A new coaching structure with considerable common sense

The new coaching structure at Derbyshire County Cricket Club is sound and well thought out, covering, as it does, all the bases in the county's cricket needs.

It is a team with a strong Derbyshire background - a factor that should not be underestimated - and some highly impressive coaching credentials, not to mention considerable first-class experience. That in itself will be of value to the younger players, as the psychological side of the first-class game is one of its biggest hurdles.

There may be a cynic or two who queries the number of coaches, but their remit covers both senior and Academy/age group cricketers. Others may query the cost, but my understanding is that the Derbyshire Cricket Board have helped to fund the appointments. The club now has a structure that will identify and nurture young talent better than has been the case before. Cricket at all levels within the county can only benefit. Most importantly, the players at the club will.

So who are the new men?

Many will recall John Sadler (left) as a doughty fighter as a batsman, who has more recently set up his own successful cricket academy in Yorkshire. He is well regarded and his new remit as batting coach sees the club engage one of the highest qualified batting coaches in the game. Assisting him will be Steve Stubbings, whose role will be primarily Academy-focused, but with scope to offer support at a higher level, as and when required. Stubbo did an excellent job with the second team last summer and fully deserves a role in the new structure. Both of these will be seen by supporters as sound appointments and if they can pass on their never-say-die attitude to the next generation of county batsmen there will be no cause for complaint.



Graeme Welch will, of course, lead on seam bowling, but will have support from AJ Harris. It is good to see the retention of the latter, as he seemed to do a good job last year. Like Stubbings, his main focus will be the development of younger players and his experience can only benefit the young talent emerging through the Academy. I look forward to seeing how our seam bowlers, already players of considerable talent, improve with Welch's input and they will be a key component in our quest for honours this summer. Meanwhile, the likes of Ben Cotton, Greg Cork, Jon Marsden and Tommy Taylor have a very good chance to progress under coaches of excellent pedigree.



Much as we have a clutch of seam bowlers emerging, so our spinners will benefit from the talents of another erstwhile county favourite, Ant Botha (left). He has been lured back from a successful coaching role in Australia to look after their development and it will be interesting to see how Peter Burgoyne and Tom Knight progress through his mentoring. Botha was a good professional, a more than useful spinner and a batsman who rescued his fair share of lost causes in the company of Pop Welch. His role will include assisting in the coaching of batsmen and his growing reputation as a coach in Oz suggests he will do an excellent job.




Which leaves Simon Guy, a wicket-keeper of considerable talent for Yorkshire and another level four coach who has worked in the England set-up. He will be the specialist wicket-keeping coach and will bring an array of new techniques and methods with him that can surely only improve our established senior keepers in Tom Poynton and Richard Johnson, but will also aid the development of the very talented Harvey Hosein. Interestingly, Guy pioneered the development of a face mask for wicket-keepers that gives facial protection but better visibility with lighter weight than a conventional helmet. Whether we will see these on the pitch this summer is a moot point, but Guy is another young coach with impressive credentials. That he has been lured to Derbyshire is proof of how this  has captured the imagination of the wider professional cricket community.

Meanwhile, the importance of fielding to a top side is recognised with the engagement of Cookie Patel, formerly fielding lead of England Women's successful side, who has worked with a number of county sides as one of the game's leading fielding coaches. Another level four coach who is highly regarded within the ECB set up, his skills and experience should see Derbyshire as one of the best fielding sides in the country in the coming season. We didn't always look that last year, so this is another development that will be enjoyed by supporters  - as well as by the county's bowlers..

Finally, Howard Dytham remains as Academy director, another role that is fully deserved as he has done fine work with the young players around the club's catchment area and is well-respected. With greater support from former professionals, we should hopefully see players emerging better placed to make an early, positive impact in the first-class game.

My thoughts? It makes a lot of sense. We now have an array of specialist coaches, all of them eminently qualified for their new roles and the DCB support means that we are paying little more for this set up than we were for the previous one. The difference being, of course, that the players have far greater access to support mechanisms and coaching resource. While there are no guarantees in professional sport, our chances of success have to be improved with the addition of such impressive personnel.

I am impressed and heartened by this announcement and would be surprised if there were any dissenting voices. Of course, we'll be better placed to judge its true effectiveness when we have seen how the players perform, but there must be genuine excitement at this announcement.

Over on the club site, Chris Grant says that he feels we make progress every day. So do I. There's a lot to like in this and it's a cracking start to the week.

Onwards and upwards lads.

Farewell Sads

So John Sadler has become the latest to leave Derbyshire as John Morris reshapes his staff for 2011. I suggested that this should happen earlier in the week but claim neither credit nor pleasure in his departure. Sadler is a nice bloke who, for a variety of reasons, never translated his talent into weight of runs. There were cameos in the T20, but when finances are tight a player needs more than brisk thirties to earn a reputation. Unless you’re Keiron Pollard of course…

That Sadler has followed Lee Goddard out of the door suggests a couple of things to me. One is that John Morris has the backing of the committee to carry on with his reshaping of the club, something that I hope will mean the ‘cyber bullies’ shut up and let him get on with it. The other is that he is looking to reshape the coaching staff, as well as the playing side. Again, I suggested that this might/should happen as we have a missing link between the Academy and First Eleven that requires, at the very least, a coach and preferably a player/coach. I still think this might be a role for Steffan Jones, leaving him available for one-day matches.

I never understood the concept of Sadler opening for the seconds or going in at number three. I know he was on call for first team duty, but a captain at that level, unless it is a young talent being given experience in the role, should be batting down the order, as Alan Hill used to do. While runs they score could make a game competitive, surely the focus of such games is greater experience for youngsters? I’d sooner see a triallist, an Academy player or someone like Siddique or Slater batting at the top of the innings, even if they fail. Sooner or later they’ll either get better or you’ll realise, perhaps more quickly, that they’re not up to the required standard.

Over the coming weeks there will be a number of players released around the country and I fully expect the message boards to be awash with comments suggesting that player X is just the man we need. We need to keep in mind the fact that for any big name, Derbyshire has neither the resources nor the immediate prospects of success to be attractive. Everyone is aware that we could do with a couple of seam bowlers, a batsman, an all-rounder, a spinner and a wicket-keeper. We’re not, however, going to sort that by signing Plunkett, Onions, Shah, Allenby, Croft and Sutton, gratifying as it would be.

Players of that calibre cost serious money and signing them would mean we carried a staff of thirteen next season, all we could afford. At this stage we don’t know who else will be released and until we do can only guess at areas John Morris wants, and more crucially is able to strengthen.

It appears that Graham Wagg is going and that Chris Rogers may be. Robin Peterson is unlikely to qualify as a Kolpak as it will be over two years since his last international appearance, while Greg Smith is supposedly a target for another county. We may see a seamer, maybe two leave, but that depends on different factors, not the least if there are people out there who are better, younger and fitter, available and prepared to come for what we have to offer.

It’s a far from easy job, but I’ll give you a suggestion and – who knows – maybe boost book sales at the same time. Have a look at the ‘Cricketers’ Who’s Who’ for this year. A number of entries have detail of players and when they signed contracts, highlighting that they’re up this year. There’s a few in there would be an improvement and would, I’d guess, be affordable. No names, no setting hares across a park, but interesting.

Twelve quid from Amazon, if you’re interested…

As for today’s game, it followed pretty much the same pattern as the rest of it, with a little resistance but nothing to get excited about. There was an air of inevitability about the end of it and the only thing I can find to say that is at all positive is that it must be easier to bat against our bowling than theirs. I wish we had anything approaching four international bowlers in our attack...

In closing, the only other thing I would say is that we will retain memory, or more accurately nightmares about this game for some time to come. It has probably engraved two words as a nadir of our fortunes on the minds of all Derbyshire fans.

Remember Horsham.

Bit baffled...

One or two comments on the blog yesterday I can't agree with.

One said that Groenewald "had a couple of good spells and scored a fifty but didn't set the world alight". Actually, I think he did very well. In first class matches he averaged 20 with the bat, usually coming in at nine or ten, while he was top of the bowling averages with 34 wickets at 27 from only nine matches. He took 12 wickets in one day games and a further 7 in Twenty/20, where he was our second most economical regular bowler. That's a little more than "a couple of good spells" and he can be proud of his efforts.

Similarly, there are calls for John Sadler to be released after averaging 35 from just four one day innings and 71 from four Championship innings. On top of that he averaged 41 in the Twenty/20. OK, those averages were partly the result of a lot of not outs, but the fact is that Sads let no one down in 2009. In one day games he got in with 2-3 overs to go and in the Championship he was in at 483-4 against Kent, 350-4 against Middlesex and 400-4 and 143-4 against Essex. What's a man to do? It smacks of the comment made by the old Yorkshire wicket keeper Arthur Wood, when he came in during England's 903-7 against Australia with the score reading something like 730-5 and said "I allus was a man for a crisis"...

Sads scored a number of centuries for the Seconds and did well in his League appearances too. He could have done no more from his limited appearances in 2009. Yes, I'll agree that next year is a biggie for him, but I think that talk of releasing him after his summer's efforts are unfair.

Steffan Jones? Yes, I'd like to see us sign him too, but he's playing in India with Somerset just now so nothing can be done until he returns as he's still contracted to them. I think we will sign him after his efforts, but patience is the key guys.

Tom Lungley? With eight first class wickets at 49 and none in the one day matches he had a poor year. He took eight wickets in the Twenty/20 but was also our most expensive bowler based on runs conceded per over. I think he has an option for another year which he is yet to sign, but cannot think he'll have many other offers on those figures. He is another with a massive 2010 ahead if he stays, but whether he is here is up in the air at present.