Tim Groenewald to leave and youth to get opportunity

Today's breaking news that Tim Groenewald is set to leave the county is sad, but will, I think, be seen as the day when the Welch revolution started moving through the gears at the County Ground.

I like Groenewald as a cricketer and he has been an excellent servant to Derbyshire. Then again, the club has been good to him and had it not been for the opportunities offered with the new ball when he left Warwickshire, his career could have taken a completely different route.

One thing is for sure, we will miss a player who has always given one hundred per cent and who has proved the most robust of seamers. Look back over his time at the club and there are few periods where he missed matches. Whether one-day or four-day cricket, Timmy G has run in to bowl and done so consistently.

He has not been quite so effective in the T20 this year and with a current rate of ten runs an over against him is not enjoying the best of campaigns, but he will be remembered as a very good seam bowler and an excellent club man. He is also a thoroughly nice guy and I am sure that Derbyshire fans will wish him well, wherever he ends up.

That Derbyshire waived their right to the player serving 28 days notice before speaking to other counties can be construed as a goodwill gesture, but also as a vote of confidence in the crop of young bowlers coming through. I fully expect to see change and experiment in the course of this summer and next, as opportunity knocks for the young brigade of seam bowlers. Tom Taylor is the first of these to gain elevation and replaced Groenewald in the side at Leicester today. The lad is a genuine talent and needs opportunity to move up a level. So too do the likes of the giant Ben Cotton, the whole-hearted Matt Higginbottom and the all-round talent of Greg Cork, even before you consider the likes of Jony Marsden and Will Davis.

Five years from now, maybe even three, Derbyshire may well field a first-choice attack that is primarily home-grown. There will also be more opportunities on the batting front, where again there are players emerging through the Academy who could force their way into the side in time.

Derbyshire will have made Tim Groenewald a decent contract offer but presumably could not compete, or chose not to compete, with what is on offer elsewhere. In all such dealings one has to consider the importance of the player and the cover available for them should they decide to leave.

In this instance, Graeme Welch has decided that he has the cover and that the money could be more beneficially used for strengthening elsewhere.

That's what he is paid for. Let the revolution commence.