Mitch Wagstaff, Joe Hawkins, Will Rogers

I think it is fair to say that there have been times, in the sixty years that I have watched Derbyshire, when Mitch Wagstaff would have become a regular in the county side. 

There was much to like in him as a player. A left-handed opener who could bowl useful leg spin? Yes, please, we will have some of that. 

The problem was that Mitch struggled to translate obvious talent into the weight of runs that made his cause compelling. Few of us have played at first class level, but those I have spoken to - and they are many - tell of the final leaps, to county second team and then the senior side, being the biggest. It is all well and good scoring regularly in high standard league cricket, but the next steps are the big ones. Not to mention coming to terms with the fact that your cricket is now your income, your lifestyle dependent on your form and success.

For all that Derbyshire have struggled in recent summers, it wasn't easy to see a path into the first team for Mitch. When he did get opportunity, it fell at inopportune moments, such as facing Yorkshire on a Chesterfield green top and then Jimmy Anderson on a similar surface. 

He can play, there is no doubt of that. There was a gritty fifty against Matthew Fisher and Ben Coad at Scarborough in 2023, followed by 78 against Glamorgan at Cardiff. Yet he could never find a permanent slot in the batting line up and never made his argument sufficiently compelling at the level below. 

Was he an opening bat who bowled a bit? Or an all-rounder? Had he progressed sufficiently to become a county regular? Tens of thousands play recreational cricket, but only a few hundred have what it takes to become long-term professionals. 

At 23 a decision had to be made, but I have no doubt that Mitch will continue to score runs and take wickets in league cricket for many years. He might join those who tour the circuit in second team cricket, seeking opportunity, but there also lies a challenge. Even a player as prolific at that level as Savin Perera has failed to secure a permanent deal and the standards are clearly very high.

It is the same for Joe Hawkins. He is clearly a talented player and will likely show that for Staffordshire in the years ahead. Yet people who know the requisite standard better than you and I have decided that he isn't quite good enough to succeed at county level. 

I'm not sure how you make that call on a 19-year-old and there are plenty of examples of players who worked out their game at a later age. Yet such is the cruel world of professional sport and in Joe's case there were better batters ahead of him, as well as two better spinners. The counter- argument, of course, is that he offers an all-round game that they don't, but perhaps one of the facets of his game had to be that little bit more advanced for him to progress.

Joe can now work out what he wants to do next and joins a very long list of players who starred in age group cricket, but didn't make that next step, for a range of reasons.

As for Will Rogers, it seemed a more clear-cut decision. At the time it was a short notice and short-term signing and nothing in his record at second team level suggested that he would play in the first team during anything other than an emergency.

Perhaps at some point he will find a club that suits his talents and he can produce the goods. It will not be at Derbyshire and that didn't really look likely.q

I wish them all well.