The Ashes and Derbyshire musings

Jonathan Trott

The second Test has started down under tonight and I am sure I am not the only one who expects an improved England performance, after the debacle of the first match.

There’s been enough newsprint generated by the performance, the sledging, Jonathan Trott and the breakdown of Anglo-Australian relations (nothing new there) to destroy a rain forest of reasonable size. I’d make just three comments on it.

First, when will we realise that international teams need more than four or five days of practice in foreign climes to be ready for the serious stuff? Not all that long ago, teams arrived and played five or six warm-up games which gave all concerned an opportunity to acclimatise.

The players aren’t better today – they still need time to get used to the light, heat, bounce, movement, find the length to bowl and get the feet moving. All the nets in the world won’t get you match fit, if you don’t play matches.

That’s several tours running now that we have been rolled over in the first match and with the expense put in to tour preparation, one would hope that someone in a position of power might have said “hang on…we need more time in the middle before we start”.

Second, what happened to poor old Jonathan Trott was a dreadful shame, but he was but the latest in a long line of cricketers who have suffered from what appears to be depression.

While most of us would have loved the opportunity, the pressures of first-class cricket, especially at the top, cannot be underestimated. For anyone in a relationship, it must be incredibly difficult.

You play all summer, often away on the road, then have a week or two at home before heading out on tours for the winter. Yes, it will be a good life, I’m sure, but if you’re missing the wife and kids AND struggling for form, it will be a difficult one.

Especially when everyone watching knows what’s wrong with your game and tells you how to sort it. They’ll likely all be different ideas too, but when you’re not thinking straight because you’re pining for home, sorting it out might be a step too far.

It reinforces my long-held and oft-stated opinion that supporters should be wary of what they write and how they do so. It is naive – no, make that stupid – to think that players and their families won’t see what is written and won’t care. They will, even if the comment is made by someone with little or no appreciation of the niceties of the game and its demands.

Shrugging it off is easy when you’re in or near form, but cricket is perhaps unique as a team game where the individual is left exposed and challenged. When the difference between the middle and edge of the bat is around three inches, there’s little margin for error…

Finally, I still think we erred in the selection of bowlers. It was a point covered by Harold Rhodes when I interviewed him and I’m concerned that we’ve picked tall bowlers who will get steepling bounce, without necessarily having the requisite skill to put the ball in the right areas. I think Steve Finn a good bowler, but he is young and prone to bad days, while neither Tim Tremlett nor Boyd Rankin, for me, are consistent enough in line and length to challenge the best.

I feel that Graeme Onions should have been ahead of the latter two and I just hope we don’t live to regret the omission of the best day-in, day-out bowler in the county game.

Closer to home, I’m pleased to see the Derbyshire players working hard towards next summer at this early stage. Not all that long ago, you’d see the committed sides returning to pre-season in January, ready to work off the Christmas excesses. It’s a different game today and the level of fitness of these lads is quite extraordinary.

I’m also enjoying the advent calendar on the club site. Sadly there’s no chocolates (now that would be a good trick!) but the idea and the content is excellent. All concerned are to be commended for both the idea and the implementation.

Finally tonight, a couple of answers to recent e-mails. Don’t I think supporters have a right to know what happened with Dan Redfern? No. Whatever has happened is between the employer and employee, as it is in most organisations. I’m sure few of you would want the reasons for your departure from a job aired to all and sundry, so why should this be any different?

Do I think that we’ve finished with winter signings? Again, no. I think we will still be in the hunt for an experienced batsman, especially an opener, while the issue of cover for Shivnarine Chanderpaul in the summer, should he be selected for the West Indies summer Test series against New Zealand and Bangladesh – five Tests in all – needs to be addressed.

The good news is that the schedules for both Australia and South Africa are fairly clear for the English summer of 2014, so good-quality cover might be more readily available than last year.

Something to think about on these long winter nights…