Gloucestershire v Derbyshire day 4

Gloucestershire 237 and 359-5 (Hammond 118, Bracey 104* Andersson 2-43)

Derbyshire 278 and 105 (Andersson 35, Kishore 5-20)

Gloucestershire won by 213 runs

Just when you think Derbyshire's season has reached new depths of ineptitude, along comes a performance that screams out 'HOLD MY BEER'.

The latest debacle was against a Gloucestershire side that was so far adrift at the bottom of the table that life belts would have been no use. Nine defeats in ten matches, although worryingly, their one win was against... well, you know who...

How can you lose a game, when you have bowled out the opposition for 237 and are 200-2 in your first innings? How can you watch the same opponents knock the ball around to make 359-5 in their second innings, then be bowled out for 105 in less than 39 overs, as the pitch seemed to turn from benign to Hyderabad with a change of bowlers - and batters? How can 'two of the best young spinners in the country' take 2-185 in 52 overs, on the same pitch that those of the opposition bowls you out in 12 overs less? How can you not find the technique, or the mental strength to bat 45 overs and save the game? 

I can accept that the presence of Mickey Arthur at the 'top table' of English cricket is a factor in the recognition of Nye Donald and Shoaib Bashir. But the overwhelming evidence from another season of woe is that as a coach, as a manager of men, he is a busted flush.

Consider that these words are not knee jerk reaction to a defeat. They come after a night's sleep and there is no way that I can sanitise the latest performance in which a Derbyshire side showed itself to be totally inadequate for the first-class game.

I had a brief look at social media this morning. Probably the best kind of look, to be honest, but such comments as 'sack them all' are unhelpful and ill-considered.

For one thing, the list of players who are out of contract this October shows very few who would improve our fortunes. It is a flight of fancy to look at young players establishing themselves in second team cricket and assume that their presence in a Derbyshire side is all that is needed for success. It is unrealistic to assume a player who has failed to progress at two or three counties will suddenly become a world-beater at a fourth. Especially with a head coach who, the evidence suggests, is incapable of getting the best from players.

How many Derbyshire players, when they take off their boots for the last time this summer, can reflect on a job well done? I would say Ben Aitchison, certainly, so too Martin Andersson. The rest? Then I start to struggle, apart from Rory Haydon, then Nye Donald in T20. Plenty have had occasional good performances, but sustained good form? 

At which point, in the annual review of any organisation, you have to look at the reasons why. 

I don't think these are bad players. I look around counties and can see elevens that are perhaps man for man inferior. Yet collectively they do so much better and sit higher in tables than Derbyshire. 

We all know that Mickey Arthur can talk a good game. Even if, as a former county player said to me recently, 'he is all p*** and wind'. He is seen as a dressing room autocrat and perhaps there lies the crux of the problem.

What this Derbyshire side needs, when such players are available, are strong individuals. Technically and mentally strong, players who are not afraid to speak their mind. Think back to that Dean Jones side...crikey, they were a force of nature, with some strong characters underneath an even stronger leader. I am sure there were some tough conversations, but it would have been two-way. It was the same with the fine 1950s side and as for the 1936 one - didn't John Arlott ask 'shall we see a side of such gladiatorial quality again?'

I just think that Mickey Arthur has put together a team of nice guys who will accept that what he says, goes. Even if they don't believe it. Mickey is always right, so we will do things his way - and this is a consequence of an inability to carry people with you. 

I was a manager for a very long time and I know how teams and groups work, I know how to get the best from them. It isn't happening at Derbyshire and when people of talent are unproductive you have to look at the way in which they are being managed. We have now had five 'year groups' and things haven't progressed, have they? 

There are no players available this Autumn who I could put my hand on my heart and say would really improve Derbyshire. That is different this time next year, but I have to ask if people who you would be interested in really want to be in a dressing room where it appears to be 'my way, or the highway'.

Every year we get towards the end of the season and my optimistic inner self says 'Oh well, there's always next year'. I realised this morning that optimism isn't there this time. It won't be there, until Derbyshire part ways with Mickey Arthur. I know he knows a lot of people in cricket. I know he has earned a reputation within the game at the highest level.

But five years on, aside from some county players attracting England interest, tangible progress has been nil. We can reflect on two or three good red ball wins this summer, but really, should we be satisfied with that as our lot? Can't Derbyshire match Glamorgan, Sussex, Northamptonshire and Leicestershire and punch above our weight? 

We have heard, ad nauseam, that people want to play for Mickey Arthur. But do the people who would change our fortunes want to do so? The bottom line is that something is stopping people producing their best form. If the answer is that these players are simply not good enough, then 2027 will see an exodus from the club unlike any in living memory. A lot of contracts are up and the evidence is that many should not be renewed. 

Or should Derbyshire bite the bullet at the end of this month, accept that there is little out there, domestically that will change things in the short term and accept that enough is enough? 

In the world of professional sport, five years is the length of tenure that rewards success. If you can look back at the last five years and consider them successful, you're a better man than I am, Gunga Din.

The thought of two more years of this holds no appeal. I honestly believe there is no player in the world game who could come in right now and change the county's fortunes without change at the top. Without someone taking over who can inspire and motivate, carry people along with him. Someone whose best work is done within the confines of the dressing room and not in bullish, meaningless sound bites that count for nothing.

There are a good few Derbyshire coaches of the past who would have done no worse - and likely much better - had they been afforded the luxury of five years, with two more to come. 

I don't think it would be in any way detrimental if the coaching setup was restructured and an internal appointment made in the short term. Regardless of who is in charge, people will always be happy to sign for your club, your organisation, if they feel the ethos, the environment and the structure is in place for them to produce their best. If they feel opportunity is there to flourish.

I don't think that is there, regardless of the content in the next video that comes from the club. 

Mickey Arthur can insist until the cows come home that the players are getting better, that they are surpassing their targets and are constantly improving. That he constantly reflects and is giving 110%. I don't doubt that, but...

The evidence, in such displays as yesterday, merely confirms that it is absolute nonsense. As a friend said to me last night in a message, in most other clubs, this would be the final straw and an emergency meeting would be called for this morning. 

It is hard to disagree.