Derbyshire weekend warmer: David Houghton, Membership fees and Academy intake

It didn’t take long for David Houghton to find a new position after being released from his coaching role by Derbyshire.

Somerset is the next port of call for Houghton, who will take on the task of turning a misfiring collective of batsmen into better players. I think we may see the careers of Marcus Trescothick and Nick Compton move on again, as Houghton would appear an especially good coach of more mature players, who perhaps know their game better. That can be evidenced by his work with the likes of Wayne Madsen and Graeme Hick, players who were perhaps blessed with the talent to assimilate Houghton’s teaching and use it to improve their already better  than average games.

I wish him well. In an ideal world he would have remained at Derbyshire for a while longer as a decent and worthy man who is a world-renowned coach. Tough times require tough decisions, however and if the money can be better used on the playing staff, then it will have been the correct one.

On to other matters and the club’s membership fees have been announced for next season. They show a modest increase which is justifiable – after all, what doesn’t increase in price these days? County cricket still represents excellent value, certainly in comparison to football and the club is to be commended for keeping the increase within reasonable bounds.

There will, of course, be those who moan and say that “we shouldn’t be paying more for second division cricket”, but I’d reckon they will be in a minority. Most will see a club working hard to retain parity among more affluent rivals and won’t grudge money that is stated as going towards the playing budget.

Finally tonight, some of you may have missed the names of the coming year’s academy intake, good cricketers of talent, all. They are:

Will Davis, Harvey Hosein, Mykylo Bird, Callum Brodrick, Rob Hemmings, Rahib Ali, Harry Killoran

They represent a good cross-section of cricketing talent and the progress of academy alumni on to the club staff will be watched by all of them with considerable interest.

Finally tonight, this weekend should see the next instalment of the A-Z of Derbyshire cricket, this time with the letter ‘N’. I’ll have to be honest, the selection was hardly awash with major names, but I’ve plumped for a player who many of you will remember, who didn’t quite make the standard that at one time looked likely.

Enjoy your weekend.