The Pathway and the destination ahead

I have written over the past couple of years about the sterling work being done in the Derbyshire pathway, under Daryn Smit.

There are a number of talented players emerging, including Matt Stewart, Rubaiyat Abrar, Oscar Edwards, Theo Brown, Jake and Lucas Green and a good few more.

These young men and a good few others are at different stages of their development but although they are doing well, there is no guarantee that they will transition between the age groups, to the second team and then become established first team players. 

Confidence is high about some of the current group, but the leap from being 'good for his age' to second team alone is considerable.

Rohan Vallabhaneni scored a lot of runs for his school and the under 18s last year and looked a fantastic prospect. The talent is clearly there, but the move to Second XI cricket has proved initially challenging. He could come again, but there is no disgrace if he progresses no further, or sees his career in another field while playing social cricket.

it is a perennial problem in club cricket. You have talented youngsters who do well for you, then they go away to study, work or travel and you often don't see them again.

Over sixty years I have seen a lot of young players who got to a standard and plateaued. We all have our level and often it is a case of playing where you most enjoy the game. 

I used to play against a chap who scored six or seven centuries a season for his club. Over a beer, after one game, I asked him if he'd ever played at a higher level. 

'Yes,' he said ' but it is much harder work and I like scoring runs without having to bust a gut' was his reply. I couldn't argue, he was happy doing it and having trialled in county second teams, he had found his niche at a lower level. 

I also remember a lad at school, super intelligent and top of every class. He passed his entrance exam for Cambridge University - not common for a lad from the coalfields - and looked to have the world at his feet. He quit university after one semester, because he couldn't handle not being top dog any more. 

Without too much thought I could reel off a couple of dozen names of lads who looked really talented, but never became county regulars at Derbyshire. Archie Harrison, Tom Knight, Alfie Gleadall, Ben Cotton, Peter Burgoyne for starters. Nils Priestley was another, a very good player who has subsequently done well for Staffordshire, then there's Callum Broderick, Connor Marshall, Josh Lacey..the list goes on.

For some, the technical ability was there, but the mental resilience, the self-discipline, fitness or health wasn't. Or maybe the club made a mistake or two along the way.

Many of us will have said over the years that a career in cricket would be a dream. It remains so, for some. For others, the realisation that your income, your livelihood, depends on sustained success and fitness takes away that enjoyment. Perhaps a few pack it in too soon, or decisions are prematurely made on their their ability and aptitude when they are insufficiently mature. Some go away, then come back stronger, as Colin Tunnicliffe and Tony Borrington once did. But can you really say with conviction, at 18, that X won't be up to it at 22? How many late developers have we seen and missed out on for one reason or another? Paul Taylor, Tom Taylor, James Taylor and Callum Parkinson come immediately to mind.

The acid test of the Derbyshire pathway will be in how many of these talented youngsters become first class cricketers. What happens if and when you start to score runs and take wickets in the second team? 

That's a good question and I would love to know if there is a strategy for this at the club. 

Take Nick Potts, who first signed a rookie contract in November 2020 and has taken almost six years to become an 'overnight success'. Part of the challenge has been injury, perhaps getting the right coach was important, or the increased maturity of the player himself.  But he has hardly been given opportunity, until this year.

Or Mitch Wagstaff, who has been on the staff for five years and has on occasion looked very good in the first team. There is much to like in a left handed bat who can bowl leggies. At the same time, he has never become established nor, it has to be said, been given the opportunity to do so. Straight into a green top against Yorkshire at Chesterfield in 2024, then to face Jimmy Anderson on the same ground in 2025. Baptisms of fire doesn't quite cover it...

Might his talent be fulfilled, by now, had he been taken to one side and told he had a run of six matches to show his worth? Relax, play your game, listen to people, learn. He might have fallen short, but at least we would have had a better, more informed idea of his ability.

I don't know, but the reality is that until Derbyshire can produce Academy/Pathway products who become first team regulars, like other counties do, the question mark will always be there about how much it is valued at the top.

It is all well and good having that Pathway and the fine people running it,  but there needs to be a light at the end of the tunnel, a legitimate 'Welcome to the first team squad' sign to dangle ahead of them on that path.

Perhaps, instead of two overseas players, every county can have one and has to field one player under 21, or 23? That will afford opportunity that in some clubs simply isn't there at present. 

Yusuf bin Naeem looks a batter of talent, but he needs senior opportunity NOW to kick on. He has had a good season in the Seconds, limited opportunity in the Blast but should now play in the One Day Cup, to see if he has what it takes. He should get another contract, but will we know any more in twelve months time if he continues to score well in the second team, but has moved no further on?  

Kim Barnett made 752 runs in 36 innings in his first Derbyshire season, 362 at 17 in his second, 443 at 23 in his third. He looked talented, but not necessarily someone who would become our greatest-ever bat. Would he still be on the staff today, after three summers like that? 

John Morris averaged 19 in his first season, with only one half century. Alan Hill the same, across 41 innings. Yet all went on to become county stalwarts, because they were given opportunity and surrounded by the right, experienced players from whom they could learn. Talk to anyone from the Barlow era and they will wax lyrical on how he helped them. Of course their selection was a gamble, but the subsequent perseverance was laudable. Admittedly not in an era when social media gives everyone a platform to air their views but not all of them use it in a kind and understanding way...

Phil Russell was terrific at picking up the right people, both in overseas players and also domestic recruits. If you have the talent, you must surely learn from Eddie Barlow, Michael Holding, David Steele, John Hampshire and Barry Wood, not forgetting John Wright and Peter Kirsten.

You cannot get that level of overseas player today, so perhaps it makes more sense for Derbyshire to recruit a seasoned professional from elsewhere, rather than an overseas player whose average suggests little better than they already have on the staff. 

A player who has been through the system, knows what it takes to progress and has a willingness to impart knowledge is worth his weight in gold. But equally, there has to be a desire to give opportunity from within. I know that Mickey Arthur is desperate to deliver silverware in his time at the county, but perhaps his greatest legacy could be in giving a chance to young players who can become the Derbyshire of the future. 

Much as Sam Cadman did back in the late 1920s, when his recruits formed the nucleus of the very good side in the 1930s. Just as Phil Russell did, when he gave the 'holy trinity' of Barnett, Adams and Morris their head. Just as Karl Krikken did, when the likes of Dan Redfern, Ross Whiteley, Tom Poynton and Paul Borrington were supplemented by great overseas choices and sound recruits like Tony Palladino and Tim Groenewald in our memorable 2012 season.

I haven't yet seen the evidence of such a strategy in this era and that's what worries me. I am not suggesting we promote Oscar Edwards and Theo Brown at their tender years, but when their time hopefully comes, either Mickey or whoever replaces him has to have the foresight to give them their head and the bravery to allow them that most precious commodity of time 

Not to mention the perspicacity to identify the right people to have around them and enable them to grow.

As supporters, we would need to have the patience to accept short-term failings in the knowledge that it could well be for the medium to long term good. 

Seeing Shoaib Bashir in the England XI has been a welcome boost this year. So too the selection of young players for the Bunbury Festival, and for national age group sides.

How good would it be to see a Derbyshire-reared player in the England squad, as the likes of Somerset and Sussex manage to do. Even Leicestershire have a solid emergence of talent through their system, so too Worcestershire. If they can do it, surely Derbyshire can?

We will never again see a team like 1936, when an all Derbyshire-born side represented the county. Too many social and economic changes have taken place between times. Cricket was better than working down the pit, mobility of labour is more common today and other opportunities carry greater attraction. Further education is more accessible to all, too.

But the next step has to be giving that senior opportunity at the club. So I hope that whoever else is involved, we see Yusuf bin Naeem and Nick Potts in the One Day Cup.

They might sink. Then again, they may swim like a duck when introduced to water. Potts already has, when confidence has been shown in him. He will have his off days, but show me a young player - any player - who doesn't.

We won't know unless they are given a chance.