Weekend warmer

Thank you all for your continued excellent contributions to the blog. It would be much less enjoyable from my perspective if there were never replies and while I may not always agree with comments, as I have said before, they are all relevant. 

Please ensure, however, that your comments are not personal about other contributors. No matter how well other sentiments may be expressed, I will decline to publish if I feel a line has been crossed.

I thought I would take a little time, for this weekend warmer, to write a little about team needs and recruitment, as I see it. 

I don't think that there is any doubt that our greater need is to strengthen the batting. There has been a worrying fragility about our top order all season and this has to be addressed.

As others have pointed out, if we have a full complement of bowlers, our resources are probably the envy of most counties. Yet Zak Chappell, Pat Brown, Harry Moore, Rory Haydon, Luis Reece and Anuj Dal missed at least a good chunk of the summer, while Muhammad Abbas was away far more than was expected. 

He wasn't as successful as we all hoped - or should that be expected? I did wonder if this might be because players at a higher standard were getting nicks, while lesser mortals were simply missing the ball, because they weren't good enough. I don't know, but as Wilfred Rhodes once said, you are wasting your energy getting extravagant movement - all you need is half the width of a bat to avoid the middle and take the edge.

I agree with many contributors that Brett Randell seems more the sort of bowler that we need, but given the choice pre-season, who would have taken him over Abbas? For that matter, who had heard of him? As many others have written in the past, it's a funny game. 

The bottom line is that Abbas is contracted for 2027 and we must hope that he returns to prove a point. He has enjoyed a long and successful career and will not want a stain on his excellent record. Fourteen wickets at 40 is a poor return for a player of his stature, especially when the man brought in to replace him has 20 wickets at just 18 runs each, as well as averaging 23 with the bat. 

There is always the chance, of course, that he will not be allowed to return. Given his success in recent series, the Pakistan Board may not sign the No Objection Certificate and will retain his services to protect him. I don't think many would object to Brett Randell replacing him were that the case, as he has been terrific. Less well known than even Blair Tickner, yet more effective with bat and ball and with the same, committed attitude. Abbas is contracted, however, so that can't happen at this stage.

The batting is the problem and there are question marks against all but Martin Andersson, who has been magnificent. 

Harry Came, Wayne Madsen and Luis Reece are all out of contract next year. Came is an enigma and can look really good, but the reality is that in eight seasons he has only four centuries and his conversion rate of another 21 fifties is poor. Derbyshire need more than a mid-twenties average from him and my concern is that he appears to be seen as a red ball skipper in waiting. The extra responsibility may be the making of him - but it could drag him down still further. Far better, for me, that an overseas bat of quality comes in, aided by the carrot of captaincy.

Madsen is justifiably a county legend, but he is some way short of a thousand runs this year and although he is third in the averages, the decline has been evident. I hope that he plays red ball next year, but it will almost certainly be his last summer, so we must hope for a grand tour to finish. He owes Derbyshire nothing, but I hope that the end of his county career matches the quality that preceded it for so long.

Reece has been an outstanding signing, but the question mark is whether his body will allow him to continue being the influential cricketer he has been. He averages 38 with the bat this year - quite remarkable given the off field challenges he has faced - and is probably our best opener, but there have only been three wickets and his left arm variation has been sorely missed. Can he still be influential in one skillset and is it asking too much for him still to be a game-changing all rounder at nearly 37? 

Matthew Montgomery oozes class at the wicket, but an average of 28 suggests he isn't yet right for number three in the order. No centuries and four half centuries confirm his struggle and perhaps four/five is better for him, long term? I certainly don't doubt his ability, but he has yet to convince in the position that he has been given.

Then there's Brooke Guest, also out of contract next year. An outstanding wicket keeper after a shaky start this year, but his batting returns have diminished and he has only 333 runs in 20 innings, if his one century is ignored. I would like to see him higher, but the evidence isn't strong in support of that. 

When all of these challenges are looked at individually, it isn't hard to see why there has too frequently been a collective failing of the batting.

The additional challenge, of course, is that this is far from a vintage year for available alternatives who promise better. As others have pointed out, we need a couple of good, solid batters and one of them will almost certainly be from overseas. Those who are out of contract elsewhere AND unlikely to be re-signed don't promise more, for me.

I would love to see Amrit Basra come through and he is a very exciting player to watch. But again, I haven't yet seen anything to suggest he could transform the order. My concern with Amrit is that he has all the shots but doesn't choose them wisely. Runs haven't come easily in the second team and he is another who needs a strong 2027 to remain part of the plans for the future. 

There is always the possibility that someone may come onto the market unexpectedly, perhaps needing to move because of personal circumstances. I have every confidence that the club will be monitoring the situation around the country, ready to move if opportunity presents itself. The flexibility to do so will be dependent on the announcement of the England central contracts, either in late October or early November. 

If Derbyshire need to cover the cost of Shoaib Bashir for 2027, the capacity to do much more than replace an overseas player will be limited. They have Ben Aitchison coming to the end of his contract next year and will want to do everything they can to retain his services, as they will with Harry Moore. Finance isn't easy at our end of the game and there is a clear gap between 'we need to do' and 'we are able to do'. 

If Bashir doesn't get a central contract, I assume there is then another decision to make next year. His cost has to be justified by returns and he may be another about who considerable discussion will take place. Is there someone out there who might offer a spin option at lower cost? Maybe one such option could be Shaariq Sheikh, who has had a good summer as captain of SACA. Last week at Chesterfield he scored 37 and 48, as well as taking 5-10 and 3-63 with his leggies. Again, that comes with the caveat that success at second team level is no guaranteed indicator of it happening at a level above.

So my projections for next summer and my hopes for our progression will be tempered by the knowledge that the batting has major concerns, alternatives aren't obvious and money is tight.

But to end on a bright note, we saw when we signed Shan Masood that one prolific batter can both carry and inspire a batting lineup. Techniques can be honed and people can come back into form. It is much easier coming into bat at 140-1 than in the first over. Never underestimate the contribution of an opening bat who puts overs into the legs of bowlers and takes the shine from a ball. 

That's why I would have loved us to be able to move for someone like Will Rhodes, but he has now signed a new deal with Durham so we move on.

It is going to need a lot of work, in the nets and offices, to get there.

But it can be done. 

It promises to be an interesting winter.

Postscript - a final word on the Northamptonshire 'light' story.  The umpires have taken considerable flak online and some of that directed at Sue Redfern has been a disgrace. 

Supporters need to realise that the ECB issue guidance on the level of light at which umpires have to take the players off. The umpires simply followed that guidance. 

So if any supporter out there, presumably from a Northampton postcode, has any remaining grouses about this, take it up with the ECB...