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Hi all, I've started a save as Derbyshire and will be documenting progress in here.
Why Derbyshire? The county side really interest me, perenniel strugglers Derbyshire have spent most of their recent history languishing in division 2 and have only reached the knockout stages of the t20 Blast twice as well. Frequently labelled as one of the small counties rumoured to be on the ECB's list to give the chop the club are in fact very well run financially, no big player budget (in fact one of the smallest) but they're on a sound financial footing and have fostered a real family feel with their fans.
Goals for the save will be a long awaited return (and stay) in Division 1 of the County Championship as well as regular appearances on finals day.
So on to the squad summary:
Batsmen
Billy Godleman - Experienced opening batsman and our captain, Godleman managed over a thousand red ball runs alongside some outstanding white ball performances last season. I'll be looking for more of the same from him this season.
Wayne Madsen - Madsen is a club stalwart having been at the club for over a decade and he's been a regular supplier of runs across all formats throughout that time. He is however 36 so we will need to plan for eventually replacing him at the key position of 3 in the batting order.
Leus du Plooy - Unheralded South African who at 25 is entering his prime, had an absolute barnstormer for the club last season and will be the man to build our top order around going forwards if he can replicate it.
Alex Hughes - 28 year old batsman who looks solid at best with a first class average in the high 20s and also offers a part time bowling option.
Tom Wood - 25 year old who has just received his first fulltime contract after impressive first grade form in Australia backed up his second XI performances. An unknown quantity in game but will be competiting with Hughes to play at 5 at least for our first season. Can also open in the t20s.
Ben McDermott - Aussie overseas player in for the t20s, looks a good player though he is a defensive batsman so probably not an ideal t20 signing, part time keeper so likely to get the gloves for the blast as well.
All Rounders
Luis Reece - 944 runs and 55 wickets from the man who both opened the batting and bowling last season. He's probably going to be a key asset for us with that sort of ability and will again open up with Godleman this season.
Matt Critchley - Promising agressive batsman who can open in t20s and was the clubs first England Lions call up for some time. Also bowls useful legspin.
Fynn Hudson-Prentice - Signed from Sussex and still young at 23, looks a useful option with both bat and his fast medium bowling, will likely get a fair bit of gametime. Only very aggressive batsman in the squad so could be key in the t20s.
Anuj Dal - The only other player in the squad agressive or more with the bat he looks a reasonable prospect as a batsman who can bowl medium pace.
Mattie McKiernan - Very little gametime which for a player aged 25 is a bit worrying but goes into the season our second spinner (also legspin).
Nils Priestley - 19 year old on his first pro contract, will need to do well for the second XI to get near the starting side to be honest.
Wicket Keepers
Harvey Hosain - Our only keeping option but thankfully he looks useful! Very defensive batsman who averages around 30 and is still young as well at 23.
Bowlers
Sean Abbott - Our main overseas player and another Australian, very experienced bowler though his first stint in county cricket.
Tony Palladino - Absolute veteran of a bowler who will be important to us this season, at 36 his time remaining at county level could be short so we will be looking to squeeze as many wickets as possible from him before he retires.
Ravi Rampaul - Former West Indies bowler who is now 35 years old so could form a dads army new ball pairing with Palladino, outstanding in the Blast last season.
Sam Conners - 21 year old with very little experience but looks promising. Will need to do well for the second XI.
Michael Cohen - Another unheralded South African kolpak player, looks to have some decent potential judging by his salary and at 21 has plenty of time to develop as our senior pacemen near retirement.
Dustin Melton - Yet another kolpak from South Africa, 25 this time and with some rather unencouraging stats as well. At first glance looks to be backup at best.
Summary
I think our squad looks reasonably strong to be fair, the top 4 will be:
Godleman
Reece
Madsen
Du Plooy
And I think that the four as a collective are likely as good as anything else we will see in D2 given all are capable of getting 1000 red ball runs. Wood and Hughes will be competing for the slot at 5 which long term may be somewhere we need to stregthen unless Critchley or Hudson-Prentice come on with the bat significantly.
Hosain looks a handy keeper at least in redball.
We have a decent selection of bowlers and a plethora of all rounders who along with the fact most of our batsman can get their arm over part time should see us with good variety in the t20s.
Weaknesses I've identified are:
Only one keeper who doesn't look like he's ideal for white ball cricket.
Very limited spinning options.
No backup opener in first class or list A cricket (particular issue there as Reece (along with Madsen and du Plooy will be away in the hundred)).
Pre Season Contracts
So we had a 50k budget to start with, I've straight away chucked 20k into our coaching budget as I'm a big believer in trying to bring on the young players with technique coaching whilst using practice sessions to keep key players in form. The Physio budget takes a 10k knock to get us up to 40k so I can at least have a look at bolstering our weak position.
Eventually we sign 2 players:
Ben Aitchison (a regen from the youth section renamed) - Aitchison signed for Derbyshire after being linked to a few counties over the Summer. Has taken 76 second XI wickets at 25 so hoping he can fulfill his real life counterpart's potential.
Craig Wallace - Cheapest wicketkeeper available joins (eventually) on 20.5k, the Scotsman will strictly act as backup to Hosain but he's average aggression so may get the one-day cup games as well.
This of course means I'm going to be reliant on Critchley and/or McKiernan to offer a spinning option so we will likely be preparing a seaming pitch a lot of the time. Tom Wood can already open in t20s so will be going straight on coaching to work on his opening technique, I'm hopeful he'll at least be ready to open with Godleman in the one-day cup later in the season and depending on if he ends up playing at 5 or not may continue the coaching until he can open in the four day games as well to act as backup to Reece and Godleman.
Why Derbyshire? The county side really interest me, perenniel strugglers Derbyshire have spent most of their recent history languishing in division 2 and have only reached the knockout stages of the t20 Blast twice as well. Frequently labelled as one of the small counties rumoured to be on the ECB's list to give the chop the club are in fact very well run financially, no big player budget (in fact one of the smallest) but they're on a sound financial footing and have fostered a real family feel with their fans.
Goals for the save will be a long awaited return (and stay) in Division 1 of the County Championship as well as regular appearances on finals day.
So on to the squad summary:
Batsmen
Billy Godleman - Experienced opening batsman and our captain, Godleman managed over a thousand red ball runs alongside some outstanding white ball performances last season. I'll be looking for more of the same from him this season.
Wayne Madsen - Madsen is a club stalwart having been at the club for over a decade and he's been a regular supplier of runs across all formats throughout that time. He is however 36 so we will need to plan for eventually replacing him at the key position of 3 in the batting order.
Leus du Plooy - Unheralded South African who at 25 is entering his prime, had an absolute barnstormer for the club last season and will be the man to build our top order around going forwards if he can replicate it.
Alex Hughes - 28 year old batsman who looks solid at best with a first class average in the high 20s and also offers a part time bowling option.
Tom Wood - 25 year old who has just received his first fulltime contract after impressive first grade form in Australia backed up his second XI performances. An unknown quantity in game but will be competiting with Hughes to play at 5 at least for our first season. Can also open in the t20s.
Ben McDermott - Aussie overseas player in for the t20s, looks a good player though he is a defensive batsman so probably not an ideal t20 signing, part time keeper so likely to get the gloves for the blast as well.
All Rounders
Luis Reece - 944 runs and 55 wickets from the man who both opened the batting and bowling last season. He's probably going to be a key asset for us with that sort of ability and will again open up with Godleman this season.
Matt Critchley - Promising agressive batsman who can open in t20s and was the clubs first England Lions call up for some time. Also bowls useful legspin.
Fynn Hudson-Prentice - Signed from Sussex and still young at 23, looks a useful option with both bat and his fast medium bowling, will likely get a fair bit of gametime. Only very aggressive batsman in the squad so could be key in the t20s.
Anuj Dal - The only other player in the squad agressive or more with the bat he looks a reasonable prospect as a batsman who can bowl medium pace.
Mattie McKiernan - Very little gametime which for a player aged 25 is a bit worrying but goes into the season our second spinner (also legspin).
Nils Priestley - 19 year old on his first pro contract, will need to do well for the second XI to get near the starting side to be honest.
Wicket Keepers
Harvey Hosain - Our only keeping option but thankfully he looks useful! Very defensive batsman who averages around 30 and is still young as well at 23.
Bowlers
Sean Abbott - Our main overseas player and another Australian, very experienced bowler though his first stint in county cricket.
Tony Palladino - Absolute veteran of a bowler who will be important to us this season, at 36 his time remaining at county level could be short so we will be looking to squeeze as many wickets as possible from him before he retires.
Ravi Rampaul - Former West Indies bowler who is now 35 years old so could form a dads army new ball pairing with Palladino, outstanding in the Blast last season.
Sam Conners - 21 year old with very little experience but looks promising. Will need to do well for the second XI.
Michael Cohen - Another unheralded South African kolpak player, looks to have some decent potential judging by his salary and at 21 has plenty of time to develop as our senior pacemen near retirement.
Dustin Melton - Yet another kolpak from South Africa, 25 this time and with some rather unencouraging stats as well. At first glance looks to be backup at best.
Summary
I think our squad looks reasonably strong to be fair, the top 4 will be:
Godleman
Reece
Madsen
Du Plooy
And I think that the four as a collective are likely as good as anything else we will see in D2 given all are capable of getting 1000 red ball runs. Wood and Hughes will be competing for the slot at 5 which long term may be somewhere we need to stregthen unless Critchley or Hudson-Prentice come on with the bat significantly.
Hosain looks a handy keeper at least in redball.
We have a decent selection of bowlers and a plethora of all rounders who along with the fact most of our batsman can get their arm over part time should see us with good variety in the t20s.
Weaknesses I've identified are:
Only one keeper who doesn't look like he's ideal for white ball cricket.
Very limited spinning options.
No backup opener in first class or list A cricket (particular issue there as Reece (along with Madsen and du Plooy will be away in the hundred)).
Pre Season Contracts
So we had a 50k budget to start with, I've straight away chucked 20k into our coaching budget as I'm a big believer in trying to bring on the young players with technique coaching whilst using practice sessions to keep key players in form. The Physio budget takes a 10k knock to get us up to 40k so I can at least have a look at bolstering our weak position.
Eventually we sign 2 players:
Ben Aitchison (a regen from the youth section renamed) - Aitchison signed for Derbyshire after being linked to a few counties over the Summer. Has taken 76 second XI wickets at 25 so hoping he can fulfill his real life counterpart's potential.
Craig Wallace - Cheapest wicketkeeper available joins (eventually) on 20.5k, the Scotsman will strictly act as backup to Hosain but he's average aggression so may get the one-day cup games as well.
This of course means I'm going to be reliant on Critchley and/or McKiernan to offer a spinning option so we will likely be preparing a seaming pitch a lot of the time. Tom Wood can already open in t20s so will be going straight on coaching to work on his opening technique, I'm hopeful he'll at least be ready to open with Godleman in the one-day cup later in the season and depending on if he ends up playing at 5 or not may continue the coaching until he can open in the four day games as well to act as backup to Reece and Godleman.
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