In a spin

It is quite unfair that Jake Needham seems to be getting a lot of the blame for the defeat tonight.

While he was outbowled, it is unfair to burden Needham with the blame for defeat. Tredwell is 5 years older, with England A tour experience and has almost seventy games more first class cricket under his belt. That's a lot of learning.

A number of fans suggest we need a top class spinner, but where are they?

Before the Second World War and in the 1950's spin was king. Rhodes, Freeman, Verity, Laker, Lock and many more came into their own on tracks that became spiteful when left uncovered and open to the elements. Even if I go back to the 1960's and 1970's when I started watching the game it was different.

We had Venkat (what could we do with him now?) Essex had Acfield, East and Hobbs, Gloucestershire had John Mortimore, Kent had Derek Underwood. There was Flat Jack Simmons and David Hughes at Lancashire, Birkenshaw and Illingworth at Leicester. Emburey, Edmonds, Bedi, Langford, Pocock, Gifford, Wilson - every county had a decent spinner who came up with the goods on a regular basis.

Fred Swarbrook would be in contention for an England place today, no doubt about it. So would Edwin Smith. Both good bowlers but eclipsed by the many others on the circuit in their time.

Today it is different. There's Kaneria at Essex, Croft at Glamorgan, Tredwell at Kent and Swann at Nottinghamshire. After that it's pretty hard to come up with someone semi decent. Rashid is the big hope but his 160 first class wickets have cost 35 and this year he has just 15 wickets at 40. Big bats, short boundaries and moribund tracks don't help the cause, but it is hard to see light on the horizon.

As I mentioned earlier, there's nothing exciting overseas. There's Harbhajan Singh, the "Turbanator" from India, Mendis and Murali from Sri Lanka, Hauritz from Australia, Vettori from New Zealand, Afridi from Pakistan and Botha and Van der Merwe from South Africa. Yet few of these would fancy the slog of the County game, nor be allowed to play. The two South Africans are good, tight one day bowlers, but don't strike me as bowlers who could run through the opposition in favourable condtions. Vettori needs another county stint like a hole in the head, while the Sri Lankan workload rules out their two fine bowlers.

For me, IF we were to go for a spin bowler, there is only one candidate. I never thought I would say it, but the man to go for would be Shahid Afridi. I was disappointed in his stint with us a few years ago, but he was a young bowler then. learning his trade. At 29 he is the finished article now. 257 first class wickets at 27, a similar number in one day internationals and over 350 in one day matches around the globe. We all know he is an explosive batsman, with over 100 fifties and 18 centuries, but for me, his batting would be a bonus.

He could open in the Twenty/20, tie people down with his potent mix of leggies and googlies, and bowl them out on dryer tracks as the season progressed. Of course, he would command a hefty fee, but perhaps the County could work a similar deal to that which took Rahul Dravid to Scotland a few years back. Perhaps a local businessman, or consortium could be persuaded to sponsor some of his salary in exchange for a little PR work when appropriate? Afridi is a cricketing deity in Pakistan and local followers would love the chance to see him in action.

Importantly, Pakistan have little international cricket between April and September next year. Indeed, they and Australia have the least commitment, so it could work on various levels.

There are any number of good international cricketers who could do a sound job for Derbyshire next season and I have every confidence that John Morris will source someone to do the business. If it is decided that a spinner is the way that we should go, you know who would get my vote.

Afridi watching

Those of you who have followed Derbyshire's fortunes for a number of years will have been fascinated watching the exploits in the World 20/20 of Shahid Afridi, formerly of this parish.

I remember watching Afridi bat was akin to seeing a threshing machine at full tilt. Every innings was a 20-over slog and there was little deference shown to bowlers, whether justified or otherwise. The thing about cricket is that there are times that bowlers are entitled to a little deference. Even the late greats - Trumper, Jessop, Ranjitsinjhi - players who reputedly had at least two shots for every ball - had occasion to play defensively on occasion. Viv Richards was as aggressive a batsman as I've ever seen, yet even the Master Blaster knew when to rein in the cavalry.

Not so Afridi. I saw him bat one day in Edinburgh, coming in to launch Derbyshire's reply to a modest Scotland total. The first ball disappeared over mid on for four (a little like tonight). The the next went up in the air and could have been held by any one of four Scots fielders before being dropped by one of them. He made 30-odd runs that day, including a six that went straight into a waste bin over the boundary, yet never suggested permanence. I saw him in a televised match a couple of years earlier make a century of astonishing power for Leicestershire, but in watching the innings there was always the expectation that it would end soon.

Tonight was Afridi night. His sort of track, one foot down the wicket and smack. Cultured and elegant? No, but mighty effective. The Pakistan innings gained an impetus which should have produced a bigger total, but as I've written before on this blog, 140 with good bowling is a challenge. Just look at how many sides have defended less than that in this tournament.

Which is where Shahid the leggie came in. I've enjoyed watching his flat, brisk leg spin in this competition, with the odd flighted ball, an occasional googly and a quicker ball that most seamers would be proud of. Tonight he produced two absolute belters to remove Herschelle Gibbs and AB De Villiers, blows from which the Saffers, my tournament favourites, never recovered.

For me the tournament has heralded the dawn of the bowlers fightback against heavy bats and short boundaries and Afridi tonight looked a fine bowler, far removed from the man who played for Derbyshire. I remember Dominic Cork getting quite annoyed one day as he moved extra fielders to the offside, only for Afridi to bowl leg stump long hops. When he switched them, Afridi bowled outside off stump. Poor stuff for an overseas professional.

I'm not advocating Afridi as our pro for next year, but would say he's now a far better player than we signed. For a county looking for a 20/20 specialist, he could infuriate and thrill in equal measure, but life would not be dull.