Were further justification needed as to why Derbyshire chose Duanne Olivier and Mitchell Santner for the main overseas berths, it came over the weekend.
Yesterday, playing for South Africa A against Australia, Olivier took four wickets in the second innings, to go with two in the first, as Australia ended up winners of the tour match by five wickets.
I got the impression, from afar, that the tourists attempted to nullify a perceived threat by hitting him out of the attack, his twelve overs going for 74 runs. Yet he got regular wickets, including that of Usman Khawaja for the second time in the match, as well as captain Steve Smith and would appear to be a sound, quite possibly inspired capture by the county.
Fast forward 24 hours and Mitchell Santner produced a fine all-round display to win the game against England for New Zealand when it looked to be slipping away from them.
Earlier he had taken the wickets of Jason Roy and Ben Stokes, but with overs running out, Santner, after a sedate start launched Adil Rashid for successive sixes over mid-wicket, took another from Tom Curran and finished the game with a fourth from Chris Woakes, finishing with an unbeaten 45 from 27 balls.
It was a very impressive effort and one that will further whet the appetite of Derbyshire supporters, ahead of the fast-approaching season.
Sunday, 25 February 2018
Saturday, 24 February 2018
Olivier signing poses couple of questions
As we all tick off another winter weekend, I am sure that many of you, like me, are looking forward to next week. Because then, after all the rain, cold and wind, all the dark nights and sometimes darker mornings, we can say, probably with smiles on our faces, that the cricket starts 'next month'.
It has been a good couple of weeks for the Derbyshire fan. First the signing of Mitchell Santner, for the T20 and second half of the summer, followed by the announcement of South African seamer Duanne Olivier for the first half, including the Royal London One-Day Cup.
I've a comment on the former if you bear with me, but first, Olivier, who took 2-37 against Australia for South Africa 'A' yesterday.
I have been a little surprised at the press pieces on him from the club, which refer to him as 'fierce, quick' and 'able to take wickets with raw pace'. I have seen such pieces on the web and they refer, I think, to his earlier days when he first came onto the scene, but they give a false impression, for those who haven't seen much of him, of our new bowler.
He doesn't LOOK fast. Like all the best of his kind, he will have a quicker ball, just as he has plenty of other variants, and his bouncer is lively enough to stop a batsman dropping onto the front foot with impunity. Yet those press pieces suggest that we are getting someone of similar pace to Hardus Viljoen, and he is not. I have also spoken to a couple of South African friends, who have both seen him and occasionally played against him, and their assertion is that he is fast medium. And 'a real handful, when he gets his rhythm right'.
My own thoughts, for what it is worth, is that he will be north of Tony Palladino and Ravi Rampaul in pace, while considerably south of Hardus Viljoen and Will Davis. The bottom line is that we have signed a very fine bowler who will enjoy our early season wickets, but don't expect to see him blast sides out in the manner of a Michael Holding. You can expect a bowler who is fit enough to maintain decent speed for long spells, however, which in itself is a pretty fine virtue. If you think Charl Langeveldt, rather than Nantie 'Wayward' Hayward, you won't be too far away.
Which brings me to my second point. Who do I expect to take the new ball, with such a galaxy of talent available?
While there is a school of thought that gives the cherry to the two quickest bowlers, for me we go with Viljoen and Olivier. There will be opportunities for Davis to do so, and I would like to think that like many young bowlers of the past he will benefit from coming on after the bigger names. Just as the young Harold Rhodes did, when first change for Gladwin and Jackson, or Paul Newman and Dominic Cork did when coming on after any combo of Holding, Malcolm, Mortensen and Bishop.
He will also learn, I hope, the importance of really using the new ball. Ones that zip through to the keeper, wide outside off stump, or go well over a batsman's head when pitched short are, to quote Cliff Gladwin 'a bloody waste of a new ball'. I would be surprised if we saw much of that this year, given the quality of the attack.
I also think this signing will benefit Ravi Rampaul, a very skilled bowler who could now slip under the radar. He will be quite happy to bowl first change, but after a winter of rest he will arrive in Derby as not the most high-profile member of the attack. There's the new overseas, the strapping, fast Kolpak, the young tearaway quick...and Rampaul. But discount him at your peril, because he will take wickets and be a key bowler.
There have been points made this week about our batting perhaps being light of one top player, but for me it is simple. Crucially, compared to last year, our attack looks capable of twenty wickets. Again using a 1950s analogy, as long as the batting gets enough runs for the bowlers to go to work, they will have done their job. You can't always make 400, but if you can graft to 250 on bowler-friendly pitches and then support the bowlers in the field, it is job done.
I expect both Wayne Madsen and Billy Godleman to be around the thousand mark this summer, as they usually are. I also see Alex Hughes and Matt Critchley building on their positive strides of 2017, while Luis Reece will do the same. It is a big summer for Ben Slater, who needs to turn more of his four-day knocks from fancy forties to solid centuries, while Gary Wilson needs to confirm he can consistently offer more than game-changing one-day cameos. For me, they fight for the sixth batting place in the championship, unless we go with only three seamers.
A word then about the wicket-keeping role and its importance. Batting at seven, either Daryn Smit or Harvey Hosein need to score more runs than last year, but also nurse a lengthy-looking tail.
I expect Smit to start the summer, at least, and to do much better with the bat than last year. He barely had a pre-season, when he was signed late, and spent the opening weeks recovering from shoulder surgery, but I think we will see him at his best this summer. A winter of work against the Dukes ball will serve him well and we all know how good he is behind the stumps.
Harvey will need to push him hard, score heavily in the seconds and make himself a strong option, even as a batting specialist. If he can combine his illustrated ability to stay in with a greater one of scoring more runs as he does so, his chance will come. Like most of you, I'm less than convinced of many runs from 8 to 11, but they have other fields to conquer and a keeper who can farm the strike and keep the score ticking over will be worth his weight in gold.
Which brings me back to my point on Mitchell Santner, before I close. In the week, Kim Barnett said that New Zealand cricket wanted to see him in the top six of the order and that Billy Godleman was happy to give him that opportunity. Mark Neve asked what people thought of that, so I am happy to reply.
Yes, give him the chance. Sometimes deals are dependent on specific things and if this was a 'breaker' in Santner playing here, then the opportunity should be given. Yet like all opportunities in life, it has to be taken. If he is batting six, it would drop Matt Critchley to seven, with the 'keeper at eight. It offers depth and greater solidity, but Santner will need to show himself as being capable of playing a long innings. That he can bat is undeniable, but he needs to produce the statistics to back up that assertion and turn a mid-twenties average into something north of thirty.
At this stage, all things considered, you can put me down as a 'cautiously optimistic' about the season's prospects.
Just as long as key personnel spend more time on the pitch than Fran Clarkson's physio table, we'll be a threat.
It has been a good couple of weeks for the Derbyshire fan. First the signing of Mitchell Santner, for the T20 and second half of the summer, followed by the announcement of South African seamer Duanne Olivier for the first half, including the Royal London One-Day Cup.
I've a comment on the former if you bear with me, but first, Olivier, who took 2-37 against Australia for South Africa 'A' yesterday.
I have been a little surprised at the press pieces on him from the club, which refer to him as 'fierce, quick' and 'able to take wickets with raw pace'. I have seen such pieces on the web and they refer, I think, to his earlier days when he first came onto the scene, but they give a false impression, for those who haven't seen much of him, of our new bowler.
He doesn't LOOK fast. Like all the best of his kind, he will have a quicker ball, just as he has plenty of other variants, and his bouncer is lively enough to stop a batsman dropping onto the front foot with impunity. Yet those press pieces suggest that we are getting someone of similar pace to Hardus Viljoen, and he is not. I have also spoken to a couple of South African friends, who have both seen him and occasionally played against him, and their assertion is that he is fast medium. And 'a real handful, when he gets his rhythm right'.
My own thoughts, for what it is worth, is that he will be north of Tony Palladino and Ravi Rampaul in pace, while considerably south of Hardus Viljoen and Will Davis. The bottom line is that we have signed a very fine bowler who will enjoy our early season wickets, but don't expect to see him blast sides out in the manner of a Michael Holding. You can expect a bowler who is fit enough to maintain decent speed for long spells, however, which in itself is a pretty fine virtue. If you think Charl Langeveldt, rather than Nantie 'Wayward' Hayward, you won't be too far away.
Which brings me to my second point. Who do I expect to take the new ball, with such a galaxy of talent available?
While there is a school of thought that gives the cherry to the two quickest bowlers, for me we go with Viljoen and Olivier. There will be opportunities for Davis to do so, and I would like to think that like many young bowlers of the past he will benefit from coming on after the bigger names. Just as the young Harold Rhodes did, when first change for Gladwin and Jackson, or Paul Newman and Dominic Cork did when coming on after any combo of Holding, Malcolm, Mortensen and Bishop.
He will also learn, I hope, the importance of really using the new ball. Ones that zip through to the keeper, wide outside off stump, or go well over a batsman's head when pitched short are, to quote Cliff Gladwin 'a bloody waste of a new ball'. I would be surprised if we saw much of that this year, given the quality of the attack.
I also think this signing will benefit Ravi Rampaul, a very skilled bowler who could now slip under the radar. He will be quite happy to bowl first change, but after a winter of rest he will arrive in Derby as not the most high-profile member of the attack. There's the new overseas, the strapping, fast Kolpak, the young tearaway quick...and Rampaul. But discount him at your peril, because he will take wickets and be a key bowler.
There have been points made this week about our batting perhaps being light of one top player, but for me it is simple. Crucially, compared to last year, our attack looks capable of twenty wickets. Again using a 1950s analogy, as long as the batting gets enough runs for the bowlers to go to work, they will have done their job. You can't always make 400, but if you can graft to 250 on bowler-friendly pitches and then support the bowlers in the field, it is job done.
I expect both Wayne Madsen and Billy Godleman to be around the thousand mark this summer, as they usually are. I also see Alex Hughes and Matt Critchley building on their positive strides of 2017, while Luis Reece will do the same. It is a big summer for Ben Slater, who needs to turn more of his four-day knocks from fancy forties to solid centuries, while Gary Wilson needs to confirm he can consistently offer more than game-changing one-day cameos. For me, they fight for the sixth batting place in the championship, unless we go with only three seamers.
A word then about the wicket-keeping role and its importance. Batting at seven, either Daryn Smit or Harvey Hosein need to score more runs than last year, but also nurse a lengthy-looking tail.
I expect Smit to start the summer, at least, and to do much better with the bat than last year. He barely had a pre-season, when he was signed late, and spent the opening weeks recovering from shoulder surgery, but I think we will see him at his best this summer. A winter of work against the Dukes ball will serve him well and we all know how good he is behind the stumps.
Harvey will need to push him hard, score heavily in the seconds and make himself a strong option, even as a batting specialist. If he can combine his illustrated ability to stay in with a greater one of scoring more runs as he does so, his chance will come. Like most of you, I'm less than convinced of many runs from 8 to 11, but they have other fields to conquer and a keeper who can farm the strike and keep the score ticking over will be worth his weight in gold.
Which brings me back to my point on Mitchell Santner, before I close. In the week, Kim Barnett said that New Zealand cricket wanted to see him in the top six of the order and that Billy Godleman was happy to give him that opportunity. Mark Neve asked what people thought of that, so I am happy to reply.
Yes, give him the chance. Sometimes deals are dependent on specific things and if this was a 'breaker' in Santner playing here, then the opportunity should be given. Yet like all opportunities in life, it has to be taken. If he is batting six, it would drop Matt Critchley to seven, with the 'keeper at eight. It offers depth and greater solidity, but Santner will need to show himself as being capable of playing a long innings. That he can bat is undeniable, but he needs to produce the statistics to back up that assertion and turn a mid-twenties average into something north of thirty.
At this stage, all things considered, you can put me down as a 'cautiously optimistic' about the season's prospects.
Just as long as key personnel spend more time on the pitch than Fran Clarkson's physio table, we'll be a threat.
Wednesday, 21 February 2018
Duanne Olivier signs for first half of summer
There is much to like in a fast medium bowler who has nearly 300 first-class wickets at just 22, as well as 17 at a similar average in a fledgling Test career. He isn't especially fast, perhaps of similar pace to Vernon Philander, and his run up is not really a thing of beauty, more arms and legs than aesthetics. But when he gets the ball down the other end it is usually nipping around and making the batsman play. For me, functional wins every time
He has lost a little ground in the South African pace stakes and perhaps sits around six or seven in the rankings of their seamers, assuming all are fit. Yet he is a very fine bowler and, unlike players like Morkel, Steyn and Philander, has time on his side, at 25, to get better.
Having been told by Barnett that our two overseas targets were bowlers who could bat, I think it threw a lot of us, me included off the scent of Olivier. I suppose my one concern in what could prove a very astute signing is that none of the four I name above have any major pretension to batting. The first three all average around 13/14 with the bat, which will place greater onus on the batsmen and wicket-keeper to get some runs on the board. You could always argue, of course, that if the top seven don't do it, should there be any major expectation of the bottom four doing so?
On paper though, that is a proper attack. A Derbyshire attack, albeit largely fashioned in far-flung foreign fields.
If they all stay fit, you will have to work for your runs against us this summer.
Saturday, 17 February 2018
Santner signing confirms county focus
The excellent and universally acclaimed signing of Mitchell Santner by Derbyshire for 2018's T20 competition has certainly confirmed their focus for the summer.
As I wrote yesterday, the world's number one T20 bowler will be an excellent weapon in the short format, though his record in the four day game needs a little work. He should give them control at the very least in the county championship, and will certainly add depth to what looks a useful batting side.
For the T20, however, we are now missing only the final jigsaw piece. If everyone is fit, there is an excellent side taking shape and I would expect us to come close to emulating, or perhaps even surpassing last year's quarter-final placing.
There are two ways we could go from here. The first, as espoused by several contributors to the blog, would be a top order blaster, someone who, with the likely partner of Matt Critchley, could really take advantage of the Powerplays.
Everyone's fantasy pairing would be Martin Guptill with Mitchell Santner, I'm sure, which would allow Billy Godleman to focus on the RLODC and county championship. Billy was much improved last year and produced a couple of top knocks, but any opportunity to re-sign Guptill, or perhaps Colin Munro, should be taken. That would then give us a notional side of:
Guptill
Critchley
Reece
Madsen
Wilson
Hughes
Santner
Brodrick
Smit
Viljoen
Rampaul
That would give three front line bowlers, with the remaining allocation shared between Madsen, Critchley, Hughes and Reece. Madsen was outstanding last year, until Shahid Afridi played his one innings of the summer, while the others are all capable of doing well on specific tracks.
The alternative, I suppose, is that we sign an all-rounder and someone like Marcus Stoinis or Andre Russell would have a lot to offer. Stoinis has become a fixture in Australian one-day sides of late, while Russell has an outstanding T20 record as a fast bowler and big hitting batsman. Earlier in the week, he hit nine sixes in an unbeaten century against Kent for Jamaica, but it is likely that he may opt for the Caribbean Premier League in the summer. Equally it may be possible to persuade Jason Holder that a first half of season, including a spell as a T20 player, might show the IPL what they missed in not selecting him this year.
There are options out there and, with the season fast approaching, I don't expect there to be too long to wait now to find those final positions filled.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend.
In just over two months we will be back on the 3aaa County Ground...
As I wrote yesterday, the world's number one T20 bowler will be an excellent weapon in the short format, though his record in the four day game needs a little work. He should give them control at the very least in the county championship, and will certainly add depth to what looks a useful batting side.
For the T20, however, we are now missing only the final jigsaw piece. If everyone is fit, there is an excellent side taking shape and I would expect us to come close to emulating, or perhaps even surpassing last year's quarter-final placing.
There are two ways we could go from here. The first, as espoused by several contributors to the blog, would be a top order blaster, someone who, with the likely partner of Matt Critchley, could really take advantage of the Powerplays.
Everyone's fantasy pairing would be Martin Guptill with Mitchell Santner, I'm sure, which would allow Billy Godleman to focus on the RLODC and county championship. Billy was much improved last year and produced a couple of top knocks, but any opportunity to re-sign Guptill, or perhaps Colin Munro, should be taken. That would then give us a notional side of:
Guptill
Critchley
Reece
Madsen
Wilson
Hughes
Santner
Brodrick
Smit
Viljoen
Rampaul
That would give three front line bowlers, with the remaining allocation shared between Madsen, Critchley, Hughes and Reece. Madsen was outstanding last year, until Shahid Afridi played his one innings of the summer, while the others are all capable of doing well on specific tracks.
The alternative, I suppose, is that we sign an all-rounder and someone like Marcus Stoinis or Andre Russell would have a lot to offer. Stoinis has become a fixture in Australian one-day sides of late, while Russell has an outstanding T20 record as a fast bowler and big hitting batsman. Earlier in the week, he hit nine sixes in an unbeaten century against Kent for Jamaica, but it is likely that he may opt for the Caribbean Premier League in the summer. Equally it may be possible to persuade Jason Holder that a first half of season, including a spell as a T20 player, might show the IPL what they missed in not selecting him this year.
There are options out there and, with the season fast approaching, I don't expect there to be too long to wait now to find those final positions filled.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend.
In just over two months we will be back on the 3aaa County Ground...
Friday, 16 February 2018
And finally today...1.5 million views reached!
On a busy blogging morning, I am proud to celebrate reaching 1.5 million views of the blog.
It is way beyond my wildest dreams when I started it and I am both proud and humbled of how it has taken off.
I still get a huge buzz from messages, emails and comments and look forward, in the fullness of time, to celebrating the 2 million marker.
With more good news like this morning, and a summer to match, maybe even before the end of 2018...
Thanks to all of you for your support - please spread the word to friends and let's enjoy a special summer.
It is way beyond my wildest dreams when I started it and I am both proud and humbled of how it has taken off.
I still get a huge buzz from messages, emails and comments and look forward, in the fullness of time, to celebrating the 2 million marker.
With more good news like this morning, and a summer to match, maybe even before the end of 2018...
Thanks to all of you for your support - please spread the word to friends and let's enjoy a special summer.
Derbyshire announce Mitchell Santner as second half overseas player
This year, they have done it again, with the signing of New Zealand international Mitchell Santner, who is currently ranked the world number one in the format.
I hadn't considered him for the role, which will see him playing as one of our T20 players, as well as in the second half of the summer's four-day cricket, because I was sure his current status would see him return to Worcestershire. He did very well there last summer and will doubtless do the same for us in that format.
Having just turned 26, he is a genuine spinner of the ball and his control has seen him concede under seven an over in T20 cricket, where he is also a very handy batsman. With two first-class centuries to his name and a Test average of 25, he can claim to be a genuine all-rounder, something that Tahir could, of course, never do. The development of his 'carrom ball', spun between his thumb and middle finger, has created quite a stir, as can be seen in the clip below. Though not new, the grip similar to that used by Australians Jack Iversen and John Gleeson over the years, the delivery has come back into fashion through Ajantha Mendis (below) and Ravi Ashwin.
He will also add much to the side as a brilliant fielder, so this can very much go down as a coup for Derbyshire, certainly for the T20, where a man who can save runs in the field wins matches, without question.
My only concern is that his best first-class bowling is 3-51 and with an average of 46 he has some work to do to attain the status of the short form game. My guess is that we will be aiming to blast sides out with seam and having a proven international player to, at the very least, keep it quiet at one end will be of great value as the summer progresses. So to will a player, at seven or eight, who could make a match-defining score. Perhaps 'Mitch and Critch' could be our spin bowling masterstroke later season.
We will see. We have had mixed experience with our Kiwis. While John Wright and Martin Guptill were great successes, it can safely be said that the jury is still deliberating on Hamish Rutherford, Jimmy Neesham and Neil Broom.
It would be nice to see Santner making it all square and his arrival makes the fast-approaching summer a compelling thought.
All we need now is confirmation of John Wright's return, together with the signing of Martin Guptill, and I might just head for Asda and buy some Kiwi fruit to celebrate...
Here he is dismissing Aussie captain Steven Smith, with a more conventional slow left-arm delivery.
Well done Derbyshire. And welcome to God's Own County, Mitchell Santner.
Now, let's hear your thoughts...
Tony Palladino - a testimonial appreciation
He will be 35 this summer, so his playing career must naturally be considered to have fewer days ahead than behind him, yet it is tribute to his professionalism that you look at the side still and think that it would benefit from his being in it.
While Hardus Viljoen and Ravi Rampaul will be the 'names' in the bowling attack this summer, and supporters await the announcement of an overseas player who will also, presumably, bowl seam, it is not hard to see how Palladino could easily rotate with Will Davis for the fourth seamer role.
Davis a a young tyro, with a strong action and raw pace that catches the eye. Perhaps his body has not been ready for that and I am sure, as Tony has settled into his other role as bowling coach, that the two have chatted this winter over what is needed to succeed at this level of the game.
Because Tony has done just that. This season will likely see him pass four hundred first-class wickets and the wickets of April to June will still see him as likely as any of the others to dismiss batsmen as the ball moves around off the seam. Why? Because he rarely wastes a ball. It has been a frustration over recent summers to watch opposition batsmen given a chance to settle and watch balls through to the wicket-keeper, or clip early half-volleys and long hops to the ropes.
You rarely get that with Tony Palladino, and unless it is a feather bed wicket, his figures can normally be seen in the best Derbyshire tradition. Around two an over, give 'em nowt, the way we like it. It is not hard to see the importance of such a bowler to the rest of the attack, even if his variations don't necessarily reap personal reward.
One of the Derbyshire players once told me that Tony is so meticulous in his preparations that he has notes of the wickets he has taken, and from which end, on each track of the Derby square. Such attention to detail is worthy of a true professional, which he is. He showed that at Essex, when he was man enough to 'blow the whistle' on the spot fixing that saw two players exposed as cheats. It took personal courage and a sense of what is right that speaks volumes for the man. It would have been easy to turn a blind eye and say nothing.
He has also emerged as a more than useful batsman, enlivening many a day with clean hitting that has been some way removed from hit and hope, while his out fielding has always been tidy.
I hope that this testimonial year is a good one for him and that the Derbyshire public respond in an appropriate manner to recognise a good and honourable man. To say he has been one of the all-time greats would be an improperly bold suggestion, given the many genuine greats, at local and international level that have preceded him. Yet he has let no one down and throughout has been engaging company and a player of one hundred per cent commitment, every time he has crossed the boundary rope. He has been, in short, a consummate professional.
I think he would take that as an accolade.
Perhaps his best work is yet to come. My understanding is that there are some very exciting seamers in the current academy, with James Taylor and Alfie Gleadall already earning senior opportunity. I have also heard only good things about Nils Priestly, a left-handed all-rounder who bowls at decent pace and gives the ball a good tap with the bat.
All of them need only to listen and learn from a man who has done what they aspire to do.
His testimonial kicks off with a lunch at Anoki Restaurant, London Road, Derby at 3pm on 25 February. Tickets have been going well, but can still be booked, priced £35, here
There are sure to be plenty of familiar faces along, and with places limited to 100, plenty of opportunities to chat, ahead of the new season.
Future events include:
Friday 9 March - A breakfast launch at the 3aaa County Ground
Saturday 7 April - Opening dinner at the 3aaa County Ground, with guest speaker Darren Gough
Wednesday 8 May - Golf day at Mickleover Golf Club
More events will be announced and I will help to bring them to wider attention on the blog, as and when I can.
In closing, I wish Tony the very best for his special year. He has some good people involved and with our support it will do as well as it deserves to.
Good luck, TP!
Interesting second team appointment
I have just returned from a short trip down to God's Own County, to celebrate the 65th wedding anniversary of my parents, quite an amazing feat (theirs, not mine..)
So this is the first chance I have had to comment on the interesting appointment of James Kettleborough to the second team captaincy. I have not heard of such an appointment 'from the outside' before and certainly not of someone so young (25).
It suggests that the second team will be a young one this year, which is exactly as it needs to be. Young players of talent need to be exposed to as high a level as possible at a young age and we should then see if they can handle it and progress still further.
At 25, Kettleborough has played for Northamptonshire and Glamorgan, without quite establishing himself at senior level. Like a good few others, of course, it is not beyond the realms of possibility that he is a late developer and his performances in club cricket, as well as the second team, suggested that he is very much a player of talent. Six half centuries in 39 first-class knocks perhaps do not fully confirm that, but he now has an opportunity.
Ireland's acceptance into international cricket means that Gary Wilson will be seen as an overseas player at the end of his current deal. With Harvey Hosein and Daryn Smit on the staff, we would be unlikely to replace him as a wicket-keeper, but another batsman would be needed, in all likelihood.
Unless one of our own emerges from the academy (and Callum Brodrick could be that player, while Hosein could easily develop as a batsman alone) then Kettleborough has a chance to impress, as well as furthering long-term career aspirations within the game.
I wish him well and will watch the second team's performances with my usual level of interest.
So this is the first chance I have had to comment on the interesting appointment of James Kettleborough to the second team captaincy. I have not heard of such an appointment 'from the outside' before and certainly not of someone so young (25).
It suggests that the second team will be a young one this year, which is exactly as it needs to be. Young players of talent need to be exposed to as high a level as possible at a young age and we should then see if they can handle it and progress still further.
At 25, Kettleborough has played for Northamptonshire and Glamorgan, without quite establishing himself at senior level. Like a good few others, of course, it is not beyond the realms of possibility that he is a late developer and his performances in club cricket, as well as the second team, suggested that he is very much a player of talent. Six half centuries in 39 first-class knocks perhaps do not fully confirm that, but he now has an opportunity.
Ireland's acceptance into international cricket means that Gary Wilson will be seen as an overseas player at the end of his current deal. With Harvey Hosein and Daryn Smit on the staff, we would be unlikely to replace him as a wicket-keeper, but another batsman would be needed, in all likelihood.
Unless one of our own emerges from the academy (and Callum Brodrick could be that player, while Hosein could easily develop as a batsman alone) then Kettleborough has a chance to impress, as well as furthering long-term career aspirations within the game.
I wish him well and will watch the second team's performances with my usual level of interest.
Critchley Lions call well-deserved
I am pleased that I have been present at the two innings that in time to come will go down as the genesis of a talented young man's career. Firstly, with his century at Derby against Northamptonshire, in only his second first-class match, which marked him as a young player who could do more than hold an end up in a plucky tail end resistance. My guess is that he will start this season at six in a Derbyshire batting line up that is a nice mixture of relative youth and considerable experience.
Then, last year at Belper (and after I had suggested as much on this blog) we saw him elevated to open the innings in T20 matches for the second team against Durham. He didn't set the world on fire, but there was sufficient promise in his clean hitting of the bowlers to warrant an elevation to the senior side in the format. There he did well, giving the side the pinch hitter that we needed, but far more than that. This was not a slogger, but a lad who can clearly bat, with considerable potential to get the ball through and over the field.
After eighteen first-class games he already has a batting average north of thirty. His task for the summer ahead is to take that to over 35 and produce more of the punishing displays of which we now know he is capable. Similarly, he needs to turn the limited overs breezy twenties and thirties into something more substantial, on a regular basis. Last year was one of encouragement and he needs to return from his fine winter in Australia to maintain that.
His bowling has proved very useful in the shorter formats, but a first-class average in excess of three figures shows there is still much to be done to get players out when they don't have to slog him. Yet at 21, time is something he has on his side.
Perhaps, like Kim Barnett, his bowling will become something that is brought out only on special occasions as his batting develops, but there is enough about that bowling for him to continue to work. There is a good loop and, crucially, a niche in the national side for a player who can contribute in all areas.
He's a good cricketer, and I look forward to watching him become even better over the years ahead.
Friday, 9 February 2018
Thoughts on the overseas roles
The overseas roles have gone to the leg spinners this week.
Adam Zampa has gone to Essex, while the outstanding Rashid Khan has gone to Sussex, both for the T20 this week, suggesting that leg spin is seen as the way forward for counties in that competition. I would have loved the latter at Derbyshire, but after his stint in the Big Bash and his big bucks deal in the IPL, he can name his own price. Not bad for a teenager...
With batsmen needing to generate the pace on the ball, quality spin would seem the way to go in T20 cricket. Fast bowlers can always devastate on their day, but if the radar is off the sheer pace only needs a nudge and it flies to all corners to the detriment of the average. Look at Tymal Mills, who had a shocker in the Big Bash because his length and line were wrong.
There is still no overseas news from Derbyshire, as we approach the middle of February. Having received two or three mails on that very subject this week, am I worried, or surprised?
No, not at all. There are, for me, several jigsaw pieces to fit together, before we could agree terms with an overseas player for the two halves of the championship season and for the T20. Whoever comes in may, or may not, be suitable for the short format, in which case we could be looking at three, possibly even four names.
The key, for me, was the auction for the IPL, which saw a lot of top players signed up, thereby making them unavailable for the early part of the county summer, but a few big names missing out. Several months ago I suggested that Jason Holder would be an ideal 'fit' for the county's early season needs, but since then, a well-known cricket website suggested that we were keen to sign Vernon Philander.
I would be surprised, given his recent injury record, if South Africa were to sign the requisite 'no objection' certificate to allow him to play here. Their full-strength attack is fantastic, but with question marks on the fitness of Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel, would they allow Philander to risk injury during a few weeks in England?
I suspect not, so if it was me I would be on the line to Holder's agent. He was surprisingly not picked up for the IPL, but would be a perfect fit for our needs. Canny and lively seamer? Check. Hard hitting batsman to make the most of closing overs? Check. Brilliant fielder? Check. There's much to like in Mr Holder.
Then there's the 'will he/won't he' over John Wright's return. That will largely dictate where we go in the hunt for T20 players. One option could be the return of Imran Tahir for the T20 only, the spinner having already confirmed he only wants to play in that. Or they could look for an alternative who could play both formats to the end of the summer, when there is an increasingly compelling case for Keshav Maharaj of South Africa, as Mark pointed out in the week.
He will be well known to our South African contingent and especially Daryn Smit, who will have kept to him many times for the Dolphins franchise. Maharaj is a fine slow left arm bowler who again can handle a bat pretty well, but who suffers because the national side seems to go heavily with a seam attack. I think a successful stint over here might be the making of his career.
If he was not available then my only other guess would be a return for Jeevan Mendis. He didn't let us down last summer, when he really played at the wrong time for spinners, and likely would do a good job again. He might score a few more runs too, on wickets with which he will be more familiar. His form has been so good this winter that he has earned a recall to the national side, for the T20 series against Bangladesh. He has 25 wickets in his last five matches, including ten in the last match.
Finally, there's the other T20 player. With the signing of Ravi Rampaul, which effectively covers the role of another experienced seamer that Matt Henry took last year, I think we should go for a top order batsman who can ideally bowl a few overs.
There's plenty of names out there who might do that and I'd not say no to someone like Glenn Maxwell, JP Duminy or Colin Munro, but we might happily forego the overs and take Martin Guptill back, I would think. Always assuming any of them needed county cricket as much as it could use them.
And as always, your comments are appreciated.
Adam Zampa has gone to Essex, while the outstanding Rashid Khan has gone to Sussex, both for the T20 this week, suggesting that leg spin is seen as the way forward for counties in that competition. I would have loved the latter at Derbyshire, but after his stint in the Big Bash and his big bucks deal in the IPL, he can name his own price. Not bad for a teenager...
With batsmen needing to generate the pace on the ball, quality spin would seem the way to go in T20 cricket. Fast bowlers can always devastate on their day, but if the radar is off the sheer pace only needs a nudge and it flies to all corners to the detriment of the average. Look at Tymal Mills, who had a shocker in the Big Bash because his length and line were wrong.
There is still no overseas news from Derbyshire, as we approach the middle of February. Having received two or three mails on that very subject this week, am I worried, or surprised?
No, not at all. There are, for me, several jigsaw pieces to fit together, before we could agree terms with an overseas player for the two halves of the championship season and for the T20. Whoever comes in may, or may not, be suitable for the short format, in which case we could be looking at three, possibly even four names.
The key, for me, was the auction for the IPL, which saw a lot of top players signed up, thereby making them unavailable for the early part of the county summer, but a few big names missing out. Several months ago I suggested that Jason Holder would be an ideal 'fit' for the county's early season needs, but since then, a well-known cricket website suggested that we were keen to sign Vernon Philander.
I would be surprised, given his recent injury record, if South Africa were to sign the requisite 'no objection' certificate to allow him to play here. Their full-strength attack is fantastic, but with question marks on the fitness of Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel, would they allow Philander to risk injury during a few weeks in England?
I suspect not, so if it was me I would be on the line to Holder's agent. He was surprisingly not picked up for the IPL, but would be a perfect fit for our needs. Canny and lively seamer? Check. Hard hitting batsman to make the most of closing overs? Check. Brilliant fielder? Check. There's much to like in Mr Holder.
Then there's the 'will he/won't he' over John Wright's return. That will largely dictate where we go in the hunt for T20 players. One option could be the return of Imran Tahir for the T20 only, the spinner having already confirmed he only wants to play in that. Or they could look for an alternative who could play both formats to the end of the summer, when there is an increasingly compelling case for Keshav Maharaj of South Africa, as Mark pointed out in the week.
He will be well known to our South African contingent and especially Daryn Smit, who will have kept to him many times for the Dolphins franchise. Maharaj is a fine slow left arm bowler who again can handle a bat pretty well, but who suffers because the national side seems to go heavily with a seam attack. I think a successful stint over here might be the making of his career.
If he was not available then my only other guess would be a return for Jeevan Mendis. He didn't let us down last summer, when he really played at the wrong time for spinners, and likely would do a good job again. He might score a few more runs too, on wickets with which he will be more familiar. His form has been so good this winter that he has earned a recall to the national side, for the T20 series against Bangladesh. He has 25 wickets in his last five matches, including ten in the last match.
Finally, there's the other T20 player. With the signing of Ravi Rampaul, which effectively covers the role of another experienced seamer that Matt Henry took last year, I think we should go for a top order batsman who can ideally bowl a few overs.
There's plenty of names out there who might do that and I'd not say no to someone like Glenn Maxwell, JP Duminy or Colin Munro, but we might happily forego the overs and take Martin Guptill back, I would think. Always assuming any of them needed county cricket as much as it could use them.
And as always, your comments are appreciated.
Saturday, 3 February 2018
Cotton goes as county work with leaner squad
At the start of last season, I wrote that it was a big season for four young Derbyshire bowlers - Tom Milnes, Tom Taylor, Greg Cork and Ben Cotton.
There were times when each appeared on the verge of a breakthrough, moments in the sun when, in turn, they walked off to pats on the back and the knowledge of a job well done. It will doubtless happen to them many more times somewhere, but sadly, it would appear, for none of them in Derbyshire colours.
Today's announcement that Ben was going the same way as his erstwhile team mates was not entirely a surprise, given his record was not that far ahead of them. It is the one about which I am the most sad, however, because I felt he still had a role to play this summer, at least in the T20.
The bottom line is that he didn't take enough wickets on his first-class appearances. Thirty-seven wickets at 44 in twenty first-class matches was simply not enough in his 25th year, especially when Will Davis, as a comparison, has more in just twelve matches at the age of 21.
What he usually did was bowl tight lines and he was always difficult to score from, but I always felt he was too 'nice' to be a real fast bowler. There were times when the batsmen rocked forward in impunity and played him off the front foot, when with his height he should have been better able to push them back, then leaving them groping as he fired one outside off, or in the block hole.
Professional sport is unforgiving. I cannot think of many other careers in which you would be expected to make a major contribution in your early twenties and certainly by that stage in football you need to be established or be playing lower levels. There was a time when cricket could accommodate the late developer and one has only to look at Les Jackson, 26 before he made his county debut and Brian Jackson, his namesake, who was 29 for quality examples. Both became county legends, but in the modern game that simply won't happen. Patience may well be a virtue, but in the modern world of sport it is also a commodity in short supply.
Maybe Ben, like Tom Taylor, will get an opportunity elsewhere and do well. If so, I will be pleased for a genial lad, but putting personal loyalties aside, there were just not enough signs of progress from any of them for the county to justify continued spend in a tight budget, especially when their opportunities will be limited.
Former player Wayne White was very critical on Twitter yesterday, calling the club 'a ghost' and saying that there was 'no affiliation' between Derbyshire people and the club. His suggestion that they should 'scrap the age groups' and that the club 'will never develop an England player' meant it came over as more of a rant than it should have done. As much as anyone, I would have thought him aware of the way of county cricket, after stints at three clubs, including Derbyshire twice.
My suggestion is that the club are now trying to do the right thing by the academy, which has only produced a poor two capped players in fifteen years. Perhaps by offering early exposure to working with experienced professionals, they are in less of a 'cocoon' than was the case before. The likes of Alfie Gleadall and James Taylor, both seventeen, as well as Sam Conners (18) should now be opening the bowling in second team cricket and stretching themselves, rather than dominating and coasting in age group cricket. The latter did well last summer before an injury finished it prematurely and playing with Kevin Dean at Ockbrook will do him no harm.
It is a lean squad now. Yes, it is an experienced, some might say old, seam attack, but I reckon there's two or three good summers ahead for Hardus Viljoen and Ravi Rampaul, while Tony Palladino will play when wickets suit his style. A seam bowling overseas and Will Davis make up a good attack and will allow the young players to emerge, hopefully, to join them over the next couple of seasons.
Of course injuries will hurt them, but you could say that about any side and, as Kim Barnett said yesterday, we can always use the loan market, as we did successfully last year with Conor Mckerr. There is young talent there though and I expect Harvey Hosein, Callum Brodrick and Hamidullah Qadri to get opportunities this summer. If Alex Hughes and Matt Critchley can push on from encouraging 2017 seasons, then the long-term future can be an exciting one, fueled by greater input from locally-reared players.
In any business, succession planning is key. We aren't there yet, but, ahead of the announcement of overseas roles, it looks a solid squad at this stage.
For me, those announcements may well be summer-defining ones and now the IPL squads have been decided, there is a greater awareness of who will be available.
Watch this space.
There were times when each appeared on the verge of a breakthrough, moments in the sun when, in turn, they walked off to pats on the back and the knowledge of a job well done. It will doubtless happen to them many more times somewhere, but sadly, it would appear, for none of them in Derbyshire colours.
Today's announcement that Ben was going the same way as his erstwhile team mates was not entirely a surprise, given his record was not that far ahead of them. It is the one about which I am the most sad, however, because I felt he still had a role to play this summer, at least in the T20.
The bottom line is that he didn't take enough wickets on his first-class appearances. Thirty-seven wickets at 44 in twenty first-class matches was simply not enough in his 25th year, especially when Will Davis, as a comparison, has more in just twelve matches at the age of 21.
What he usually did was bowl tight lines and he was always difficult to score from, but I always felt he was too 'nice' to be a real fast bowler. There were times when the batsmen rocked forward in impunity and played him off the front foot, when with his height he should have been better able to push them back, then leaving them groping as he fired one outside off, or in the block hole.
Professional sport is unforgiving. I cannot think of many other careers in which you would be expected to make a major contribution in your early twenties and certainly by that stage in football you need to be established or be playing lower levels. There was a time when cricket could accommodate the late developer and one has only to look at Les Jackson, 26 before he made his county debut and Brian Jackson, his namesake, who was 29 for quality examples. Both became county legends, but in the modern game that simply won't happen. Patience may well be a virtue, but in the modern world of sport it is also a commodity in short supply.
Maybe Ben, like Tom Taylor, will get an opportunity elsewhere and do well. If so, I will be pleased for a genial lad, but putting personal loyalties aside, there were just not enough signs of progress from any of them for the county to justify continued spend in a tight budget, especially when their opportunities will be limited.
Former player Wayne White was very critical on Twitter yesterday, calling the club 'a ghost' and saying that there was 'no affiliation' between Derbyshire people and the club. His suggestion that they should 'scrap the age groups' and that the club 'will never develop an England player' meant it came over as more of a rant than it should have done. As much as anyone, I would have thought him aware of the way of county cricket, after stints at three clubs, including Derbyshire twice.
My suggestion is that the club are now trying to do the right thing by the academy, which has only produced a poor two capped players in fifteen years. Perhaps by offering early exposure to working with experienced professionals, they are in less of a 'cocoon' than was the case before. The likes of Alfie Gleadall and James Taylor, both seventeen, as well as Sam Conners (18) should now be opening the bowling in second team cricket and stretching themselves, rather than dominating and coasting in age group cricket. The latter did well last summer before an injury finished it prematurely and playing with Kevin Dean at Ockbrook will do him no harm.
It is a lean squad now. Yes, it is an experienced, some might say old, seam attack, but I reckon there's two or three good summers ahead for Hardus Viljoen and Ravi Rampaul, while Tony Palladino will play when wickets suit his style. A seam bowling overseas and Will Davis make up a good attack and will allow the young players to emerge, hopefully, to join them over the next couple of seasons.
Of course injuries will hurt them, but you could say that about any side and, as Kim Barnett said yesterday, we can always use the loan market, as we did successfully last year with Conor Mckerr. There is young talent there though and I expect Harvey Hosein, Callum Brodrick and Hamidullah Qadri to get opportunities this summer. If Alex Hughes and Matt Critchley can push on from encouraging 2017 seasons, then the long-term future can be an exciting one, fueled by greater input from locally-reared players.
In any business, succession planning is key. We aren't there yet, but, ahead of the announcement of overseas roles, it looks a solid squad at this stage.
For me, those announcements may well be summer-defining ones and now the IPL squads have been decided, there is a greater awareness of who will be available.
Watch this space.
Friday, 26 January 2018
Milnes turn to leave Derbyshire
Following on from the recent release of Tom Taylor, who next day was announced as Leicestershire's new signing, comes the news that Tom Milnes has left the county by mutual consent.
As was the case with Taylor, I am a little disappointed that a player of talent fully failed to register it in Derbyshire colours, because there's no doubt that Milnes can play. He is a lively bowler, capable of bowling some really good, wicket-taking balls, and is a batsman who suggested that he could, in time, become more than just a cheerful tail end clumper. Indeed, I shall always remember, as I sat talking to him in his office ahead of my last book, Graeme Welch saying that he saw himself as a young man in Tom's style of play.
The problem has been, with bowling his stronger suit, that he mixed up those wicket-taking balls with too many that were poor. His economy rate wasn't good and as we all know, a batsman who can rely on a four-ball or two an over will get settled pretty quickly.
As with Taylor, the timing is unusual, the expectation being that he would see out the final year of his deal at this stage of the winter. Yet the club has been honest with him and he would have got little senior cricket this summer. How could he, with Rampaul and Viljoen in there, as well as Palladino, Davis and Cotton ahead of him?
I wish him well for the future, wherever it takes him.
The departure, for me, suggests that plans for the overseas seamer who can bat are well advanced and hopeful, as they would look mighty silly if they end up with two or three injuries and a couple of teenagers from the academy getting early elevation.
Yet those same boys will now get regular second team cricket, which they should do. And if they handle that, we might well see them getting senior opportunity earlier than would otherwise be the case.
If that overseas bowler is, as was suggested last weekend in the media, Vernon Philander, then my viewing of him in the current Test match at Johannesburg was encouraging. He bowls a terrific line and his control is superb, conceding only one run in his first eight overs on the first morning. If we can get him in and, with the other senior professionals, he can teach young bowlers his secrets, it will be money well spent.
Having said that, the rest of a keen attack produced some poor bowling today on a pitch offering irregular bounce and extravagant movement. Morkel, Rabada and Ngidi will all look back on a day when they started banging it in short, rather than putting it on a length and letting the wicket do the rest. In doing so, they let the Indian batsmen rule out the worry of front foot play and the one that flew, simply rocking back and pulling or cutting.
Unless they bowl equally badly, India should win tomorrow.
As was the case with Taylor, I am a little disappointed that a player of talent fully failed to register it in Derbyshire colours, because there's no doubt that Milnes can play. He is a lively bowler, capable of bowling some really good, wicket-taking balls, and is a batsman who suggested that he could, in time, become more than just a cheerful tail end clumper. Indeed, I shall always remember, as I sat talking to him in his office ahead of my last book, Graeme Welch saying that he saw himself as a young man in Tom's style of play.
The problem has been, with bowling his stronger suit, that he mixed up those wicket-taking balls with too many that were poor. His economy rate wasn't good and as we all know, a batsman who can rely on a four-ball or two an over will get settled pretty quickly.
As with Taylor, the timing is unusual, the expectation being that he would see out the final year of his deal at this stage of the winter. Yet the club has been honest with him and he would have got little senior cricket this summer. How could he, with Rampaul and Viljoen in there, as well as Palladino, Davis and Cotton ahead of him?
I wish him well for the future, wherever it takes him.
The departure, for me, suggests that plans for the overseas seamer who can bat are well advanced and hopeful, as they would look mighty silly if they end up with two or three injuries and a couple of teenagers from the academy getting early elevation.
Yet those same boys will now get regular second team cricket, which they should do. And if they handle that, we might well see them getting senior opportunity earlier than would otherwise be the case.
If that overseas bowler is, as was suggested last weekend in the media, Vernon Philander, then my viewing of him in the current Test match at Johannesburg was encouraging. He bowls a terrific line and his control is superb, conceding only one run in his first eight overs on the first morning. If we can get him in and, with the other senior professionals, he can teach young bowlers his secrets, it will be money well spent.
Having said that, the rest of a keen attack produced some poor bowling today on a pitch offering irregular bounce and extravagant movement. Morkel, Rabada and Ngidi will all look back on a day when they started banging it in short, rather than putting it on a length and letting the wicket do the rest. In doing so, they let the Indian batsmen rule out the worry of front foot play and the one that flew, simply rocking back and pulling or cutting.
Unless they bowl equally badly, India should win tomorrow.
Sunday, 21 January 2018
Madsen misses out on IPL as another proposal is aired...
According to the excellent David Hopps of Cricinfo, Wayne Madsen is one of three English cricketers who have been omitted from the long list hoping to get into next weekend's IPL auction.
A further 21 will be in that auction, but it is not lost on me that Madsen and Rikki Wessels, two of last summer's best T20 Blast batsmen, haven't made the cut, along with the somewhat ambitious Monty Panesar, who few have ever seen as a limited overs player and who currently plays Minor Counties cricket when is isn't dancing (and falling) on ice.
I'd reckon about half of the contingent won't make it anyway and from a Derbyshire perspective, the loss of our best batsman would have been a major blow. Yet it is a shame, because he is one of the best players of spin in the country, a skill that is especially effective in India.
Those in the auction from here are Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Sam Billings, Ravi Bopara, Jos Buttler, Tom Curran, Joe Denly, Steven Finn, Harry Gurney, Alex Hales, Tom Helm, Chris Jordan, Dawid Malan, Tymal Mills, Eoin Morgan, Samit Patel, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, David Willey, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood.
Personally, for that format there are plenty of players in there that I would omit in favour of Madsen and Wessels, but we will each have our thoughts on that one.
Moving back home and proposals for a conference-style county championship that they feel could commence from 2020 have been aired by chief executive Mark Arthur and director of cricket Martyn Moxon from Yorkshire.
The main proposal is that three parallel conferences of six begin the season, and another three conferences of six – divided on merit – conclude it, with prize money for the winner almost doubling to a million pounds.
The main issue for me is that you have too many potential 'David v Goliath' matches in the first conference, plus the format creates one extra four-day match when authorities seem hell-bent on reducing fixtures. On the other hand, maybe the absence of some of the big-name players from the top counties may address the imbalance, which is why I linked this piece as I have. Play Yorkshire, Surrey or Nottinghamshire without their England men and your chances improve. Perhaps lower tier players may raise their game against their supposed betters, but on the face of it I struggle to see how the format would raise the standard of the national game.
I would happily make the fifty-over competition less intrusive, but given that it is a format that England play better than most, I don't see that happening. The irony that we do well in it as things stand is not lost on me, nor should it be on anyone else.
I will again reiterate that the sport is sadly riddled with people who suggest knee-jerk change in the light of a lost international series. Has introducing a premiership in football improved the England side? No, because English players make up only a third of squads, but mixing it with many of the world's best hasn't improved their standard, nor made them an elite force at major tournaments.
If they haven't worked it out yet, sport is a cyclical thing and every generation a player or two comes along, sometimes because of and other times despite the system, and produces the goods. How much money has been pumped into British tennis over the last thirty years and how many world-class players has it produced?
South African domestic cricket is beset with problems, but there are signs that despite them they are now starting to produce some seriously talented young players. New Zealand has a powerful squad, but they lose plenty of series, as do India, with some of the finest players in the world at the moment. By spooky coincidence, most of the losses are away from home. Who'd a thunk it, eh?
Just as England's system was 'bad enough' to lose the Ashes this winter, so it will be good enough to win them back in this country, then lose them the next time that we go on yet another under-prepared tour. Then some silly bugger on an inflated salary that he struggles to justify will come out with another idea to 'transform' a domestic game that has little wrong with it.
Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose - the more it changes, the more it's the same thing.
That's about the size of it...
Those proposals:
A further 21 will be in that auction, but it is not lost on me that Madsen and Rikki Wessels, two of last summer's best T20 Blast batsmen, haven't made the cut, along with the somewhat ambitious Monty Panesar, who few have ever seen as a limited overs player and who currently plays Minor Counties cricket when is isn't dancing (and falling) on ice.
I'd reckon about half of the contingent won't make it anyway and from a Derbyshire perspective, the loss of our best batsman would have been a major blow. Yet it is a shame, because he is one of the best players of spin in the country, a skill that is especially effective in India.
Those in the auction from here are Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Sam Billings, Ravi Bopara, Jos Buttler, Tom Curran, Joe Denly, Steven Finn, Harry Gurney, Alex Hales, Tom Helm, Chris Jordan, Dawid Malan, Tymal Mills, Eoin Morgan, Samit Patel, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, David Willey, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood.
Personally, for that format there are plenty of players in there that I would omit in favour of Madsen and Wessels, but we will each have our thoughts on that one.
Moving back home and proposals for a conference-style county championship that they feel could commence from 2020 have been aired by chief executive Mark Arthur and director of cricket Martyn Moxon from Yorkshire.
The main proposal is that three parallel conferences of six begin the season, and another three conferences of six – divided on merit – conclude it, with prize money for the winner almost doubling to a million pounds.
The main issue for me is that you have too many potential 'David v Goliath' matches in the first conference, plus the format creates one extra four-day match when authorities seem hell-bent on reducing fixtures. On the other hand, maybe the absence of some of the big-name players from the top counties may address the imbalance, which is why I linked this piece as I have. Play Yorkshire, Surrey or Nottinghamshire without their England men and your chances improve. Perhaps lower tier players may raise their game against their supposed betters, but on the face of it I struggle to see how the format would raise the standard of the national game.
I would happily make the fifty-over competition less intrusive, but given that it is a format that England play better than most, I don't see that happening. The irony that we do well in it as things stand is not lost on me, nor should it be on anyone else.
I will again reiterate that the sport is sadly riddled with people who suggest knee-jerk change in the light of a lost international series. Has introducing a premiership in football improved the England side? No, because English players make up only a third of squads, but mixing it with many of the world's best hasn't improved their standard, nor made them an elite force at major tournaments.
If they haven't worked it out yet, sport is a cyclical thing and every generation a player or two comes along, sometimes because of and other times despite the system, and produces the goods. How much money has been pumped into British tennis over the last thirty years and how many world-class players has it produced?
South African domestic cricket is beset with problems, but there are signs that despite them they are now starting to produce some seriously talented young players. New Zealand has a powerful squad, but they lose plenty of series, as do India, with some of the finest players in the world at the moment. By spooky coincidence, most of the losses are away from home. Who'd a thunk it, eh?
Just as England's system was 'bad enough' to lose the Ashes this winter, so it will be good enough to win them back in this country, then lose them the next time that we go on yet another under-prepared tour. Then some silly bugger on an inflated salary that he struggles to justify will come out with another idea to 'transform' a domestic game that has little wrong with it.
Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose - the more it changes, the more it's the same thing.
That's about the size of it...
Those proposals:
Saturday, 20 January 2018
Net footage makes season closer
Despite several inches of snow that has covered our gardens and streets in the past few days, the cricket season seems closer now. We're getting through January, then have one more month until we can say that cricket starts 'next month'.
There have been a few signings in recent days. Lancashire signed Joe Mennie, an Australian fast medium bowler with one Test match to his name, as their overseas player for the season. His first-class record is OK, but it is not a signing that will have had people looking the membership hotline. Then again, he could be the latest in a long and successful line that includes John Hastings and Steve Magoffin and the red rose county will hope for similar results, as will Durham, after signing Nathan Rimmington through his UK passport.
Down the road, Leicestershire will have their overseas role shared between Mohammad Abbas and Sohail Khan. The two fast medium bowlers have excellent first-class records, though, as we found last year with Jeevan Mendis, overseas figures don't always tell the truth about players as the standard can be variable. Both have OK international records, but the signings will have been made with one eye on the city's sizeable ethnic population. If they can get a few more people into the ground and produce some decent statistics, then they will have done their job.
Over in Australia, Matt Critchley hit 149 for his Sydney grade side to suggest he is in decent nick. I think he will start the summer at six in the Derbyshire side, then what he makes of the position will dictate where it goes from there. With a seamer as overseas in early season, he and Wayne Madsen will offer spin variation, unless we slip Hamidullah Qadri into the side on a likely wicket.
There is a nice solidity to the batting line-up, assuming all are in form, with good men outside of it. Getting the right signatures for those overseas roles could make for an interesting old summer.
There have been a few signings in recent days. Lancashire signed Joe Mennie, an Australian fast medium bowler with one Test match to his name, as their overseas player for the season. His first-class record is OK, but it is not a signing that will have had people looking the membership hotline. Then again, he could be the latest in a long and successful line that includes John Hastings and Steve Magoffin and the red rose county will hope for similar results, as will Durham, after signing Nathan Rimmington through his UK passport.
Down the road, Leicestershire will have their overseas role shared between Mohammad Abbas and Sohail Khan. The two fast medium bowlers have excellent first-class records, though, as we found last year with Jeevan Mendis, overseas figures don't always tell the truth about players as the standard can be variable. Both have OK international records, but the signings will have been made with one eye on the city's sizeable ethnic population. If they can get a few more people into the ground and produce some decent statistics, then they will have done their job.
Over in Australia, Matt Critchley hit 149 for his Sydney grade side to suggest he is in decent nick. I think he will start the summer at six in the Derbyshire side, then what he makes of the position will dictate where it goes from there. With a seamer as overseas in early season, he and Wayne Madsen will offer spin variation, unless we slip Hamidullah Qadri into the side on a likely wicket.
There is a nice solidity to the batting line-up, assuming all are in form, with good men outside of it. Getting the right signatures for those overseas roles could make for an interesting old summer.
Brian Sellers: Yorkshire Tyrant by Mark Rowe
I have long since been a fan of the literary output of the Association of Cricket Statisticians (ACS), way before they agreed to publish my book on Edwin Smith a few years back. Their titles are generally on players whose careers have not necessarily seen them playing at the highest level, but whose lives and exploits are worthy of recognition for all that.So it is with Brian Sellers, a man who was not in the top rank of cricketers, ending his career with a batting average of 23 after eleven seasons, with just four centuries. Yet, like Arthur Richardson, his Derbyshire counterpart in the 1930's, his contribution to the county's history should be measured in more than runs in the scorebook.
He generally got those runs when the side's need was greatest, though in an eleven that was usually packed with players of international quality, that wasn't too often. He was willing to sacrifice his average for the team when a quick thirty was needed ahead of a declaration, or to get his head down and face the bowling when conditions were in favour of the opposition bowlers.
Yet it was as a captain where he ruled supreme, indeed ruled absolutely. In a Yorkshire side that was full of characters, most of them with strong opinions on the game and how it should be played, Sellers made it clear from the start that he was in charge. He knew, like they did, that he wasn't a match for them as a cricketer, but he set a standard in the field and ensured that everyone knew their place and what was expected of them. He may ask their opinion, but the final decision was his and his alone.
A side of such talents should have dominated the county game and they won the title in seven of the eleven summers in which he led them. Sellers ensured that inter-personal differences and ambitions were subsumed into a side that was formidable. Everything was geared towards them winning match after match, usually scoring high and then bowling sides out twice. That is less of an issue when you have Bill Bowes to lead the attack and the peerless Hedley Verity to bowl as the wicket started to turn. Likewise, a side with Herbert Sutcliffe, Len Hutton and Maurice Leyland was always likely to make runs, but Sellers ensured that they did so in a way that fitted the needs of the team.
He does not come across as an especially likeable man. He was forthright, boorish even, with a need to be the centre of the attention in social settings. One is left with the impression that he was respected, rather than liked, but that probably didn't worry him too much.
In 1946 he was Yorkshire captain, then helped to select the England side to tour Australia, on which he reported for the Yorkshire Evening Post. It was a bizarre turn of events, perhaps propitious as it turned out, as he became chairman of the county club from 1959-72. Heavily involved in the departure of county legend Johnny Wardle in 1959, he was subsequently behind those of Brian Close and Ray Illingworth, his no-nonsense style at odds with changing times. Given the success of the last two at Somerset and Leicestershire respectively, he ended a long association with the club far less auspiciously than it began.
This is a worthy read of a county game long gone. The amateur captain, wealthy beyond the dreams of the professionals that he led, yet in charge of their careers and destiny. Sellers did it better than most and the author does an excellent job in this absorbing read.
Brian Sellers: Cricket Tyrant is written by Mark Rowe and published by the Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians, priced £15. You can order it here or by calling 0113 278 4286
Saturday, 13 January 2018
Philander for Derbyshire?
The news breaking this afternoon through the Cric Buzz website that Derbyshire are keen to bring South African all-rounder Vernon Philander to the county is very exciting.
The all rounder is one of the best new ball bowlers in the game, as evidenced by around 180 Test wickets at 21 each. At 32 he is at the height of his powers, as he showed with his six second innings wickets as he bowled South Africa to victory in the first Test against India last week.
He has come through a sticky period of injury and, according to the website, early discussions have been positive.
Of course, nothing is sealed at this stage and neither a deal is finalised nor permission granted for him to play here by the South African cricket authorities. This could be declined, or they could put stringent limits on what he plays that makes a deal unrealistic.
The thought of Viljoen, Philander, Rampaul and Davis/Palladino in the same attack is a mouth-watering one, however and we must hope that first of all the story is true, then that Derbyshire can get it over the line in a manner that makes the signing worthwhile.
Well worth keeping an eye on!
Enjoy the rest of your weekend.
The all rounder is one of the best new ball bowlers in the game, as evidenced by around 180 Test wickets at 21 each. At 32 he is at the height of his powers, as he showed with his six second innings wickets as he bowled South Africa to victory in the first Test against India last week.
He has come through a sticky period of injury and, according to the website, early discussions have been positive.
Of course, nothing is sealed at this stage and neither a deal is finalised nor permission granted for him to play here by the South African cricket authorities. This could be declined, or they could put stringent limits on what he plays that makes a deal unrealistic.
The thought of Viljoen, Philander, Rampaul and Davis/Palladino in the same attack is a mouth-watering one, however and we must hope that first of all the story is true, then that Derbyshire can get it over the line in a manner that makes the signing worthwhile.
Well worth keeping an eye on!
Enjoy the rest of your weekend.
England's travails and Taylor's county switch
I had an exchange of messages on Twitter the other evening with Michael Vaughan (yes, that one) after the former England skipper and now broadcaster came up with the suggestion that we should play a couple of county matches abroad at the start of the season. This will help our players better prepare for overseas tours, even if it ignores the fact that the ones most likely to tour are on central contracts and unlikely to play.
I wasn't impressed, and said so. He retweeted my response and acolytes were quick to come to his defence. 'What ideas have you got?' was the standard reply, which I was happy to give - and to expand on now.
I fail to see how funding overseas matches in April and May for eighteen counties - or even the ones in the top tier - will improve our overseas fortunes in November and December. Ignoring for a minute the fact that members pay a membership to watch their side and few have the money to travel abroad to do so, it remains a crackpot idea of considerable cost, which would far outweigh its benefits.
Peakfan's step one to improving things - pick the right people. I like watching James Vince bat, as he is an aesthetic delight, but his chances of sustained success on hard, bouncy tracks with an array of quicks probing off stump were always slim. Mason Crane is a talented young bowler, but played less four-day cricket last year than Matt Critchley, so why Adil Rashid was omitted for wickets where he has enjoyed success is beyond me. So too is that we picked an array of right arm fast medium bowlers that made up an attack of 'Stepford Wives' proportions. Then we pick Gary Ballance, barely see him on the pitch and decide he's not up to a subsequent tour of New Zealand. How? They got at least one of those decisions wrong, for sure.
Second - allow all touring teams a proper warm up. It is no surprise that most international series are won by the home team, because visitors turn up out of season and accordingly under-cooked. Teams come here, play two or three matches against second elevens and subsequently get rolled over in Test matches. On this tour, England's batsmen and bowlers alike struggled for rhythm, because all the nets in the world won't make up for time in the middle.
In 1970-71, when Ray Illingworth led England to the Ashes, there were EIGHT warm-up matches before the first Test, three against state sides. The players were ready and a more even tour was a consequence. I'm not saying we need to return to such lengths, but surely five or six good standard matches pre-series might make for a fair competition, as well as generating money?
Third - sort the county schedule. The usual detractors have said that there are too many counties, which is never an issue when England win, of course. Cut the county game down to six sides and see us rule the world, say some. I don't follow the rationale that choosing your best eleven from seventy players is better than selecting from two to three hundred of comparable standard.
With half the county schedule played on low, slow early season wickets, is it any wonder we struggle on hard and fast tracks? The only time we play on such wickets is probably the T20, when they are going at pretty much everything and getting out as England's players did consistently on this tour.
Ah, but no one watches county cricket anyway. Of course they don't, because to do so you either need to be retired, not working or taking annual holidays. As I have written before, outside of the polar days of early season, Derbyshire has TWO weekend championship days of home cricket all summer.
There are 26 weekends between the first one in April and the last in September. For what it is worth, I would make county cricket three divisions of six teams, each playing the others home and away. So that's ten weekends, Friday to Monday sorted. Then start the summer with a fifty over competition with two leagues of nine, playing Saturday, Wednesday, Sunday, Wednesday, Saturday, Wednesday, Sunday, Wednesday, Saturday. The four top teams in each league play quarter finals, then the rest follows on.
That is seven to eight weeks at the start of the summer for the league and knockouts, then you start the four-day game in late May or early June. Play them all Friday to Monday, maximising the crowd and accessibility. Stick the T20 in somewhere in the middle, playing Friday nights and Sunday, then finish with the second half of the championship.
There would even be time to include more warm-up games for touring sides and an end of season five day north v south, to look at potential tourists. It would make for greater intensity, with most sides retaining an interest in promotion or relegation throughout and being unable to coast. Every game would be important, better preparing players for the challenge of international cricket.
Lastly, give our former stalwart Steffan Jones a senior bowling role in English cricket. His assertion that we are moulding bowlers who pass gym tests but continually break down makes great sense. Ask the old-timers and they will tell you that they got fit by bowling, not bench pressing their own body weight. If a few people listened to him, we might find an English quickie again who can match verbals with venom.
Enjoy, as I did, Steffan's paper on 'The demise of the anti-fragile bowler'
Finally today, I am pleased to see that Tom Taylor is back in the county game with a contract at Leicestershire. His talent is obvious, but so is Derbyshire's desire for more immediate success than his slow development afforded.
While there has been no official statement to the effect, my guess is that the club wants a leaner playing staff and space within that for the talent moving through the academy to gain earlier exposure to second team cricket.
If we don't think that the likes of Taylor, Rob Hemmings, perhaps in turn Ben Cotton and Tom Milnes will make it, then we need to allow others the opportunity to do so. It is tough, but that is professional sport for you. Let's see if young lads who are dominating in age group cricket can learn to do so at the next level, rather than becoming blase about their talent and wasting crucial development time.
Other counties are bringing through young players who are producing regularly in their early twenties, while ours are generally several years older. Hopefully the work of Mal Loye and senior players with the academy boys may seem them ready sooner.
There's only one way to find that out.
I wasn't impressed, and said so. He retweeted my response and acolytes were quick to come to his defence. 'What ideas have you got?' was the standard reply, which I was happy to give - and to expand on now.
I fail to see how funding overseas matches in April and May for eighteen counties - or even the ones in the top tier - will improve our overseas fortunes in November and December. Ignoring for a minute the fact that members pay a membership to watch their side and few have the money to travel abroad to do so, it remains a crackpot idea of considerable cost, which would far outweigh its benefits.
Peakfan's step one to improving things - pick the right people. I like watching James Vince bat, as he is an aesthetic delight, but his chances of sustained success on hard, bouncy tracks with an array of quicks probing off stump were always slim. Mason Crane is a talented young bowler, but played less four-day cricket last year than Matt Critchley, so why Adil Rashid was omitted for wickets where he has enjoyed success is beyond me. So too is that we picked an array of right arm fast medium bowlers that made up an attack of 'Stepford Wives' proportions. Then we pick Gary Ballance, barely see him on the pitch and decide he's not up to a subsequent tour of New Zealand. How? They got at least one of those decisions wrong, for sure.
Second - allow all touring teams a proper warm up. It is no surprise that most international series are won by the home team, because visitors turn up out of season and accordingly under-cooked. Teams come here, play two or three matches against second elevens and subsequently get rolled over in Test matches. On this tour, England's batsmen and bowlers alike struggled for rhythm, because all the nets in the world won't make up for time in the middle.
In 1970-71, when Ray Illingworth led England to the Ashes, there were EIGHT warm-up matches before the first Test, three against state sides. The players were ready and a more even tour was a consequence. I'm not saying we need to return to such lengths, but surely five or six good standard matches pre-series might make for a fair competition, as well as generating money?
Third - sort the county schedule. The usual detractors have said that there are too many counties, which is never an issue when England win, of course. Cut the county game down to six sides and see us rule the world, say some. I don't follow the rationale that choosing your best eleven from seventy players is better than selecting from two to three hundred of comparable standard.
With half the county schedule played on low, slow early season wickets, is it any wonder we struggle on hard and fast tracks? The only time we play on such wickets is probably the T20, when they are going at pretty much everything and getting out as England's players did consistently on this tour.
Ah, but no one watches county cricket anyway. Of course they don't, because to do so you either need to be retired, not working or taking annual holidays. As I have written before, outside of the polar days of early season, Derbyshire has TWO weekend championship days of home cricket all summer.
There are 26 weekends between the first one in April and the last in September. For what it is worth, I would make county cricket three divisions of six teams, each playing the others home and away. So that's ten weekends, Friday to Monday sorted. Then start the summer with a fifty over competition with two leagues of nine, playing Saturday, Wednesday, Sunday, Wednesday, Saturday, Wednesday, Sunday, Wednesday, Saturday. The four top teams in each league play quarter finals, then the rest follows on.
That is seven to eight weeks at the start of the summer for the league and knockouts, then you start the four-day game in late May or early June. Play them all Friday to Monday, maximising the crowd and accessibility. Stick the T20 in somewhere in the middle, playing Friday nights and Sunday, then finish with the second half of the championship.
There would even be time to include more warm-up games for touring sides and an end of season five day north v south, to look at potential tourists. It would make for greater intensity, with most sides retaining an interest in promotion or relegation throughout and being unable to coast. Every game would be important, better preparing players for the challenge of international cricket.
Lastly, give our former stalwart Steffan Jones a senior bowling role in English cricket. His assertion that we are moulding bowlers who pass gym tests but continually break down makes great sense. Ask the old-timers and they will tell you that they got fit by bowling, not bench pressing their own body weight. If a few people listened to him, we might find an English quickie again who can match verbals with venom.
Enjoy, as I did, Steffan's paper on 'The demise of the anti-fragile bowler'
Finally today, I am pleased to see that Tom Taylor is back in the county game with a contract at Leicestershire. His talent is obvious, but so is Derbyshire's desire for more immediate success than his slow development afforded.
While there has been no official statement to the effect, my guess is that the club wants a leaner playing staff and space within that for the talent moving through the academy to gain earlier exposure to second team cricket.
If we don't think that the likes of Taylor, Rob Hemmings, perhaps in turn Ben Cotton and Tom Milnes will make it, then we need to allow others the opportunity to do so. It is tough, but that is professional sport for you. Let's see if young lads who are dominating in age group cricket can learn to do so at the next level, rather than becoming blase about their talent and wasting crucial development time.
Other counties are bringing through young players who are producing regularly in their early twenties, while ours are generally several years older. Hopefully the work of Mal Loye and senior players with the academy boys may seem them ready sooner.
There's only one way to find that out.
Tuesday, 9 January 2018
Taylor and Hemmings releases no real surprise
It is always sad to see the release of players from the club that you support.
If I'm honest, which I always try to be, there is no real surprise, however, in the departure of Tom Taylor and Rob Hemmings.
Both are talented cricketers, because you don't get on to a county staff without having that little 'extra' that is required. Hemmings rarely got near the first team and I was more surprised when he wasn't released at the end of last summer, the rationale presumably being the contract dates. He scored his runs in the second team and took wickets, but rarely in sufficient quantity to make people sit up and take notice. With a more established look to the senior middle order, something special was needed and it just didn't happen for him.
Perhaps for Tom Taylor, whose brother James has recently won a contract at the club, the situation was less clear cut. He can play all right and showed talent with bat and ball, suggesting that there is a good cricketer in there, trying to get out. He could get wickets and good ones too, but mixed up the occasional 'jaffa' with a few too many that required no attention from the batsmen, together with one an over that was a boundary ball.
I don't think he was ever the same bowler after he went away to work with the potential England performance programme and a stress fracture to the back resulted in a remodelled action. Sixteen wickets last summer in the mid-thirties was pretty much what he has sustained through his time on the staff and there was, I think, a fear that he hasn't 'kicked on' as we might have hoped.
His batting was useful, though perhaps without the expectation that he would develop into something more than a bowler who could handle a bat. He was a handy night watchman and, the next morning, often showed himself able to play some shots.
He may be one of the many late developers of course. He may ship up somewhere and, when it all clicks, he will become a county stalwart, like Paul Taylor did at Northampton. Then again, he may return to the leagues and once more come to our attention as a more mature player, as Colin Tunnicliffe and Tony Borrington once did.
Yet in the short term, I struggled to see when he would play in 2018. With the club chasing an overseas seamer who can bat for the start of the summer, and Hardus Viljoen and Ravi Rampaul two of the first names on the team sheet, openings appeared thin. Then there's Will Davis, hopefully fit and firing, with Ben Cotton ahead in the pecking order too, not to mention the evergreen Tony Palladino.
Later in the summer, when at least one spinner will play regularly, the opportunities were likely to be even slimmer and the parting, though sad, makes sense. The idea of a senior eleven primarily made up of youngsters making their way seems to have been abandoned, replaced by one of players justifying their place by a sustained level of performance. With young players elsewhere establishing themselves more quickly in their county eleven, patience with a lad who had sixty wickets in four summers probably wore thin.
I hope he uses the release as a catalyst for success elsewhere, but there will now be an expectation, I think, for young players to make a more immediate 'mark' on the county game. With a few talented seamers coming up in the academy and plenty of experienced help for them on the staff, there will be greater expectation on the next generation. More chances for them to play in the second team too, the only way that they can really hope to develop their game.
I wish both Tom and Rob the best in their future endeavours, as I am sure you do.
If I'm honest, which I always try to be, there is no real surprise, however, in the departure of Tom Taylor and Rob Hemmings.
Both are talented cricketers, because you don't get on to a county staff without having that little 'extra' that is required. Hemmings rarely got near the first team and I was more surprised when he wasn't released at the end of last summer, the rationale presumably being the contract dates. He scored his runs in the second team and took wickets, but rarely in sufficient quantity to make people sit up and take notice. With a more established look to the senior middle order, something special was needed and it just didn't happen for him.
Perhaps for Tom Taylor, whose brother James has recently won a contract at the club, the situation was less clear cut. He can play all right and showed talent with bat and ball, suggesting that there is a good cricketer in there, trying to get out. He could get wickets and good ones too, but mixed up the occasional 'jaffa' with a few too many that required no attention from the batsmen, together with one an over that was a boundary ball.
I don't think he was ever the same bowler after he went away to work with the potential England performance programme and a stress fracture to the back resulted in a remodelled action. Sixteen wickets last summer in the mid-thirties was pretty much what he has sustained through his time on the staff and there was, I think, a fear that he hasn't 'kicked on' as we might have hoped.
His batting was useful, though perhaps without the expectation that he would develop into something more than a bowler who could handle a bat. He was a handy night watchman and, the next morning, often showed himself able to play some shots.
He may be one of the many late developers of course. He may ship up somewhere and, when it all clicks, he will become a county stalwart, like Paul Taylor did at Northampton. Then again, he may return to the leagues and once more come to our attention as a more mature player, as Colin Tunnicliffe and Tony Borrington once did.
Yet in the short term, I struggled to see when he would play in 2018. With the club chasing an overseas seamer who can bat for the start of the summer, and Hardus Viljoen and Ravi Rampaul two of the first names on the team sheet, openings appeared thin. Then there's Will Davis, hopefully fit and firing, with Ben Cotton ahead in the pecking order too, not to mention the evergreen Tony Palladino.
Later in the summer, when at least one spinner will play regularly, the opportunities were likely to be even slimmer and the parting, though sad, makes sense. The idea of a senior eleven primarily made up of youngsters making their way seems to have been abandoned, replaced by one of players justifying their place by a sustained level of performance. With young players elsewhere establishing themselves more quickly in their county eleven, patience with a lad who had sixty wickets in four summers probably wore thin.
I hope he uses the release as a catalyst for success elsewhere, but there will now be an expectation, I think, for young players to make a more immediate 'mark' on the county game. With a few talented seamers coming up in the academy and plenty of experienced help for them on the staff, there will be greater expectation on the next generation. More chances for them to play in the second team too, the only way that they can really hope to develop their game.
I wish both Tom and Rob the best in their future endeavours, as I am sure you do.
Saturday, 6 January 2018
Book Review: Over And Out - Albert Trott The Man Who Cleared the Lord's Pavilion by Steve Neal
This is one of the latter.
Albert Trott was one of the big names of golden age cricket. A man good enough to be picked to play five Tests in which he averaged 38 with the bat and 15 with the ball, took 26 wickets and was never picked again.
There were factions and rivalries to blame for his omission from the 1896 Australian tour to England, together with a feeling that he was a player of mercurial talent who suited himself, rather than the needs of the team. He liked to attack the bowling when he had a bat in his hand, but often did so before well set, to the detriment of his average. As a bowler he had the lot, bowled in a round arm style that could put in a fast one, just as easily as he would swing it or spin it when conditions suited him. He was not averse to buying wickets either when the batsmen prospered and he could be expensive. Yet in the variety of his skills he was a precursor of the modern one-day bowler, a format that would have suited him down to the ground
For around a decade he was a stand out player in the Middlesex side and a player that people came to watch. His reputation was made on a July day in 1899, when he hit Monty Noble of the visiting Australian side over the Lord's pavilion. He remains the only man to have done so, yet it perhaps summed up Trott's life that such a monstrous hit only counted for four under the rules of the day, the ball ending up in the garden of the house of a dressing room attendant, still within the confines of the ground. In that year and the one to follow, Trott scored over a thousand runs and took over two hundred wickets, figures that confirmed him as one of the giants of the age.
His batting deteriorated after this, attributed to his intent to replicate the feat. His batting became more that of exciting cameos, yet when he middled them, they continued to go a long way. His bowling was a force for some years, but a lifestyle in which he celebrated hard and enjoyed the drinks bought him by well-wishers affected his fitness and physique. In his early thirties, he could have been mistaken for someone 15-20 years older and while he still held catches that his team mates, a notoriously poor fielding side, would not have considered chances, his form was latterly elusive and he drifted from the game.
Trott took four wickets in four balls and then the hat trick in his benefit match in 1907, ending the match early as a consequence and robbing himself of a considerable amount of money. The latter proved elusive when his career ended, cricket having been his only life and interest. A spell as a first-class umpire was truncated when he suffered badly from dropsy, being admitted to hospital for fluid to be removed from his legs and his abdomen.
By 1914 he had had enough. Writing his will on the back of a laundry ticket and leaving his wardrobe and £4 in cash to his landlady, he shot himself in his bed and died immediately, aged only 41.
Contemporaries tell of a man who struggled away from the limelight and a circle of friends, or hangers-on, as we might call them today. A kindly man and a character, perhaps a little too fond of the drink for his own good and less willing to look after himself than others, who played for much longer at a time when players would continue well into their forties.
Trott was a very fine player, perhaps, for a couple of seasons, a great player of his time. He has been well served in this admirably researched and well written book by the author, who in turn has been treated well by Pitch Publishing. I would have liked to have seen a career record at the back, but that is a minor quibble.
You get to the end of this book knowing more about Victorian and Edwardian society and about Albert Trott, a flawed genius, but a man who entertained.
Not a bad epitaph, as they go.
Over And Out: Albert Trott - The Man Who Cleared The Lord's Pavilion is written by Steve Neal and published by Pitch Publishing. It is available from all good book sellers.
Friday, 5 January 2018
Happy 2018!
Happy new year everyone, and I hope that the one ahead is full of everything that you wish for.
And we wish for, in the case of Derbyshire County Cricket Club.
Yesterday, after a quiet time, came news that the announcement of our two main overseas roles may not be too far away. In an interview on the club web site, Kim Barnett said that an overseas spinner for the second half of the summer and T20 Blast, as well as a seam bowler for the RLODC and the start of the championship matches should be announced 'soon'.
Both can bat, continued Barnett, so a little teaser there for us to ponder.
My dream ticket signing in the spinning role would be Afghan sensation Rashid Khan, who at 19 is probably the best young spinner I have seen. He has traveled the world in 2017 and played T20 cricket in India, Australia and the Caribbean, starring in all of them. A bowler who can turn it viciously both ways, I thought that top batsmen might have worked him out by now, but that is far from the case.
His googly is his most potent weapon, yet no one seems to pick it with confidence and the bowler's astonishing averages of just 14 to 15 runs per wicket seem set to continue for a while yet. He is going for less than six an over in the T20, which is quite extraordinary, while his control is remarkable.
Perhaps the different wickets in England might be the making of him, or they may find him wanting, but a brave and ambitious county would offer a young man of huge talent the opportunity to broaden his experience and skills. I would love that to be Derbyshire.
I have discounted Imran Tahir, as the last we heard he wanted only to play T20 and can otherwise only throw Jeevan Mendis back into the frame after his early summer stint last year. I suppose South African Keshav Maharaj could be an option, but after that I struggle for genuine contenders who could handle both required forms of the game and have batting ability.
The seaming all-rounder? I have earlier this winter noted the claims of Jason Holder, the West Indies skipper, but otherwise suspect that our strong South African links might bear fruit.
Seam bowlers who can bat, but are less likely to have IPL involvement might include Duanne Olivier and Andile Pheluhkwayo. Both, I think, have the requisite international appearances, something that may exclude Dane Paterson, who I liked the look of last year against England and Dewald Pretorius. Wayne Parnell's angle may offer another option, but he is a regular IPL pick, as is the excellent Chris Morris.
All conjecture, of course, until we are told otherwise.
Fun all the same though...
And we wish for, in the case of Derbyshire County Cricket Club.
Yesterday, after a quiet time, came news that the announcement of our two main overseas roles may not be too far away. In an interview on the club web site, Kim Barnett said that an overseas spinner for the second half of the summer and T20 Blast, as well as a seam bowler for the RLODC and the start of the championship matches should be announced 'soon'.
Both can bat, continued Barnett, so a little teaser there for us to ponder.
My dream ticket signing in the spinning role would be Afghan sensation Rashid Khan, who at 19 is probably the best young spinner I have seen. He has traveled the world in 2017 and played T20 cricket in India, Australia and the Caribbean, starring in all of them. A bowler who can turn it viciously both ways, I thought that top batsmen might have worked him out by now, but that is far from the case.
His googly is his most potent weapon, yet no one seems to pick it with confidence and the bowler's astonishing averages of just 14 to 15 runs per wicket seem set to continue for a while yet. He is going for less than six an over in the T20, which is quite extraordinary, while his control is remarkable.
Perhaps the different wickets in England might be the making of him, or they may find him wanting, but a brave and ambitious county would offer a young man of huge talent the opportunity to broaden his experience and skills. I would love that to be Derbyshire.
I have discounted Imran Tahir, as the last we heard he wanted only to play T20 and can otherwise only throw Jeevan Mendis back into the frame after his early summer stint last year. I suppose South African Keshav Maharaj could be an option, but after that I struggle for genuine contenders who could handle both required forms of the game and have batting ability.
The seaming all-rounder? I have earlier this winter noted the claims of Jason Holder, the West Indies skipper, but otherwise suspect that our strong South African links might bear fruit.
Seam bowlers who can bat, but are less likely to have IPL involvement might include Duanne Olivier and Andile Pheluhkwayo. Both, I think, have the requisite international appearances, something that may exclude Dane Paterson, who I liked the look of last year against England and Dewald Pretorius. Wayne Parnell's angle may offer another option, but he is a regular IPL pick, as is the excellent Chris Morris.
All conjecture, of course, until we are told otherwise.
Fun all the same though...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)