Mark Footitt and cricket's enigma and the X factor

Derbyshire v New Zealand – Tour Match: Dean Brownlie is bowled by Mark Footitt

Mark Footitt again showed in the second innings that he is a force to be reckoned with. New Zealand’s batsmen could be forgiven for thinking that they were facing a player on the verge of the England team and with a point to prove. The latter is certainly true, as with Tony Palladino and Mark Turner injured, Footitt has to stake a claim to a place in the side for the Sussex game.

He’s done that with a sterling effort, but the next step is to sustain form and fitness for a prolonged period and a glance at the player’s statistics tells the story. This is Footitt’s ninth year as a professional cricketer, but he only has 72 wickets in that time from 27 matches. While fully accepting that for some of that time he was not selected, it is a damning figure for a player blessed with a very rare ability to bowl at serious pace.

An array of injuries have served to ravage the career of a player who once looked a certain international. Perhaps now at the age of 27, when his body is fully developed and his core is strengthened to cope with the demands of pace bowling, he will go on to fulfill that early promise and become the scourge of batting line-ups. Because to be honest, not that many batsmen like genuine pace and, if his direction is as improved as his figures in this game suggest, precious few tail-enders will.

There’re many dogged lower order batsmen who decide there are more pressing engagements if the chap bowling at them is alternately threatening toes, head and wicket at 90 miles an hour plus. Especially when that bowler is bowling left arm over. Other than Wasim Akram and Dirk Nannes, I struggle to think of many genuinely quick left-arm bowlers so Footit is part of an elite group.

If he was to go even halfway towards the standard of that pair, we would have few complaints.

Ali Evans did himself no harm in this game either and I don’t think he would let anyone down if injuries necessitated a call up. He can get wickets and just needs to cut back on the one bad ball an over to become a county cricketer of genuine potential.

I mentioned in pre-season that luck was a key component of any side’s success. Last year, Derbyshire got breaks from the weather when we needed it and although there’s an argument that you make your own luck, few sides do much without a few breaks.

It is the X-factor of cricket and lady luck has been against us so far. We’ve lost all the tosses, lost a couple of our seam bowlers to injury and failed to hang on to some sharp chances at crucial points in matches. I’m well aware that the latter is more down to technique and practice, but a diving catch can be dropped when your elbow hits the ground and there’s an element of fortune there too.

The same goes for the batsmen. For some of them, the first ball they get, like Ross Whiteley yesterday, climbs and catches the glove or the edge of the bat, where on other occasions it would fly merrily past untouched. It is uncanny how often this happens when you’re out of nick, just as being caught down the leg side by the wicket-keeper is usually a handy, if unfortunate barometer of form.

Before this season, I suggested that there wasn’t much between the two divisions, but now I think the gulf is wider than I first suggested. It isn’t unbridgeable, but one has only to look at the YB40 game between Nottinghamshire and Northamptonshire yesterday for confirmation. The latter are flying this summer and their prudent winter work will, I think, see them do what we did last summer. Yet our nearest neighbours hammered them yesterday. I know it’s a different format, but they will be as aware as we now are that there’s a lot of work to do to compete against division one opposition.

Here’s to a better day’s work from our batsmen today, leading into a resurgence against Sussex next week.