Feelings are running high because Derbyshire are in a very poor trot. Opinions are being expressed and, as is always the case with opinions, there are those who disagree with them.
That in itself is fine, because it would be a strange world if we all thought the same thing. However, the way that some of these disagreements have been expressed has crossed a line on occasion today.
Please be nice to each other. Our team has been beaten, but no one has died. You can disagree with someone else, but please don't be abrupt, patronising or unpleasant in doing so. I haven't run this blog for 19 years to allow it to degenerate into the old BBC 606 site. I would pull the plug on it tomorrow, rather than allow that to happen.
Most of you will know that 'Jason' was for many years on the club committee and board, so has greater knowledge of the internal machinations of the club than most. I appreciate his input, like that of everyone else, but the opinions of EVERYONE on here are and will remain valid. I am a big advocate for free speech, as long as it is not hurtful, rude or personal.
If you disagree with someone, that's fine, but take five and couch your reply in a way that you would be OK to read if YOU were on the end of it. It is the approach I have always taken when writing about players, loss of form and their ability - if it was my son I was reading about, could I accept it and not take exception to the wording?
Life is too short for people with a great, common interest to fall out over petty things.
Thank you.
Fair enough Steve and apologies for any offence caused to anyone.
ReplyDeleteToday's selection and result really dismayed me. I saw Glamorgan winning with contributions from young players who have been given their opportunities and the contrast really struck me.
Prior to this competition I didn't think Hope-Bell was a better player than Hawkins, nor Nicholls or Horton better than Wagstaff nor Edwards better than Stewart. The 4 Glamorgan lads have now taken huge strides beyond our named players. Several others have had exposure as well which will benefit them. They were trusted and backed.
Such an opportunity missed.
I wouldn’t be surprised if all 3 of them left and had careers at other counties. Stewart and Wagstaff must have interest from elsewhere as they’ve performed well this year. We’re going to lose all of them if MA is not careful. John
DeleteI did say to my dad when we thrashed Lancashire in our last 4 dayer, that we'd go into the next 4 dayer on a downer. Which is bizarre, when you think about it. That's what 59 days of generally poor white ball cricket can do. Durham next, so I'm not expecting much. It will be interesting to see who the new bowler signing mentioned at the forum will be, with Haydon injured for the foreseeable. Kris
ReplyDeleteI’d expect the new signing to be Matt Stewart. He’s had a terrific season for the 2nd team and has deserved an opportunity all year. He’s also a Derbyshire lad so hopefully a future star.
DeleteWe all feel frustrated and disappointed and we'd all like one or two of the best young players to show us what they are capable of. What we need to avoid, I suggest, is lurching to the view that 'development' is a strategy in itself. It should be a subsidiary part of a bigger strategy designed to create a winning team at first class level so that Derbyshire can resist any future attempts by the cricket establishment to relegate them to minor county status. Anyone who is starry-eyed about 'development' should read page 220 of Steve's excellent book In Their Own Words, where Graeme Welch, the 'elite performance director' said; 'You can look at it from one angle and say we didn't qualify through the T20 and One Day Cup as well as finishing second bottom of the championship. You look the other way and see some talented young players have been given early experience that I believe will benefit them and the club in the long term. The chairman called it a five year plan...We kick on from here...I see myself here for the long haul' Unfortunately this was an illusion: the club didn't benefit and the team didn't kick on and Welch (who had been a very good captain and player, but proved unable to produce elite performances) had to go. Of the five bowlers Welch named as great prospects, only Tom Taylor has had a long career, and even that was after being released by Derbyshire. This isn't, of course, a reason to give up hope that young players will develop into reliable first class cricketers. It is a reason not to indulge in wish-fulfilment in the face of evidence and experience. As one very good former player said to me during the Welch era 'It's a results game.' He was deeply cynical about placing excessive reliance on the hope that unproven players would make a big difference, especially in the environment of a team that lacks a winning mentality. To him, it was an easy excuse for tolerating continued under-achievement, kicking the can down the road and keeping supporters quiet by promising them a supposedly better future.' And he was proved right.
ReplyDeleteHi, out of curiosity who were the other four bowlers that Welch named as great prospects?
DeleteI’m not expecting or even hoping for the inclusion of academy players en masse but definitely would like to see a few introduced especially in the Metro Bank Cup. The few we have seen in this competition over the last few years Harry Moore, Amrit Basra and Rory Hayden all look old prospects and we will only find out about others if they are given a chance which hasn’t happened this year. Danny
DeleteExcellent comment Martin, thank you!
DeleteRob, the other four were: Cotton, Davis, Greg Cork and Harry White. Graeme Welch is a good bowling coach and it was perfectly reasonable to identify their potential. His mistake was to put too many eggs in the 'elite development' basket and (or so it seemed) not to see that young players perform at their best when they come into a side which already has a winning mentality..
DeleteCommenting from afar I find it baffling at the team selection and how your chairman can say with a straight face that Derbyshire are treating it as a development comp. The team selection simply doesn't in any game back that up. It should be called out.
ReplyDeleteMartins erudite piece above is correct. Balance is needed and developmental teams are not a panacea, but a mix of both is easily achieved, so I fully understand the frustrations of most of you as not one young prospect has been given a proper chance. Not one.
At Essex there has been some debate about the signing from local cricket of grant roelofson as o/s for this comp, who did well for us a couple of years back and Gloucester but isn't exactly a match winner, when a good young batsmen from the academy, Zeb showed a lot of promise in his one game.
Yet we have such a small squad and parlous finances that our 1st team squad includes a lot of young players already, who although not first teamers when all are available, have had chances. Jones, thain, bennet, benkenstein, and it can only have benefitted them no end despite us losing a few games we probably should have won. They have all contributed at times and noah thain has scored a hateful opening in an unfamiliar position.
This may not translate but it can't be harming them. So it's understandable that you guys see no strategy or plan, when pretty much every other county to a greater or lesser degree is playing youngsters alongside seasoned pros.
It was apparent that the constant defender of this approach may have had vested interests, and frankly while some of them may be technically correct the costs are miniscule and can easily be circumnavigated to get players be they young or old in.
There is always a time to stop defending the indefensible and hold your hands up and own your mistakes. The frustration and anger would dissipate pretty much instantly if those in charge did so. Even if 4 day success follows that shouldn't gloss over this episode. The optics and Comms, so easy to solve, have been terrible it's baffling to us on the outside why things so easy to fix, are doubleb down on and stubbornly refuted.
Keep up the good work Steve, must read stuff this blog is.
Essex fan
Thanks Essex fan. Another excellent comment!
DeleteEvery word is bang on Essex Fan.
DeleteYou've got to wonder how anyone can defend what we've seen, an average age in the top 7 of 33...not a single young player with a proper opportunity...high fives all round when our dad's army overcome Sussex's young XI (who really gains more there long term).
Nobody is suggesting throwing a team of teenagers out, as rolled out in a couple of strawman fallacy arguments put worth. Merely giving our young players that are already in and around the squad the opportunities their peers are benefiting from elsewhere.
I suspect that there are still the old fashioned attitudes kicking around that players don't develop until their mid 20s (one is reminded of a famous Alan Hansen quote from decades ago). Sports science put that to bed years and years ago and we're miles off the competition and will remain so if we don't prioritise player development alongside finding a winning recipe. MA has done neither, failed spectacularly at both it can be argued.
Again contrast the Glamorgan and Derbyshire players in my post above. Compare second XI form, the talent is there but the opportunities weren't and we'll pay for the missed opportunity into the future.
Excellent comments guys about the lack of youth players being given a chance or more importantly trusted in this latest tournament. It's been a proverbial s***show, which we've gained absolutely nothing from, oh no MA no doubt will see huge strides being made because we beat basically 2nd string and youth teams in Glamorgan and Sussex. It all comes from the management and MA is culpable here, for having zero faith in the youth set, bordering on cowardice for continuing to pick under performing players week in week out. He really needs to go and we need a major rethink where we go from here
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely spot on comment. A article on the bbc website today about Glamorgan shows how many teenagers they have used and the benefit they have gained as a club despite not qualifying. It was obvious we were never going to qualify and we still used the same old players. I really don’t know if I admire or feel sorry for anyone who pays to watch Derbyshire still. At the end of the season MA will be full of excuses about injuries like no other clubs ever get any and still no doubt say the players have progressed.
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