Congratulations to Wes Durston, who last night deservedly won the club Player of the Year award.
Wes has had a fine season in all formats and has thoroughly justified the decision to give him a second chance in the county game. With the additional reward of a two year deal, we can look forward to enjoying more of his clean hitting, impressive fielding and useful bowling.
Full marks too to Ross Whiteley, a player I have backed on this blog for the three years I have been writing it. I feel he can improve still further and emerge as a genuine match-winning all-rounder and have no doubt that he will continue to work at his game. Tom Knight was a fairly obvious call for the Academy player of the year but could hardly have dreamed of the season he has just had. Previous winners have scored a few hundred runs for the side, while Knight has been a member of the England under-19s and made the Derbyshire first eleven, where he bowled a succession of telling spells. He also showed a telling ability to remove good batsmen a rare gift in one of such tender years.
In true Derbyshire fashion, a couple of fans have bemoaned his fielding, mainly on the basis of a dropped catch at Chesterfield, but show me someone who has never dropped a catch and I'll introduce them as someone who has never played cricket. Like all young players, he will need to work on his fielding as county level is on a different planet to any other level, but the lad can play, without a doubt.
With awards for Martin Guptill, an exciting batsman who has given good value, Tony Palladino, another excellent signing and Peter Burgoyne, an all-rounder of real potential, the night reflected on a season of genuine improvement. I will, of course, give my end of season ratings in due course, but it was good to see Matt Lineker rewarded for a stellar season in the Seconds.
I hope that it is surpassed in the coming weeks with a new contract. I'd be surprised if the lad was given such an award and then told to pack his bags, not to mention disappointed.
I for one have bemoaned Knight.s fielding Peakfan. There is alot of room for improvement. The dropped catch is of little concern,but his ground fielding is. He,s a hefty lad,if you get my drift and at his age he should be more athletic than he appears to be. Burgoyne is much better in the field and seems to enjoy it,whereas Knight Doesn,t.
ReplyDeleteKnight,s talent as a bowler is there for all to see and i have no worries at all on that score,but fielding is a major part of the modern game and it,s an area he must improve on. Hughes would be wise to follow similar advice as his fielding leaves plenty to be desired.
Congratulations to Durston. He,s been the pick of our batsmen all season and proves there is life after death. I look forward to others joining him on a thousand runs next season. Two or three more and we might well be talking about promotion.
Fully agree with you Marc about Knight's fielding. He shows little urgency in the field and often appears lethargic. The dropped catch just summed up his fielding performance on that day. Plenty of work needed on this. Not wanting to be too critical or harsh on the lad but fielding is now such an important aspect of the game and for someone of such tender years he really ought to be much better. As pointed out, Burgoyne is not only far superior but enjoys it much more. It all looks a bit of a chore for Knight
ReplyDeleteHis attitude to fielding seems reminiscent of a certain chap who used to play for us....John Morris.
However, he looks a fine prospect as a bowler and his emergence is a real boost for the county. With Krikken at the helm I am confident we can now compete in all formats of the game but supporters should realise it will be a gradual process. The future looks bright.
We'll need to disagree lads.
ReplyDeleteRemember that when the season started he was an Academy and club player and he ended up our great bowling hope! That's a huge transition and I understand that he's a laid-back lad, something that could easily be misconstrued.
There were similar comments about Ross Whiteley when he first broke into the side and he's not done too badly!
I think that Ton Knight, despite his promise as a bowler, is going to be an on going project for our fitness and fielding coaches. It is up to him over the winter to put some work in.
ReplyDeleteI hope Lineker gets a new contract. I understand his average in the second team is nearly 50 wheras Borrington's average is supposed to be less than 20 and Borrington has just signed a new 3 year deal! I know Lineker is a little older but the player has done enough for a new deal in my book.
Ben
Nice to see Durston claim the top award. He deserves it!
ReplyDeleteBen
Ross Whiteley is a superb fielder Peakfan. I would go so far as to say his ground fielding is second only to Park and then by not much.
ReplyDeleteI,ve no doubt Knight will improve as a fielder,but he has to. Some people are not naturally gifted in this department and have to work hard on it. Boycott was a poor fielder when he first emerged,but through hard work he turned himself into a competent one. Knight may never be a brilliant fielder but he can improve. Im not knocking the lad,he,s done fantastically well so far,but with all the one day cricket we play nowadays there is little room for passengers.
Just a quick word about being 17, which some of you (like me) just might remember vaguely. I remember all sorts of insecurities without having failings paraded in public.
ReplyDeleteHe has the nerve and composure to bowl tight overs in front of several thousand people in exposed situations that most of us can only imagine. So let's cut him some slack and celebrate what we have, rather than what we'd like. Time enough for that if he hasn't improved in a couple of years. I'd rather our coaches focused his time and attention on his bowling.
In any event, I'd remind you of Fred Swarbrook. No athlete, he'd still run through sightscreens and over covers (literally) trying to take a catch or stop a boundary. Perhaps if he'd been able to focus on his bowling more, his hugely promising career wouldn't have come to the sad end it did.
Swarbrook lost his action as i recall. I can,t really see where fielding had much to do with that. After all,in those days it didn,t really matter too much if you were a bit of a carthorse. Practice used to consist of throwing a few ball to each other as you came out to bowl.Times have changed.
ReplyDeleteBy the way,if he was daft enough to run through sightscreens and advertising boards,there,s little wonder his career came to a premature end.
ReplyDeleteNot so much his action as his delivery. He got to the point where he didn't know how or when to let the ball go. Might be an article in Fred shortly...
ReplyDelete