Talking point - Arthur's dual role

Apologies for the late publication of my thoughts on the latest news surrounding Mickey Arthur, but my mother-in-law has been in hospital for nine weeks and now needs to go into a care home, with all the work that it entails. 

I can see two sides to the news that Arthur will be Director of Cricket for the Northern Superchargers during that other competition in the 2025 summer.

One is to share the general indignation that the county is entitled to 100% of his available time and input, at a time when things could hardly be said to be going swimmingly. 

I honestly feel that the frustration, annoyance, anger - call it as you will - expressed on social media yesterday would not have been so severe had it not followed on from the 'job share' of our Head of Cricket role with that in charge of Pakistan cricket.

Regardless of the job that we do, all of us have only 100% (I really dislike when people talk about giving it 110%...) to give to our working life. If anyone dilutes their job with another role, whether honorary, advisory or 'hands off', that first role can no longer get 100%. Sure, you can work longer hours, but that ends up doing no one any favours, certainly not yourself. If you say 'I will be working harder' my usual response has been 'why weren't you in the first place?'

So I do understand supporter frustrations. The 2025 season will be a watershed for Derbyshire, with the contracts of a number of players up for renewal at the end of it. A lot of people have reasons to work very hard in the coming months as they will otherwise be surplus to requirements when October comes. 

My gut feeling - although yesterday's press release suggested the contrary - is that Derbyshire will go into the one-day cup led by Ben Smith. Ajmal Shahzad has been involved with Trent Rockets and I expect that will continue, so we will see how that all plays out in the months ahead.

But is it really so bad? Other county coaches have done similar dual roles, Arthur replacing Marcus North, whose Durham role hasn't suffered as a consequence. Mind you, Durham have a far greater budget than Derbyshire and that's where you can turn that argument on its head.

Arthur will be working with Andrew Flintoff, who is Head Coach of England Lions. He will be in a strong position to push the claims of the likes of Pat Brown, Harry Moore and maybe Zak Chappell for a place with the Northern Superchargers. If they do well, they could force their way into the England Lions reckoning, which in turn brings money into the Derbyshire budget. 

It is easy to say 'but then we won't have them for the One-Day Cup'. Equally, it is fair to say that the additional Performance-Related Fee Payments (PRFP) will enable us to better fight for available players, both domestic and overseas.

None of us are especially happy with county performances, but improving them requires better quality players, who cost money. Some of the existing squad have reached their performance ceiling, others have their best days behind them. I suspect 2026 will see a drastic change to the county staff, but bringing in BETTER players requires more money. 

I understand that Derbyshire will look to bring in a T20 specialist for The Blast, but the quality of player will be dependent on the budget available. We would all like to see a big name in the county colours, but realistically, even if they were available, you would need to cross their palm with a quantity of silver that we don't have. 

Maybe a rethink is needed at the end of the coming summer, as bigger name players likely depart. We need to develop our own and reap the financial and reputational benefits that brings with it. Perhaps a young, hungry squad with a couple of gun overseas players is the reset that we need?

The bottom line is that we cannot carry on as we have for the last two summers. So perhaps there is an alternate take on things than indignation and outrage...

In less than three weeks we can say 'cricket starts next month.

So we will find out soon enough.