T20 thoughts

When Derbyshire supporters look back on the 2025 Vitality Blast competition, they will not be doing so through rose-tinted spectacles.

There was the win over Yorkshire at Chesterfield, but that has become an annual event now. Nye Donald's thirteen-ball fifty and other cameos, a good weekend when they beat Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge and Leicestershire at Edgbaston and then what?

Seeing a potential international star like Mohammad Ghazanfar has been enjoyable, but it has been a very disappointing tournament overall. 

It isn't too difficult to see the reasons why. While our spinners have conceded eight or nine runs an over, the seamers have gone for ten and eleven. Take that over an innings and the target is going to be 180-190 every time, which has been a struggle for a stuttering batting line up.

A major issue has been team selection. There has been no suggestion that we went into the tournament with any idea of our best side, certainly not our best batting lineup. 

Thursday night was an example of this. Harry Came was back in the side after playing (but not batting) against Yorkshire, then tasked with batting at three, after not previously playing in the tournament. Meanwhile, Brooke Guest scored a lightning-fast ton the day before but didn't play, and the indecision over whether the second best bat in the club - and top wicket keeper -  should be in the first choice T20 side has been damaging and faintly embarrassing.

I cannot understand any logic that sees a club sign a mystery spinner, then drop the first choice keeper, when his batting record compares to most, especially when used in the right way. Talk about self-inflicted wounds...

Then there's Samit. I don't think his signing has worked and his reluctance to bowl in the Powerplay has not helped the side, only his figures. He appears to bat where HE wants, without any steer from above and his captaincy has been, at best, average. The bowling order seems preordained, with no consideration of match ups, the under-use of Andersson has been baffling and the batting orders, openers aside, seem to be the result of a lucky dip.

Caleb Jewell has disappointed in this format and while they may consider retaining him for the red ball game next year, perhaps our greater need is two overseas bowlers, at least one of who can handle a bat. Maybe, as one correspondent noted the other night, Blair Tickner - currently in the Caribbean with the Central Stags team - might have been a better option, if we were picking two from our three overseas. 

Look at Worcestershire. Ben Dwarshuis averages 8.5 an over for them AND averages 53 with the bat. Down at Somerset, Matt Henry and Riley Meredith have 40 wickets between them, going at just seven and eight runs an over each. Correct overseas recruitment is key to success in this format, as Durham are showing in the North Group. Jimmy Neesham has had a fine all round tournament (30 with the bat, eight an over with the ball) while Zak Foulkes has bowled his overs at just seven.

I will broadly exempt Ross Whiteley from criticism as he has done as well as anyone, but again has been oddly under-utilised. Our top four should have been Jewell, Donald, Madsen, Whiteley. If they fail, so be it, but at least give your proven best players in the format the maximum time to have an impact. Ross has averaged over 40, but has usually been down at six or seven, by which point he has too often had to play catch up. Surely you want your 'impact' players to have an.. impact?

That would still have left Guest to steady the ship, with Andersson, Chappell and maybe even Ghazanfar. The latter looked like he could hit a long ball, but has only batted four times. 

Maybe the biggest issue has been the form of Pat Brown. He has previously been a potent weapon in the Powerplays, but this year has too often missed his length and has come in for some stick. It is so very hard to bowl at these times, but a hard-earned reputation is maybe even harder to maintain. Perhaps using him as a shock 4-day bowler has messed him up his variations, but next year needs to be so much better

I have said before that the challenge of competing in all formats is difficult. The even greater one, perhaps, is when the squad has so obviously been recruited for a format in which it subsequently falls down badly. 

It will need a rethink, a recalibration, a new focus on recruitment for 2026. There isn't a lot of leeway in the budget, yet there is no doubt that additional skill sets - including an improved  mental one - are required to turn 'nearly men' into genuine challengers.

This could come from overseas, other counties or the talent emerging from the excellent Pathway, in time. 

Maybe there should be consideration of tapping into the talents of a data analyst, such as Dan Weston. Such a person could help drive recruitment. Recently he wrote about Derbyshire:

When I watched their match against Birmingham, it was clear that Derbyshire were another one of those teams who needed pace bowler reinforcement. Yes, they had Zak Chappell out, but they still looked short in that department, regardless.

I have more sympathy for Derbyshire because this is where counties have their hands tied a bit by needing players to play multiple formats. Don’t get me wrong, I think Caleb Jewell was a good signing, he is a very good player and continues to do well for Derbyshire, but is the difference between him and Harry Came bigger than the gap between an overseas pacer and their lowest-level domestic pacer? I’m not sure it is.

He also referred to a group of young players around the country with little opportunity to play T20 but a high ceiling of potential and talent. 

Rob Yates, Ali Orr, Freddie McCann, George Thomas, Joe Cracknell, Josh Blake, Josh de Caires, Dom Kelly, Sam Wood, Farhan Ahmed, Taz Ali.

There are so many other options too - James Minto, Eddie Jack, Archie Lenham, Blake Cullen, Jack Morley and Hamza Shaikh among them

Food for thought, when our selection seems to have been very much driven by short termism.

Speaking of which...what happened to Mickey Arthur's comment about giving opportunity to those who will have a part to play long term, once we were out of contention in the T20?

If recent selections are indicative of such a policy, I am supporting the wrong county..

Postscript - for what it is worth, I would make Nye Donald white ball skipper. He is an intelligent lad who knows his cricket. It might be the making of him and perhaps give a greater appreciation of the need to go on, when he's made fantastic starts.

If he did that, he would be one of the most sought after white ball players in the world.