Derbyshire cricket: Graeme Welch - a Pop-ular Choice

Coming straight to the point, I think that we have given ourselves the best possible chance of improvement as a club with the appointment of Graham Welch to the newly-created role of Elite Cricket Performance Director. In my humble opinion, the board are to be congratulated on the very shrewd appointment of a coach with a positive and growing reputation within the game.

He has already proved his credentials as a coach at Essex and more recently at Warwickshire, where the development of young bowlers, in particular, has been down to his influence. A measure of the esteem in which he was held at Edgbaston was the number of players who professed themselves unhappy when he was overlooked for the top job there after the departure of Ashley Giles. Dougie Brown, a man in the frame for the Derbyshire coaching role a few years back, got the job and has done a sound, if unspectacular job at this stage, but Welch appears to have something special to offer. And we look set to benefit.

Aside from his coaching credentials, which are substantial, he will be a good manager of men. He’s a genial character, but while being approachable will, I’m sure, be no one’s fool. He’s also a very canny tactician who has made excellent use of technology in his preparation for games. As we all see from the highlights packages of matches, the footage is there to be used. The good coaches tell their players where to bowl to players, but the very best let them see video footage of dismissals, how and where to bowl to them. Welch is firmly in the latter camp and has been a regular advocate and user of such technology at Edgbaston.

Crucially, the appointment will be seen as the right one by most Derbyshire fans, for who Welch is still very much a hero. He was an excellent player in a fairly ordinary side and will be more aware than most what needs to be done to take Derbyshire on to the next level. There is no doubt in my mind that there is sufficient talent in this team and coming through from the academy, to turn us into an established, top tier side in county cricket. All it needs is the right coaching set up and the attention to detail that is a prerequisite of modern cricket.

I look forward to seeing greater common sense applied to some of our tactics – run chases conducted with a greater elan than some I have witnessed, which sometimes appeared to be a potent combination of the Keystone Cops and Corporal Jones working in tandem. I also expect to see bowlers working in the right areas and not feeding the favourite shots of opposition players. If that still happens, it will be down to a lack of individual expertise than preparation.

I mean no disrespect to Karl Krikken in saying the above, a man for who I have the utmost respect and admiration in his efforts for the club. There was much to like in his work with the side, yet once he declined to apply for the new role, the die were cast for a successor. Of all the names supposedly in the frame, Welch was the one that always looked the right fit.

I wish Graeme Welch well and in closing recount one story that serves to illustrate the man. A number of years ago, my son, father and I went to the County Ground to see a pre-season game. It was a very cold day and the players outnumbered the fans, but we applauded, albeit with gloved hands, some fine strokes from Chris Bassano, who could be a very good player when his health issues allowed it.

Around the boundary came Graeme Welch, fresh from a net session and sweating profusely, trailing all of his gear behind him. My son, young and impressionable, had his autograph book with him and the two of us approached the player to ask for his signature. It would have been easy – and perhaps understandable – if he’d said ‘not just now’ or something similar, but to his great credit he stopped and signed with the air of someone who was happy to be asked.

More than that, he chatted to the three of us for the best part of fifteen minutes and then turned to my son.

“Come on, young ‘un. Let’s go over to the pavilion and get all the others to sign that for you”.

Can you imagine my son’s reaction? Fast forward to today, I told him the news that Welch was our new cricket supremo.

“That’s brilliant. He’s such a nice guy” was the response. A number of years later, a small gesture has left a lasting impression.

Welch is a top bloke – and a very good coach to boot. I reckon we’ll find that out in the coming seasons.

Welcome back to Derbyshire, Pop. You’re home, lad.