bowlers. I doubt we will need a spin option at that stage of the summer, but I would not be surprised were Tickner to be replaced by an overseas spinner for the second half of the season.
So what do you think? The side that starts 2024 is considerably different to the 2023 model
When one looks at who is outside of it, you realise how strong a squad it is.
I will draw short of saying happy days are here again.
But with the talent in that squad, they really should be...
Very much looking forward to the new season getting underway with all the changes. Fingers crossed for a change in our fortunes, and some excellent weather too!
ReplyDeleteAndy
Don't think your side is too far off but I suspect Thomson will play as he can bat a bit and offers a spin option which even early on we'll need at times. Would probably have Lamb make way.
ReplyDeleteThomson in at 8 with Dal to 6 (or 7 if Donald moves up) solves a problem in Dal being too low at 8. He deserves better than that even if last season he didn't score the runs of the prior season and I think he would be tempted away if treated like that. Good depth to have a player like Lamb in the wings.
Tickner seems an OK signing but hope we have a helpful deck for the whole attack!
He looks like a good signing for the CC. That would also be my XI, though I would be tempted to swap Guest & Donald in the batting order. I think Guest could score significant runs batting in a more traditional position for a keeper. Where this signing has me a bit perplexed is the T20. Our best 5 bowlers for that format are Patel, Chappell, Brown, Amir & Tickner. 4 paceman, no leggie & a long tail. Ideally we could do with finding the money for a spinning all rounder for the T20.
ReplyDeleteIf Amir is unlikely to play I’d make only one change. I think a spin option is always required especially if batting first so Thomson for Lamb as batting Dal at 8 is a waste.
ReplyDeletePaul
So what's going on with Amir the official statement from the club when he signed was that he was available to play all cricket up to and including the vitality blast Derbyshire have seven championship matches before the Vitality starts where has the information come from that he is now only available for four of those matches? What's the point of breaking somebody in gently who's only here for the first part of the season? Following on from my question regarding Amir early on in the week I suspect Derbyshire won't see much of Amir before the Vitality Blast are Derbyshire members once again being conned?
DeleteHe has available for all cricket but the weather at Derby is different to Dubai and Lahore...
DeleteThey will be fair to him but I expect us to get good value
Looks a very good squad with nice depth. I wonder how Whitely will feature in the 4 day, as wasn't that a major reason why he wanted to come to DCCC, to play more red ball cricket? Facet
ReplyDeleteUnless we have rolled up the Queens Park wicket and moved it to Derby, I can see another season of high scoring games. Seems a decent signing on paper. I would have Wagstaff at 6, for his useful spin early season, rather than a specialist.Kris
ReplyDeleteOn the face of it this seems to be a bit of an underwhelming overseas signing, he's 30 years old yet doesn't seem to have played lots of Cricket. Mickey must have done his homework though so we have to trust him. Welcome to Derbyshire Blair!
ReplyDeleteOnce again, Derbyshire moving the goalposts with regards to Amir's availability. That is why u can count on nothing until the action starts. Other sides have strengthened well .
ReplyDeleteIt is nice to be saying who are we going to leave out rather than who are we going to pick. I think we may need a spinner if only to keep over rate down. Maybe Samit Patel in the team at the start of the season.
ReplyDeleteI think it prudent to include a spinner; what availability would Samit Patel have for the county matches? It will be interesting to see how managment keep all the players involved and match sharp. I like your starting XI, but as mentioned elsewhere, I'd play a spinner, have Donald at 5, Dal at 6, and Guest a leisurely 7, as he will be mighty busy at the top of the order for my 'white' ball matches. What's your preferred T20 lineup? Cheers, PJS
ReplyDeleteI think we will see quite a bit of rotation in the squad in the first half of the season , post July will be interesting if we progress to knockout stage of T20 plus the Royal London team could be very strong if our players don’t get a Hundred draft ( Patel Madsen Whitley ..) I’m curious as to how it will unfold .
ReplyDeleteThis seems like a very poorly thought-out overseas signing strategy to me.
ReplyDeleteIt's not Tickner per se so much that seems strange. In many ways, he's exactly the kind of overseas player that a club like Derbys should be going for: not vastly expensive, good enough to be on the fringes of a major international team but not good enough to get in it regularly and so jeopardise his availability.
But, to echo KJB above, signing an overseas seamer (in Amir) for the Championship who in reality is only available for half the games is quite simply a huge waste of money. That's even before getting to the fact that he's played three f-c games in five years (which seems like an injury waiting to happen, which could easily put him out of the Blast) or his reputation as being at least sometimes challenging to manage.
And by signing Amir for the Championship AND Tickner for the Blast, Arthur is compromising on what the side really needs but hasn't yet got--a decent spinner (or second one in the case of the Blast) who's a better batter than most of the other bowlers. That limits the options quite a bit, but there still are some potential ones: Imad Wasim, Ramesh Mendis, Kevin Sinclair, Mohammad Nawaz if he's not in the selectors' sights for the WT20, ditto Agar for the Blast--maybe even Maharaj for the Championship in the unlikely event that he wants to rest for this period.
Having a side (and Dal at no. 8 seems like overkill to me) which has seven seam-bowling options but no spinner (or probably six and one in the Blast) seems...more than a touch unbalanced. It should have been Tickner for the Championship, Amir for the Blast (although it looks like neither of them are available for the last two weeks of the Blast) PLUS a spinner.
At yesterday's cricket society speakers lunch, the forum was Mickey Arthur, Ross Whitley, and brook guest. All were very interest and informative, but Mickey said Amir primarily for the blast and tinkner for CC, but more interesting was the fact that another spinner was in the wings, they didn't say when the name would be revealed!
ReplyDeleteSomerset indicating Bashir will go out on loan...
ReplyDelete