To them we can now add the name of Brett Randell, the 31-year old Kiwi replacement for Mohammad Abbas until the end of the season. Randell took five wickets in five balls for Central Districts against Northern Districts in March of this year, the only time it has happened in first-class cricket.
Other than that I have no idea how good he is. He has only played 40 first-class matches and has picked up 113 wickets at 25 each. He had a couple of games for Somerset in 2024 and picked up three wickets, but we will see how he gets on in division two.
It is a difficult time of year to get players. Australians are generally set to return home soon if they are over here, while others around the globe are resting either before domestic seasons or between franchise competitions, with the Asia Cup removing a lot of options.
Randell will be well known to Ben Smith, who has coached Central Districts in recent winters, so we must wait and see how he goes.
It doesn't change my assertion that we need to up the overseas standard for next year and of course identify the budget in order to do so. That's for the finance people at the club to sort, but somehow we have to get leaders, players who will set the example and take you to the win when the match situation is tight. I don't think we have many such players at present and identifying them AND securing their services will be key for 2027.
Anyway, welcome to Derbyshire, Brett.
Be assured that we are all rooting for you
You can see his five wickets in five balls here
Just watched the 5 wickets. The 3rd wicket was an absolute shocker of a decision by the umpire.
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I think he might actually be quite a good signing. A typical English type seamer who also might be very keen to get a contract with either us or another county for next summer so should be keen to impress. At least we’ve got someone which I thought we might not even bother doing. I think a loan player too from another English county would freshen the bowling attack up even more and give us a real outside chance of promotion. Dan douthwaite doesn’t often get in the Glamorgan red ball team or even Sam conners back from Durham where he’s stuck in the second team
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