Derbyshire
Colossus Madsen shows the way
Staying in Division One proved a step too far for Derbyshire and some players face an important winter to ensure they are ready for another promotion push
Steve Dolman
27-Sep-2013
When the end came it was something of an anti-climax, nowhere close to the sterling efforts that had taken us close to an achievement perhaps even greater than the trophy of last summer.
Warwickshire were simply too strong and we didn't really show up, the stuffing knocked out of a young side by a ninth-wicket stand between a could-have-been English winter tourist and a wannabe county cricketer with a first-class average of five, before his first Championship half-century.
Derbyshire's late-season surge was too little, too late and the coaching staff, together with chairman Chris Grant, will be well aware that strengthening is required over the winter months. Too many of last summer's successful side found this level beyond them. Some won't get another chance - at least, not with Derbyshire - while others will hopefully return more aware of the demands of the top division.
Full postMost likely down but far from out
While some of Derbyshire's young squad have been exposed by the step up to Division One, plenty of potential has been shown this season
Steve Dolman
02-Sep-2013
Derbyshire's players have restored a little damaged pride in the past few weeks, with successive County Championship wins against title contenders Sussex and Middlesex a tribute to a new-found attitude.
"We're not being bullied anymore," Karl Krikken said. Most supporters felt that many of the team were overawed for the early part of the summer, treating opponents with too much respect. We seemed destined to go down in history as one of the worst performing sides since the competition split into two tiers.
Krikken decided to go with youth and their energy, enthusiasm, novelty value and skill saw the side to remarkable victories that rekindled hopes of avoiding relegation. Even defeat to Surrey meant that we go into the final three games with all to play for, but the feeling remains that the recent successes are papering over a few too many cracks for comfort.
Full postSpirited Derbyshire fall short
Injuries to Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Albie Morkel scuppered Derbyshire's T20 campaign - now it's time to think about rebuilding for 2014
Steve Dolman
29-Jul-2013
As did the season itself, the T20 campaign offered encouragement to Derbyshire supporters, with two stars of genuine international class in the ranks. While Shivnarine Chanderpaul isn't regarded as a T20 'expert', he is still a great batsman and the acquisition of Albie Morkel gave us all-round firepower that we had never had - as well as an unusually high sense of anticipation.
The most experienced T20 player in world cricket gave us the impetus for three straight wins in the competition, leading fans to dare to dream that this might be the year that we made the quarter-finals. A Chanderpaul-inspired run chase to beat Lancashire at the County Ground suggested that some of our old demons had been conquered and this might, indeed, be a summer of something different.
Yet it was not to be. A 3-0 record quickly became 3-4, as a capacity crowd at Derby saw us outclassed by Nottinghamshire, before successive chases at Old Trafford and Chesterfield were undertaken with the expertise of the Keystone Cops. In the former, a pulled hamstring for Chanderpaul, just when he was getting into his stride was decisive, but the Yorkshire game was lost by the strange decision to hold back Morkel on a small ground where he would have proved decisive and almost pulled the game around with a remarkable last-over effort.
Full postDerbs look to Morkel for T20 inspiration
Star signings are few and far in domestic T20 but another bit of canny Derbyshire recruitment could lift their chances
Steve Dolman
20-Jun-2013
If you needed an example of why the chairman, Chris Grant, and head coach, Karl Krikken, are so popular among Derbyshire supporters, the signing of bruising South African allrounder Albie Morkel for this year's FLt20 is as good as any.
Signing overseas players of established quality in the current cricket climate isn't easy. The proliferation of competing attractions around the world - the newest of which is the Caribbean Premier League - not to mention a contest between the top nations on our own shores, make the selection ever nearer to Hobson's choice.
Yet following on from luring Shivnarine Chanderpaul, ranked the No. 2 Test batsman in the world, to the County Ground on a two-year deal with an option on a third, they have now managed to secure the services of an allrounder who may be surplus to his country's requirements but is high on the list of those around the world putting together a T20 side, real or fantasy.
Full postHeavy on effort, light on quality
Derbyshire fans knew their side would battle in Division One but it seems promotion may have come too soon for some players
Steve Dolman
03-Jun-2013
The one thing that most Derbyshire fans were aware of pre-season was that we had a side that would battle. Too many of our sides over the past ten years have capitulated in adversity, but apart from a bad session here and there, the graft down to the last man has been gratifying.
Nonetheless it does not obscure the fact that for some of our players the top tier has come too soon, or is a level too high for their ability. It is not a phenomenon unique to cricket - one has only to look at 20 goal-a-season strikers in the Championship who don't get close to that in the Premier League for a comparator. We should not, in all fairness, be unduly surprised.
Derbyshire as a team punched above their weight last year and, despite struggles, have continued to do so this year. Comparing what we can spend on players with other counties clearly illustrates that and confirms that the club's long-term strategy of producing their own is the correct one. For all the sterling off-field work by Chris Grant, Simon Storey and a top-class marketing team, the club is at least £300,000 from where they would want to be in their playing budget. That would be another three proven county players and would make a considerable difference.
Full postDerbyshire in need of positive pickup
The opening four matches have been a chastening experience and while it is too early to think of the "R" word, the signs are far from encouraging
Steve Dolman
03-May-2013
To use a football analogy, Derbyshire's first three fixtures of the Championship season were akin to Derby County gaining promotion to the Premiership and playing Manchester United and Arsenal away, followed by Chelsea at home.
The games against Warwickshire, Middlesex and Nottinghamshire were a chastening experience. While the bowlers showed they could take wickets at this level, they came at far greater cost, with our main men, Tony Palladino and Tim Groenewald, tidy but not penetrative. Meanwhile the batting has struggled, the side being prone to losing wickets in clusters, where 60 for 2 becomes 70 for 5 or similar in no time.
A young side needed its share of breaks, but losing the toss each time has done them few favours on largely bowler-friendly pitches. We did better in the first innings against Yorkshire, thanks to Chesney Hughes having a grand day out, but another appalling slide on the last afternoon, where the last seven wickets went down for just 24 runs, suggests that a season of struggle lies ahead.
Full postDefying the 'Derby' doubters
Derbyshire's 2013 prospects previewed by the ESPNcricinfo Supporters' Network
Steve Dolman
26-Mar-2013
If Derbyshire's cricketers took any notice of the opinions of bookmakers, they would be making the most of this coming summer in the top flight and preparing for a return to Division Two in 2014.
But things may not turn out quite like that.
There will be days, as with any other team, when the opposition is too strong and we lose, but I fully expect there to be plenty of others when a competitive side with a team spirit that is the envy of the county circuit will hold their own. This isn't the Derbyshire of most people's experience; they are a tough unit of astute recruits with a point to prove, coupled with some highly talented young cricketers from the club's Academy. All topped off, of course, with one of the world's finest batsmen, an all-time great in Shivnarine Chanderpaul.
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