To address them all: I understand from various sources that Derbyshire are interested in the player. Understandably so, since he has taken 16 wickets at 31 this year and is at an age when logically he can only get better.
What I don't know is if the player is prepared to move county and crucially if Lancashire are prepared to cancel the last two years of the contract he only signed at the start of this year.
We all know, not just from cricket, that a player who wants to move holds all the aces. The club may opt to retain him, but if his heart isn't in it there is little point. Were I advising him, I would suggest going for a move, as he currently sits behind the England number one slow left arm bowler at his county, who doesn't look likely to play many English summer Tests with Shoaib Bashir doing well.
He could finish his deal at Lancashire and still be playing second team cricket at 25. There appears to be a niche for him at Derbyshire and that doesn't always work out in professional sport. I suspect we will know soon, because if he doesn't make a decision Derbyshire may move on to another target and his opportunity will have gone.
One player linked with the county who is not moving is Luke Procter. He has signed a new two-year deal at Northamptonshire, which always looked likely to me. When his name was linked by those 'in the know' it always seemed he was a plan B, if Martin Andersson fell through. But I couldn't see why the captain of one county would move to one at which he wouldn't be skipper and which will finish below them this year.
I expect another batter to come in, after the signing of Caleb Jewell announced this morning, but perhaps closer to the age demographic we would hope for.
I believe this was mentioned at the recent Members Forum and we must await developments.
Nathan Lyon was on a podcast (Willow Talk) where he explicitly called out Morley as one he was impressed with in his time at Lancs.
ReplyDeleteHartley not picked for the Pakistan tour (Leach instead) and Wells arguably ended the T20 and CC seasons ahead of Hartley as #1 spinner.
If I was Morley, I'd probably stay at Lancs.
Luke
May be relevant that Lancs' CEO has been widely quoted over the weekend that they don't have enough committed red ball cricketers (mind you, I am not sure whose fault that is if not his). That doesn't suggest that they are looking to offload anyone soon.
ReplyDeleteHaving watched quite a lot of him recently the only issue I would have with him that even on a helpful pitch he still gives away at least one boundary every over
ReplyDeleteHe's young though and will improve that, seven years younger than Thomson. Would be a good asset
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