That overseas role...

I watched a remarkable innings by Glenn Maxwell this morning in the Big Bash. 

Batting for Melbourne Stars against their rivals the Renegades, his innings of 90 from 47 deliveries took them from 75-7 to an all out 165. His innings included ten sixes and it was quite extraordinary, adding 81 runs with Usama Mir, of which the Pakistan player contributed exactly none..

It enabled them to win the game from a position where it was effectively lost and highlighted exactly what you sign a big name player for.

He has done it before, of course and is a very fine player. He also bowls handy offspin and is an outstanding fielder, but Birmingham supporters will perhaps have a different opinion of him. 

In 2023 he was their overseas player for the whole of the Blast and averaged only 17, with a highest score of 47. This is considerably lower than his career average, having scored around a dozen centuries in the format. Indeed, he has played for five different counties in the Blast and only Lancashire might claim they saw anything approaching his best, three of his six half centuries in the competition coming in their colours in 2019.

You can imagine the excitement of the Bears support when his name was announced for that season, the frustration when it was not to be his year. He wasn't the first or last to disappoint, of course and we have had our share. 

I was no gambling man, but would have put a few. bob on Lawrence Rowe scoring several centuries in his summer at Derbyshire, not going home with his debut 94 being the best that he managed in all competitions. He arrived on the back of a triple century against England and yet it never worked out.

Marcus Stonis did little for Kent in the T20, David Warner making only one fifty in seventeen knocks when he played in the Blast. Despite playing for five different counties and being a regular pick around the globe, Dwayne Bravo did little either, a highest score of 38 in 24 matches backed up with only 22 wickets. You would take any of them if offered (I know Bravo has retired) but the statistics don't always add up to the undoubted expenditure.

Reputation is no guarantee of success, as we found when we had both Tillakaratne Dilshan and Hashim Amla in the same side. In our minds they would lead us to glory - the reality was quite different. Just as it was when Shahid Afridi turned out for us, neither batting or bowling anywhere approximating his best form.

Whether at club or county level, the role of overseas professional is a tough gig. The pressure of becoming part of the team is one thing, leading by example another. Many struggle under the weight of expectation, which splits the wheat from the chaff.

Which is why I wouldn't be too upset at the lack of form shown by Caleb Jewell this winter. Anyone who has played the game will know that there are periods when you feel there is no middle to your bat. Maybe it is down to a slight change of technique, to bad luck, external factors or even a different bat. Players try everything to change their fortune and to keep a run going when things are as you want them. 

John Wright told me that he once glued his gloves to the bat handle when he had found the optimum position for them, neglecting the fact that it made running between the wickets a challenge and giving him 'the turning circle of the Queen Mary.' 

Jewell hasn't scored the runs he so far has in first class cricket by being a bad player. Several good judges have marked him down as one to watch and the feeling remains that a good summer in England **might** be the making of him. He will come out of this run, as good players do, but you never know when, until the ball finds both the middle of the bat and the gaps in the field with equal regularity. 

Michael di Venuto was much more prolific in England than in Australia. So too Mark Cosgrove, who scored heavily around the shires for a number of summers. Since the double-lacquering of Kookaburra balls, batting averages have dropped in Australia, those with defensive frailties being found out a little. You also see it in the Big Bash, where scores are much lower (and games more entertaining as a consequence) than in other parts of the world.

While I have noted the lack of form of Caleb Jewell this winter, it is with no sense of satisfaction, no perverse desire to see him fail. Quite the opposite, I would love to report on runs flowing from his bat like water from a tap. 

It hasn't happened yet, but he will arrive in Derbyshire in time for pre-season nets with a burning desire to get both his career and his international ambitions back on track. Maybe under-promising and over-delivering is the way to go...just as long as you manage the latter, of course.

Neither Sam Konstas, Jake Fraser-McGurk or Nathan McSweeney have yet proved themselves the opening partner Usman Khawaja needs. A fine summer in England could easily see Jewell leapfrog them all.

I am sure all Derbyshire supporters hope that is the case.