Signing rumours

It was interesting to read today, thanks to Dean and Simon, that Derbyshire 'have led the pursuit of Josh de Caires' of Middlesex in recent weeks.

This comes from the cricket correspondent of The Mail, Richard Gibson, who also said that the club 'recently moved' for Somerset batter, Sean Dickson.

I understand and fully support the first. De Caires, the son of former Lancashire and England player Mike Atherton, has struggled for opportunity at Middlesex, although recently has been restored to opening the batting to good effect. He may be loathe to leave London, but could perhaps be persuaded by the success of his former team mate, Martin Andersson. He has been a great success since moving to what he has called a 'real family club'.

A more than useful off spinner as well, there is a lot of logic to the pursuit - and would be to the signing if it happened. At 23 he is a player with room to improve, wherever his future lies. The same article says that his father, who has never appeared to be a fan of ours, plays no part in his son's career, so we will see what happens on that one.

As for Dickson, I am a little puzzled. He has been a decent player and scored good runs for both Kent and Somerset, but at 34 next month he doesn't fit with the idea of a more youthful Derbyshire side. I had pretty much pencilled in a top six of Donald, Jewell, Montgomery, Madsen, Basra and Andersson for the Blast next year, quite possibly with Whiteley to follow. 

Having averaged 35 and scored at 150 for Somerset this year in The Blast, the main merit in Dickson would be if we were bringing in two overseas bowlers for T20 and keeping Caleb Jewell for the red ball and One-Day Cup. Which may be the grand plan, of course... 

The same article also said that Rocky Flintoff, whose manager is his mother, may need to leave Lancashire for first team opportunities. At 17 he is a real talent, but I would have thought his chances of early and regular senior cricket would come elsewhere. Lancashire like to bring in established players and there are a lot in front of him at the club. 

With Mickey Arthur and Freddie Flintoff working together at the Northern Superchargers, perhaps that sort of discussion might have taken place, who knows? The club's image has changed for the better with the arrival of a name international coach and Lancashire has been a fine source for us in recent years. 

Of course there is a balancing act. 

What we don't want is a second team full of surplus senior players who then block opportunity for the talent coming through the Pathway. I am sure that the coaching staff feel the same. It is why I am broadly against single-format contracts, because players need time in the middle, even if it is not in the red ball first eleven. 

Which has put the thought in my head that maybe the winter will see the departure of a player (or players) who perhaps have opportunities outside of the game. 

Such chances to move into other roles present themselves at different times and for some, a career that offers long-term stability might be a better option than a remaining year on a contract. With county cricket a stressful and challenging career, it would be understandable, at least to me.

No one expected Harold Rhodes to take up a career outside of the county game when he left for a career in the brewing industry at the age of just 33. Harold probably had a few hundred wickets left in him, but long-term planning made sense. Just as it did for Chris Armishaw, who looked a terrific bowling prospect but realised the lure of a long term better income in banking was strong. 

Gloucestershire recently lost Chris Dent to a career outside of the game, because of his struggles with anxiety. Life is short and no job is worth the stress of anything that makes it more challenging. While the opportunity to play cricket and be paid for it sounds wonderful, the pressure of having to perform and having your failures scrutinised cannot be easy. Especially when you are struggling to process the challenges yourself.

Nor can you ignore the possibility of someone else wanting to buy out the final year of a player's contract, as Essex did with Matt Critchley. Like it or not, such machinations are part of the game now. Personal circumstances also come into it, as we saw when Fynn Hudson-Prentice left to move back down south and be nearer his family.

It would explain our interest in various players, because the available playing budget would then be bigger. That we need additional support for the attack is clear. A hill that I will stand (but hopefully not die) on is my previous assertion that we need a seamer for early and spinner for late season from overseas, together with two overseas bowlers in the T20.

Such team improvements, including offering opportunity to the best of the Pathway, can only come about if the available budget is stretched in one of the above ways. 

The coming weeks will no doubt shed light on things.