Shahzad departs

While the departure of someone from the club that you support is never pleasant, that of Ajmal Shahzad, announced today, had an air of inevitability about it, certainly for me.

Regular readers will know that for some time now I have felt a 'disconnect' between the bowling coach and the bowlers. There had to be, because regardless of anecdotal 'evidence', the returns of those bowlers across formats were diminishing. There are some very good bowlers in our club, better than the collective returns of the past couple of summers have suggested.

Yes, there was international recognition for Pat Brown, Sam Conners and George Scrimshaw, but do the figures of those three suggest they have improved? The same goes for Harry Moore, who now needs someone to oversee his rehabilitation and return to full fitness. I am not sure how much he will have directly worked with Shahzad anyway, or whether his England call up and progress is due to natural talent, parental guidance and the Pathway coaches.

I had advocated a change and while claiming no responsibility, I am pleased that there will be one for 2026. For supporters to get behind 'the masterplan', accountability of the coaching setup had to be robust and the bowling unit has simply not functioned as it should do.

No one could complain about the returns of batters, nor the fine job being done by Ben Smith. Matches were being lost by poor bowling, tactics and players who seemed to have lost their collective erstwhile mojo. It is a difficult job, of course, especially when the bloke 22 yards away is trying to hit you to all corners. Yet there were times when the game plan wasn't working, others when there was no clear evidence of there being one in place.

There are plenty of excellent bowling coaches out there who will be very interested in the opportunity to work at Derbyshire. 

Why wouldn't they? Chappell, Moore, Haydon, Aitchison, Brown, Potts - not to mention Jake Green and Matt Stewart - is a fine collective of seamers to work with, even without considering Messrs Reece, Dal and Andersson. The young spinners, Morley and Hawkins, will fast track their progress with the right coach.

These are good - very good - cricketers who just need the right voice in their ear to get an extra ten per cent of value. 

There will no doubt be a recruitment process to get the right man to work across both the first team squad and the Pathway. If the bowling progresses as the batting has, we can expect further progress from Derbyshire in 2026 and beyond.

I wish Ajmal Shahzad the best in his future endeavours, but the time was absolutely right for a change of direction, whether or not he is leaving for a new challenge or was told 'the times they are a'changing'. Doing it now enables recruitment to take place and the new man to work with his new charges over the crucial winter months.

We will all watch developments with considerable interest...

Nice article on Blair Tickner

Thanks to James for sending across this piece on Blair Tickner, which some of you won't have seen

It highlights the challenge in trying to produce your best, with everything going on in the background.

And also, for me, what a shocking organisation the ECB is. I can't think of any other employer who would insist on your working after receiving such news.

Ticks was a top bloke and popular team mate. He didn't take enough wickets for that crucial overseas role but I wish him the very best on his return to international cricket.

And of course, wish he and his wife the very best, moving forward.

Book Review: Maestro - A Portrait of Garry Sobers by David Tossell

I will have watched cricket for sixty summers next year and for the first decade was able to watch the greatest player of them all. 

I didn't know it at the time, but I have never since seen a cricketer who matched Garfield Sobers for versatility and brilliance at every aspect of the game.  Bradman was before my time and a run machine, but he didn't bowl. Jacques Kallis was magnificent, but as Barry Richards explained, he was more likely to save you a game, whereas Sobers was more likely to win it. An over simplification, perhaps, but it tells the measure of the man who many refer to as 'The Greatest'.

He was a brilliant stroke player, a 360 degree bat before anyone else got close. His stroke play was dazzling, yet beneath it was a sound technique and a good defence. You don't average 58 in Test cricket without that. He took 235 wickets at that level too, most often bowling left arm seam and swing, but also effective as an orthodox or unorthodox left arm spinner. That versatility was honed in League cricket, where he could work on his skills without too great a risk of being punished if he bowled a bad ball.

His feats were many, including that erstwhile highest individual Test score, or his six sixes in an over from Glamorgan's Malcolm Nash. When he walked out to the wicket, usually at number six, you knew the entertainment level was being cranked up to eleven, his wicket often key to the game's result.

For so long he was the key to West Indian fortunes, even in an era when they had a far better side than today. Perhaps the only flaw in the book is the absence of comment from some of his surviving early contemporaries, such as Rohan Kanhai, but this is a minor quibble in a very fine read. 

He eventually led the influx of overseas players into county cricket, where he played with success for Nottinghamshire. He wasn't able to bring them trophies, as Clive Rice and Richard Hadlee later managed to do, but he hauled a struggling team up the table and took them to the Gillette Cup semi final in 1969, when they were beaten by Yorkshire at Scarborough despite his remarkable spell of twelve overs for only twelve runs. 

Nottinghamshire couldn't really afford him, his salary of between five and seven thousand pounds being way more than anyone else in cricket and more than most footballers. Like many in county cricket at the time their finances were in a parlous state, but from the start he gave good value, taking 3-28 and scoring an unbeaten 75 against Lancashire 'without a net or warm up, save for touching his toes half a dozen times'.

Of course, there was a decline. His body, like that of anyone else, could only take so much and injuries increased as he got older. His fondness for alcohol didn't help, even when his reputation preceded him. In his days at Nottinghamshire he often socialised with the Nottingham Forest and former Rangers star, Jim Baxter, whose reputation for alcoholic excess was well known either side of the border. Not for nothing were they known around the city as 'Drunk and Sobers'...

He wasn't an especially good captain, with several examples of his failings given within the 448 pages of an excellent book. But he was human and we all have our strengths and weaknesses. Few have strengths of the calibre of Sobers, who was a genuine superstar, capable of winning matches on his own and doing so over a career of remarkable longevity, all things considered.

A gambler, drinker and ladies man, for sure. Yet also the greatest all-round cricketer that the game has seen, or likely ever will see. This book is a worthy tribute to him and is highly recommended. 

David Tossell has written about sport for over four decades, but this is up there with his best work, admirably researched and thorough in its approach to the subject.

Top marks to Pitch Publishing too, for a book delightfully produced and with a font size that this reader especially appreciated.

Get it on your Christmas list - you won't regret it!

Maestro: A Portrait of Garry Sobers, Cricket's Greatest All Rounder is written by David Tossell and published by Pitch Publishing.

Andersson signs on until the end of 2028

Three centuries and three half centuries were a fine return for Martin Andersson's first summer in Derbyshire colours.

His ability was evident from the start and only a niggling injury cast a cloud on an excellent debut season for the county. His forceful batting steadied a few listing innings and now he knows he can perform consistently at this level, I expect to see him progress still further.

We know he can bat, I suspect he can become even more valuable with the ball. He has a safe pair of hands anywhere, in the field and looks like a player who will become a focal point of the side in the years ahead. A batting average of just under fifty can improve, while a bowling one of just over fifty almost certainly will do. 

He has committed the next three years to the county and I expect to see him thrive in the positive environment at the club. He is a player who can be at the heart of the side in all formats and likely will be.

Middlesex's loss is very much Derbyshire's gain.

Bill Bestwick

In the course of my interviews with the late Walter Goodyear for my second book, the legendary former groundsman told me that he had got to know Bill Bestwick in his later years, when the former county stalwart had a flat overlooking the County Ground at Derby. The thought that with one man I was linked with nineteenth century cricket has stayed with me, just as the tales that Walter told me always will.

I have always felt that if there was ever to be a film made on the life of one Derbyshire-born player, Bestwick would be the likely subject. Had it been done a few years back, I always saw Alan Bates, a Derby man himself and wonderful actor, as perfect for the role as the 'bad boy of Derbyshire cricket'. Because for all of his talents on a cricket field, Bill was an alcoholic and created plenty of problems off of it.

I am so pleased to hear that Mick Pope's biography of the player should see the light of day next year, because it is very much a tale worth telling in all of its entirety, or in every gory detail, if you will.

He was a wonderful bowler and, as described by the former county secretary Will Taylor, 'a great-hearted and very pleasant individual, a wonderful trier - but he had his faults, as a good many of us have and he gave us, through his thirst, some very difficult moments'. Years later the Derbyshire all rounder Les Townsend would recall 'I was always scared of him, but not his bowling. He never bounced them around your ears but he was a fine bowler'.

Mick's book will doubtless tell the many tales of his life in the detail that is warranted, but here I want to recognise his worthy place in the discussions on any great Derbyshire quick bowler.

He was born in 1875 at Tag Hill, Heanor and was working at the pit by the time he was eleven. Later in life he would say that he never felt tired. 'You see, I had plenty of hard work as a youngster and after that, bowling all day in a cricket match feels like nothing.'

He made his county debut in 1898, though continued to work down the pit in the winter as an insurance policy. He developed slowly, like so many others, and took a short run for someone of his pace. It got shorter still in later years, yet he still surprised batsmen with his pace, which was generated by his massive shoulders and physical strength. The photograph that accompanies this article is one of my favourites and he must have been an imposing sight as he ran in for over after over.

In 1900 there were 5 five-wicket innings, 2 ten-wicket matches. He increased this to six in 1902, then ten and eleven in 1905 and 1906, in each of which seasons he passed a hundred wickets. Good judges regarded him as a better bowler than Arnold Warren, who was selected for England, but there were question marks over his fielding, which was never good and his batting, which was even worse. Indeed, in his last 280 first-class innings he failed to reach twenty, his career-highest 39 made in 1900.

Yet as a bowler, he was special. His captains could effectively leave him on to bowl at one end, almost without any sign of tiring. He would bowl in excess of 800 overs a season and was a potent weapon.

Then it all went wrong. His wife died in 1906, leaving him with a son, Robert and the drinking got worse. In 1907 he was charged with manslaughter after a Heanor man, William Brown, attacked him with a carving knife, following a pub argument at the Jolly Colliers Inn there. Brown was later found dead by 'severance of the main blood vessel of the neck'. Bestwick only learned of it when being treated for cuts and slashes to the face at his brother's house nearby. The account in the Derbyshire Advertiser for February 1 1907 makes for harrowing reading, but it seems clear that the verdict of 'justifiable homicide' was correct, Bestwick acting in self-defence after being attacked and slashed to the face and hands by a man who mistakenly felt he was having an affair with his wife.

In 1909, tired of his excesses, despite 178 wickets in the two preceding seasons, Derbyshire dispensed with his services. A fresh start was called for and after a brief spell as professional at Nelson in the Lancashire League, terminated early because of a breach of discipline, Billy went to South Wales, where he remarried and worked in the colliery, playing for Glamorgan in the Minor Counties in 1914.

That should have been the end of the story, but in 1919 he was invited to return to Derbyshire, with cricketers of ability in short supply after the Great War. He took 90 wickets, but then returned to play for Glamorgan in 1920, before agreeing to another Derbyshire return in 1921.

He was 46 when the 1921 season began. By the end of it, through sheer physical strength and considerable skill he had taken 147 wickets and bowled over 900 overs. Seventeen times he took five wickets in an innings, still and always likely to be a county record. Against Glamorgan at Cardiff he took all ten wickets for only forty runs, he and Tommy Mitchell remaining the only men to do so in the club's rich history.

Despite all of this he was an unreformed character. Arthur Morton was deputed to look after him on the dangerous away trips, but Billy managed to evade him more than once. The game before that was at Bristol and he was rendered incapable by a couple of late night sessions there. He was even considered a doubtful starter at Cardiff, but he declared himself fit and George Buckston, his captain, asked him to open the bowling.

He took a wicket with his fifth ball and clean bowled seven of his victims, taking all ten wickets before lunch in just nineteen overs. While perhaps not understanding the mentality, one can only admire the constitution that allowed that.

He never changed. The following year he was left out of the team at Worcester after another night out, but recovered sufficiently to pay his own way into the ground and barrack his own side. In that year he came close to a hundred wickets again, as he did in 1923. Only in his last two seasons did the haul decline, but he was fifty in 1925, had a season best of 7-20 and still took his 35 wickets at just fifteen runs each.

He enjoyed the company of his son, Robert, in the side of 1922, though his spell in the county game was short and only two games. Thereafter Bill became a first-class umpire, standing in 238 matches including three Tests.

He died on May 2, 1938 at Nottingham General Hospital. Cancer finally claimed the man with the iron constitution and the tributes from around the country were testimony to his talent. Only Les Jackson and Cliff Gladwin have exceeded his 1452 wickets for the county. Only Tommy Mitchell and Les Jackson have exceeded his 104 five-wicket hauls. No one is likely to better that 10-40 analysis.

He really was that good, yet modestly recalled late in life 'I just concentrated on making the batsman play and aimed to hit the stumps every time'.

(Image sourced courtesy of David Griffin from the Derbyshire CCC Archive)

This piece originally appeared in 2020.

George Davidson

Were it not for one feat, many modern Derbyshire fans would perhaps be unaware of the name of George Davidson. 

He still holds the record for the club highest individual innings of 274, made against Lancashire at Old Trafford in 1896. It sees his name mentioned whenever a county player passes the double century mark, yet no one, 129 years later, has surpassed it. 

Centuries were also scored in that match by the two Williams, Chatterton and Storer. All three played a major role in what was a solid, if not spectacular Derbyshire side, on its day capable of beating anyone, though often flimsy in batting. Yet it is fair to say that like county elevens of a more recent vintage, dressing room relations were often far from cordial.

Levi Wright, one of the more consistent batsmen, recalled that 'the three leading professionals were unfortunately not always the best of friends and their manner and treatment of other players, particularly young ones on trial, was far from helpful'.

Indeed, things were so bad at one point that Chatterton and Davidson reputedly went through a season without speaking to one another, after an argument at dinner one evening. Davidson made a comment to the giant bowler George Porter, who suffered from sweaty feet, that apparently reduced the latter to tears. Chatterton took exception to it and laid down the law in no uncertain terms. 

Wright also separately refers to him being challenged to a fight by 'Jimmy Burns', perhaps the Essex bowler of the period. Even his obituary notices, which were sufficiently effusive commensurate to his talent, referred to a 'brusque exterior concealing a kindly heart'  and to 'his quick temper and hot-headed conduct'. 

Maybe not always an easy team mate then, but an extremely talented cricketer, one with a very interesting story.

In considering his attitude to new team mates, let us not forget that the lot of the professional in the 1890s was relatively glamorous, the challenge of someone new a threat to their livelihood. A good county player might earn only £150-250 a year, but that compared favourably to the lot of a labourer, the alternative for many, which was around £80-£100. To earn that money, you had to be selected. The standard contract was £5 a match for home games, £6 for away matches, out of which accommodation had to be paid for. On top of that, talent money might be paid, while collections would be taken for a good performance by a home player, which could earn as much as ten pounds. The irony of George's record score being made at an away ground, Old Trafford, was probably not lost on him.

A few professionals, like William Gunn and Arthur Shrewsbury of Nottinghamshire, did well in business ventures, but many worried about a life outside of the game and more than a few ended up in the workhouse when their playing days ended.

Like William Mycroft, George Davidson came from Brimington, near Chesterfield and honed his bowling skills with his father, Joseph. He was a good enough player to be a member of the first Derbyshire side to take the field, in 1871, and was known as an accurate bowler of off-spin. He took plenty of wickets in local cricket, even though he played only four first-class matches and took just six wickets. The two played together for Brimington Common and Davidson junior developed quickly. 

He worked in the iron works there as an unskilled labourer for 10d a day, before becoming professional at Keighley Cricket Club. He did well for them in 1885 and was offered a role on the staff at The Oval. Surrey wanted him to qualify and sign for them, as did Warwickshire later, but he only wanted to play for the county of his birth and made his debut for Derbyshire in 1886, against the MCC at Lord's. He took 5-37 on debut, something he was to do on 43 occasions, going on to take ten wickets in a match ten times. By means of comparison for modern supporters, his strike rate per wicket lies between that of Mike Hendrick and Harold Rhodes, confirming his ability quite nicely. 

For all that he holds that record score, Davidson averaged only a shade under 24 as a batter from 260 innings, including two other centuries, but he added to that with 621 wickets at 18. If one takes the claim of any cricketer as an all rounder seriously, their batting average should exceed their bowling one, and these figures confirm that Davidson must have been a very fine player. 

Descriptions of his bowling suggest someone of perhaps Tony Palladino's pace, described as 'above medium but not fast'. He had a 'semi-circular' run up, starting at wide mid-off and had the ability to bowl for long spells, frequently doing so. Levi Wright recalled him disliking being taken off for any reason and praised him for his stamina throughout a long season. On one occasion at Leyton, he bowled from the start of the day at 12 noon until 1.35pm before a run was scored from him. He was taken off five minutes before lunch at 1.55pm and resumed again after the interval. A man of average height, he bowled right arm with great accuracy, as evidenced by a career record in which he conceded only two runs an over. He moved the ball off the pitch to great effect, with a fast, high action that enabled him, in the modern parlance, to hit the wicket hard.

The Lancashire game in which he scored 274 saw him bat for seven and a quarter hours. He followed this by bowling 57-34-75-3 in Lancashire's first innings, in which they were forced to follow on. To the modern viewer, used to players complaining of burnout and tiredness after a Test series, this makes astonishing reading.

Davidson also reached a century as part of another then record, the team score of 645 against Hampshire at Derby in 1898. With declarations not possible at this time, his captain, Sydney Evershed, told him to get out so the bowlers could get to work, but Davidson, confirming his contrary nature, ignored him and batted on to score his century, following it with another 31 overs and 6-42. As a batsman he was described as defensively sound, with the ability to play strokes when he got going. 

His annus mirabilis was in 1895, when he scored 1296 runs at 28 and took 138 wickets at less than 17. These are the figures of a special player, one who deserves to be mentioned when discussions of the county's finest take place. It was the first time a Derbyshire player did the double, and perhaps the result of spending the previous winter coaching and playing in South Africa, keeping his eye in quite nicely. He returned from the Cape 'bearing gifts and testimonials' after a series of fine performances. His record season for Derbyshire  saw him presented with a gold watch and chain by his friends at Brimington, as well as being talked about as one of the finest all round cricketers in the country.

He took a benefit in 1897, but contemporary reports blame Queen Victoria's  Diamond Jubilee celebrations and the weather for a cheque 'of meagre proportions' (£200) and comment 'it is not pleasant for the sportsmen of Derbyshire to feel that their favourite's reward was such a wretchedly small one and amounted, in fact, to absolute insult'.

It is hard to argue. Three times he took nine wickets in an innings for the county, every season but one that he played being the leading wicket-taker, while in 1892 he headed both the batting and bowling. Several reports comment that he was the 'biggest single reason' that Derbyshire remained a first-class county. His line and length were especially noteworthy and after twice bowling A.C.MacLaren, a giant of  the age, on a flat wicket in 1895, the Lancashire captain declared that 'he would exhaust anyone's patience with his metronomic accuracy'.

His final game for the county saw another record to which he contributed, albeit inadvertently. He had missed several matches with a strain when Yorkshire visited Chesterfield in 1898 but declared himself fit to play in Walter Sugg's benefit match. Wright recalled that it was obvious from the first ball that he wasn't himself, and it was all he could do to finish his only over. His absence from the rest of the innings left Yorkshire openers John Tunnicliffe and J.T. Brown a novice attack to face, and they responded with a then record opening stand of 554. It was the other side of a complex character, trying his best to play in the match to help his friend, even when he likely knew in his heart that it wouldn't work.

George never played for the county again. During the winter that followed, a bout of influenza quickly worsened into pneumonia and the man with the iron constitution died on 8 February 1899 at the tragically early age of 32, leaving a wife, six children under the age of seven and very little money. The editor of Cricket magazine in 1899 hoped that 'energetic steps might be taken by the gentlemen of Derbyshire on their behalf'. Given that the club was in its perennial impoverished state, it is unlikely that they ever did so.

It was an 'irreparable loss to the county and to the game of cricket', evident in the outpouring of the newspaper reports of the day. Few knew that he was unwell, so the shock was considerable for supporters and cricket followers. The story was covered in local press around the country, the opinion firmly of a very fine player cut off in his prime. Maybe, even yet, one of international standard.

'A very large crowd' attended his funeral, before he was interred at Tipton Cemetery, near Dudley on 13 February. This was at the wishes of his widow, who hoped to remain locally, even though the family wanted him buried in Brimington. His team mates Hancock, Storer, Sugg and Chatterton were among the pall-bearers, while wreaths were received from his captain, Sydney Evershed, the club and several individuals, as well as the MCC. An unusually candid report in the Derby Daily Telegraph of the time revealed that the player had been told, in the days before he died, that he could never play cricket again, such was the effect of the illness on his heart. Such news would have been hard to bear in his already weakened state.

In his obituary, Wisden recalled him as a cricketer 'just short of the highest class' who 'had he played for a better county might have enjoyed a still more brilliant career'. Former England captain Henry Leveson-Gower, a contemporary, in his book Off and On The Field said that 'he would have gone much further had he plied his skills elsewhere'. 

We have heard that plenty of times over the years. Given that players at that time continued well into their forties, he had at least another ten years ahead of him, when further records may well have been set.

There is perhaps an opportunity for the club and its supporters to do right by George Davidson. My research suggests that his grave at Tipton Cemetery is unmarked and may even be that of a pauper. It would be proper to look to mount a plaque, at least, to mark his last resting place.

After all, it is the longest surviving record in the county's cricket and his loyal and significant  contribution to its early years is worthy of belated recognition. 

(This piece originally appeared in 2020)

Peate recognised at last: could Derbyshire do the same for Bestwick and Davidson?

Regular readers will recall that earlier this year I reviewed a book on Ted Peate, the old Yorkshire cricketer.

With the permission of the author, Brian Sanderson of the Association of Cricket Statisticians, I publish the following account of the recent erection of a headstone hearing his name:

On a Tuesday in early March, in the year 1900, the Yorkshire skies hung low with grey as Edmund Peate, once the darling of Headingley and the scourge of southern batsmen, was laid to rest in Yeadon Cemetery. No marble marked his passing. No inscription testified to feats that once stirred thousands to applause. He was buried in an unmarked grave beside his old companion Thomas Bletchley.

The funeral was no lonely affair. From the White Swan Hotel, spiritual clubhouse of Yeadon cricket, emerged a procession of cricketers, old comrades of the fallen. They had assembled by arrangement, as for a benefit match or a reunion of the faithful, to accompany their friend to his grave. The White Swan, where Peate had held court with pint and anecdote, was the antechamber to his final journey.

And so this great cricketer, who had bowled for Yorkshire and England, who had once taken eight for five against Surrey and made the Australians hop like sparrows on a hot griddle, was consigned to anonymity. Ten other Yorkshire players lie in that cemetery. Each has a stone, but none a record to match Peate’s. None of them stirred the county’s pride quite as Peate did in those golden summers of the 1880s.

I have often visited Yeadon Cemetery, drawn by a sense of unfinished business, of justice deferred. Over the decades the grass grew long over Peate’s grave, and the wind whispered through the trees as if in lament at the want of a suitable memorial. There was a wrong here crying out for redress.

Some years ago I met Keith Handley, a man of quiet passion, who first recognised that Peate’s reputation had faded undeservedly into the shadows. He began a biography, a labour of love and restoration. But fate, cruel umpire, gave him out before his innings was complete. His research did not survive him. Peate’s story remained in limbo.

Then came Ian Lockwood, a man of vision and resolve, who took up the bat where Handley had left it. He wrote a book chronicling Peate’s life and death with humour and heart. The proceeds were pledged to erect a headstone.

And at last, the deed was done. Under skies much brighter than those under which he was consigned to his place of rest, the Yorkshire Old Players Association gathered to honour him. Geoff Cope and Kevin Sharp stood as emissaries, and were joined by Peate’s descendants and admirers. A service was held, simple and beautiful, beside the new headstone that bears his name:

(Photo shows Geoff Cope, Ian Lockwood and Kevin Sharp)

It has taken 125 years to correct a wrong—a wrong born of bankruptcy and neglect, and of a club unwilling or unable to honour its finest. But today, in the sunshine, that wrong has been righted. The headstone stands as symbol of remembrance, of cricket’s conscience, of the enduring grace of a game that, at its best, does not forget those who have served it.

When wanderers pass through Yeadon Cemetery, let them pause at the grave of Edmund Peate. Let them read his name and recall his deeds, and let them know that here lies a man who once made the ball to talk and the crowd to sing. And let them be sure that Yorkshire, in the end, remembered him.

How good would it be if Derbyshire were able to similarly recognise the last resting place of at least a couple of their old legends? Both George Davidson and Bill Bestwick lie in unmarked graves, each of them giants in the club's history. One correspondent wrote that without Davidson, there was a time when Derbyshire could not have been considered a first-class county. Meanwhile Bestwick, like most of us a man not without his flaws, effectively bowled at one end for much of his career, his capacity for work equalled only by his ability to work magic with a cricket ball in his hand.

I have written about them before and will re-publish the pieces for newer readers and those who wish to celebrate our heroes of yesteryear. 

Without such players, there might not have been a 150th anniversary, maybe not even a centenary. It would be entirely appropriate to mark their last resting place and I hope that at some point - and soon - the club, its Board and supporters can identify a sum of money to put this right.

Sponsor competition details!

I have finally found the time to organise books for a competition giveaway, a potential reward for those who have kindly made one-off or regular donations towards the running of the blog. 

It is open to anyone who has made a donation since March of this year - so that is a good few of you!

All you have to do is email me at peakfan36@yahoo.co.uk with your first, second  and third choice book. My wife will draw names this time next week. First drawn gets their first pick and so on until they are all gone. 

Please include your home address in the email and I will do the necessary in due course.

Of course, if you haven't yet made a donation and wish to take part, please use the button in the top left of the blog, if viewing on a PC, or mail me for bank/PayPal details if you prefer. Books will be posted out free of charge 

All of them are in pristine or very good condition - this isn't an excuse to get rid of all of my rubbish! 

The books in question are:

Around the World in 40 Years by Andy Moles

The Periodic Table of Cricket by John Stern (very entertaining and includes a poster!)

The Spirit of Cricket by Rob Smyth

Clyde Walcott by Peter Mason (an advance proof copy, so maybe valuable in a few years!) 

Fred Trueman: The Authorised Biography by Chris Waters

Blood on The Tracks: England in Australia 1974-75 by David Tossell

A Striking Summer by Stephen Brinkley (how cricket unified the nation in 1926)

Getting Out: The Ukraine Cricket Team's Last Stand on the Front Lines of War by Jonathan Campion

I look forward to hearing from you and thanks again for your support! 

Donald earns overseas selection

Congratulations to Nye Donald, who has earned selection for the Ajman Titans in the T10 League that starts in Abu Dhabi next month.

He will join up with Mickey Arthur for the two-week tournament, which features eight teams.

I'm surprised that Nye didn't come into consideration for one or two other competitions, given his explosive batting. Of course it is hit and miss, given the way that he plays but when he comes off, as we saw several times in last summer's Blast, it is quite magnificent.

The tournament begins on November 18

One for the nostalgia fans...

There is a delightful piece of cricket nostalgia on YouTube. It features a match in 1965 between Nottinghamshire and the International Cavaliers.

The footage covers the last hour of the Nottinghamshire innings, as they attempt to score 198 to win. It was a less cosmopolitan Cavaliers team than some weeks, but Keith Boyce is there (with some trademark throws from the deep and languid bowling to enjoy).  

There is a big innings from later Derbyshire captain Brian Bolus to enjoy, while the speed of the game is an eye-opener. Of course it is a friendly, with plenty of smiles, but the bowling and the turnaround between overs is brisk, field changes pretty much minimal.

Mid-innings there is an interview with Brian 'Bomber' Wells to enjoy, in company with Frank Bough, who has the great Learie Constantine as co-commentator.

The game goes down to the last over. For those missing your cricket fix and nostalgic about the older days, this is one for you. 

The hour or so of footage can be seen here while the scorecard can be seen here

The game was played on the old Nottingham City Police Ground, which I believe later became the Carrington Sports Ground. Does anyone know if it is still in use, or has become yet another statistic in 'lost' cricket grounds, perhaps now a housing estate? 

Postscript - what sadly isn't shown is a remarkable innings by Jim Parks. He established a then record for the fastest fifty (in 16

minutes), scoring all 72 runs in a fifth-wicket partnership with Alan Oakman, who

remained on 70* throughout and to the end of the innings soon afterwards! 

Parks also scored the fastest fifty (in 22 minutes) during 1966, the following season.

Ironically he was on the losing side on both occasions...

Weekend warmer

Just a brief hello to everyone this weekend. 

There is very little cricket news to report, though doubtless plenty of work is going on behind the scenes. 

I had hoped to announce the details of the competition this weekend, but we have been clearing stuff away in readiness for painters coming in this week. 

All things being equal, I will announce the competition next weekend, when those who have donated over the course of recent weeks and months, will have a chance to win one of several books that are available.

I hope you are all doing well, as we get towards the end of the first 'out of season' month. Hopefully November will see the fixtures out and we can all start to look forward to the 2026 season. I am hoping that the dates fall kindly for me, as I hope to make a few trips to mark my 60th summer as a Derbyshire fan. 

I had one interesting email, asking me to name my greatest ever Derbyshire side, but that is something I would be wary of doing. I just feel it is impossible to compare players from era to era, those playing on uncovered pitches and those with the opportunity to use modern equipment. Such things are heavily weighted in favour of players one has seen, anyway. How nice would it be if there was footage of William Mycroft, Bill Bestwick and Arnold Warren, to use just three examples

Which legend of the past would you most like to have seen in action?

Anyway, stay well and keep checking in. I will post as I can throughout the winter. Hopefully we have news of overseas signings in the coming weeks...

Weekend warmer - the road to improvement

For all that there was disappointment in white ball displays, the third place finish in the County Championship gave Derbyshire supporters the hope that good times might lie at the end of the tunnel, the light there being something more than a mere burglar's torch..

So what is needed for us to take that next step - promotion in the red ball, knock out and finals day in the T20, improvement in the one-day cup? 

Here is my list:

Quality overseas players

We need an attack leader in red ball cricket, someone who can take wickets and ideally be available for the full season. Everyone has seen the links with Mohammad Abbas, who would be great, but it is not yet a done deal. Your overseas bowler, if available for the full season, needs to take 50 wickets, or at least more than anyone else to justify his position. Abbas would likely do that, but importantly would be a man to bowl the 'hard' overs when the batters were in the ascendancy, much as Michael Holding or Charl Langeveldt once did.

In the white ball, we need a spinner of equal quality, ideally someone who can hit the ball a long way if required. Such players are always in demand and attracting them to Derbyshire, ahead of other engagements around the globe, will show how big the name of Mickey Arthur is and how strong that book of contacts.

Wanindu Hasaranga has been linked, but there's likely other interest there, too. Encouraging signs, but getting signings over the line is the challenge.

Result pitches

I have mentioned this before, but we need Derby pitches to be more like Chesterfield. Good for batting if your technique is strong, but with something for seamers and spinners alike at different stages of the game. In giving Neil Godrich the go ahead to prepare such pitches there is an element of risk, of course. Yet for Derbyshire to progress we have to be willing to risk losing, to give ourselves a chance to win. 

To quote the great Kim Barnett, in a recent Cricketer magazine interview:

I'd grown up with the stories of Yorkshire, only booking into their hotel for two nights. I took a detailed six-year look back at what made sides like Essex and Middlesex so successful. Their batters did well enough, but it was bowlers like John Lever, Wayne Daniel, Emburey and Edmonds who turned them into champions.

I'd started with John Wright and Peter Kirsten as overseas players – top international batters – but we couldn't bowl sides out. So we started preparing wickets for Michael Holding, Alan Warner and the like.

To attract Mohammad Abbas or any other seamer of genuine class, you need pitches to help them. I would argue that with Aitchison, Chappell, Reece, Moore and Haydon in your ranks, you have the potential to outgun most, with the addition of that quality overseas input.

New bowling coach

No disrespect intended, but the figures suggest that the bowling group need a different voice to that of Ajmal Shahzad. 

As Mickey Arthur said when he arrived at Derby, four years was what he regarded as the maximum for the input of a coach to remain fresh. 

There was little wrong with the Derbyshire batting in 2025. We scored well in all competitions, so credit to Ben Smith for his input in that area. The bowling let us down, especially in the Blast, where collectively we lost line and length, struggling as a consequence. Only the re-emergence of Ben Aitchison and the introduction of Rory Haydon saw us gain greater control later, neither of them, through circumstance, because of the input of the coach.

I have no idea on the contractual situation, but we need fresh input, new ideas on the bowling side, otherwise I fear for similar issues to plague us in 2026. Players do not 'lose it' when they are established, but the evidence suggests a disconnect between bowlers and coach.

Put it another way - the average runs per over conceded in The Blast, by bowlers who will be here next year, suggests we  would always be chasing 200-plus. There isn't the money to change the personnel, so I would hope for a close look at the alternative this winter.

Fielding

At times we could be very good in the field, Caleb Jewell brought greater consistency to the slip cordon, while Ben Aitchison was another asset, alongside the ever-reliable Wayne Madsen. Yet it goes without saying that the bowlers need that, especially when getting a response from pitches was far from easy.

In the Blast we looked slow and cumbersome in the field at times. One or two players are not athletes and you can only hide so many in an unforgiving format. Starting the competition with two men over 40 and an overseas bowler who, while supremely talented, didn't list catching and fielding among his attributes wasn't likely to end well. No disrespect to Wayne Madsen intended, who is still fitter than men ten years his junior, but at 42 he can't be as fast as he once was.

This time we have to be better and the addition of Basra, Haydon and Montgomery is a good start.

Luck

Few sides win without their share of the rub of the green. Whether it is in decisions going your way, key players staying fit or the weather playing its part, Dame Fortune smiling on you is always handy. Remember 2012, when we forced a win in Cardiff thanks to a Jon Clare masterclass with the ball? We won in three days, when other games barely got going, building an impetus in the process.

That year we came out of the blocks like Usain Bolt and despite a late season wobble, ended it with silverware. 

That extra five/ten per cent

Finally it is important that the current players haven't reached their ceiling. In the absence of big stars, it is important that everyone plays a part. If the batters can take their averages up by five runs and the bowlers their averages down by the same, we won't be far away. Similarly if a couple of bowlers go for eight an over, rather than ten or eleven in T20, it would make a world of a difference.

I think the addition of Montgomery, Basra and Haydon will be important in all formats and there should be increased vitality on the pitch in 2026.

If all of these pieces fall into place, I have high expectations for next year. 

The key word is 'all'...

Hasaranga 'link'

Nick Friend in The Cricketer reports that Derbyshire are interested in signing Wanindu Hasaranga, the Sri Lankan leg spinner and punishing bat, for the Vitality Blast.

Hasaranga is exactly the sort of player that Derbyshire should be looking to sign, probably the best in the world right now in the format. Were it to come to fruition, it would be a genuine statement signing. But...

Such an article is not helpful to our chances. It is likely indicative of his agent putting him in the shop window and starting a bidding war for his services. A Derbyshire 'interest' is logical, given the link between the player and Mickey Arthur, who gave him his break and made him one of the most sought after players in the format.

He has never played in the county game and would be a massive capture for anyone who secured his services. 

It is indicative of Derbyshire's ambition (IF true) but the time to get excited would, for me at least, be if his signing was announced by the club.

Not before.

Whiteley confirmed for 2026

I will confess to being slightly puzzled by today's 'news' that Ross Whiteley would be staying to play white ball cricket for Derbyshire next season. 

Pretty much everyone within my contacts seemed to be aware that he would be. It is very difficult to keep a story confidential among the many people in league cricket and both conversations and 'flip' comments go around like wildfire.

So it was that the news of Ross staying next season, having triggered a performance clause, came to me - from several directions. Understanding it was no secret, I wrote of if before now and, as regular readers will know, I'm very happy with it. 

Ross finished third in the averages, with a shade under 34 runs an innings. No mean feat, when his role carries considerable risk in usually having to hit before he was established. Nor was his role really defined, as he was up and down the order, as were a few others. It was detrimental to performance, no doubt about that.

So I just hope that next year, which will logically be his last barring a summer of Bradman-esque proportions, he has a defined role and is able to thrive within that. He still strikes as long a ball as most and scores slightly slower than Wayne Madsen. I would take that from anyone, especially when one throws into the mix an outstanding boundary fielder who once again excelled in 2025. There are few safer hands than his and I am looking forward to seeing him in action in 2026.

Jewell, Donald, Montgomery, Madsen, Basra, Whiteley, Andersson...that is a serious top order that should post some impressive totals. Three potential bowlers in there too, but the ones to follow will dictate our fortunes.

One assumes Zak Chappell and Ben Aitchison will be two of them, both capable of runs if required, but more importantly, economical bowling. 

Then there's Haydon..or Brown..or Moore..which one will it be, in a first choice side? I would love to see Brooke Guest in there, but suspect the die is cast and Nye Donald will captain the side AND keep wicket. In the high-octane format of T20, asking him to successfully open the batting too will be a challenge, but it might also be the making of him. 

Luis Reece might be another option, once his ankle is repaired over the winter. He would offer a change of angle and late power in the order. Such strength in depth gives real reason for optimism

Finally, that so-important overseas role. Can the legendary contacts book unearth another gem, like Mohammad Ghazanfar? 

Get that role right and who knows where it goes, because there is plenty of talent in that side.

Anyway, it is good to have confirmation that Ross will be on board. 

A morning with Derbyshire cricket news is always welcome...

The winter blog

Thank you all for your kind comments at the end of the season. They were much appreciated.

It is only a week since we last saw cricket, but it has dragged, slightly modifying a Glasgow vernacular, like a baboon's bottom...

Don't get me wrong, there is plenty to keep me busy, but the lack of cricket is definitely an issue, not just for me but for many others around the country. I have spent my time tidying the garden, going to another very good show and realising that football doesn't really hold my attention now, as much as the summer game.

After a fourteen-year hiatus, I have resumed cricket and found that the walking version is hugely enjoyable, excellent exercise, a chance to make new friends and an opportunity to once again turn my arm over and play a few shots. All this without risk of being hit by a hard ball, which would not do my hands any good at all! 

If there is a group on near you I strongly recommend it. I am the third oldest in our group, but neither age nor ability are barriers to involvement and enjoyment. 

There is no news emanating from The Central Co-op County Ground, though doubtless there is plenty of work going on behind the scenes. There are those crucial overseas roles to fill and off the field a lot of work to ensure event profits, that will plough into the cricket side of the club.

My plans for the winter are to do a weekly catch up, update on any news and maybe do a feature article, which I am currently working on from a feasibility perspective. I also plan to run a competition shortly to win a cricket book or two. This will be for blog donors, so those who have kindly donated in the past six months will be in the draw once I have got everything together. If you would like to be in it, simply click on the donate button on the blog, or contact me for bank details if you prefer.

I have been following the names released by counties. One or two have surprised me and I wouldn't be surprised if Archie Lenham and Freddie Heldreich got another county for at least a white ball deal. Both have shown in bursts that they can take wickets at this level, with Lenham especially too talented and too young - at 21 - to not be worthy of another chance. 

Everyone loves a leggie in T20, because they offer that something different. The good ones around the globe are in great demand, because they can turn it both ways and especially away from the right handers. I wrote earlier in the season that Derbyshire haven't really replaced Mattie McKiernan in twenty-over cricket and I hope that we have a specialist twirler for next year's Blast. Such a player, with Matt Montgomery, would offer something different in the middle overs and make for a varied attack that is always useful. 

That's it for me, for now. Stay well and do keep commenting as you see fit.

Together we will get through this winter!