County Championship - Warwickshire vs Derbyshire Preview

FILE PHOTO: Tom Poynton retained the gloves

Derbyshire’s first squad of the 2013 season has been announced by Karl Krikken and reads as follows:

Wayne MadsenBilly GodlemanChesney HughesShivnarine ChanderpaulWes DurstonDan RedfernRoss WhiteleyDavid WainwrightTom PoyntonJonathan ClareTony PalladinoTim GroenewaldMark Turner

It is as I suggested earlier, with Tom Poynton retaining the gloves after, as Karl Krikken points out in the Derby Evening Telegraph, doing nothing to warrant losing them. I am sure that Richard Johnson will keep working away, at the same time that Poynton will be aware that standards need to be maintained at his usual high level.

Derbyshire could play an extra batsman and include Chesney Hughes at the expense of David Wainwright, or they could play all four front line seamers, plus all-rounder Ross Whiteley, though the latter seems the less likely scenario for me.

Given that heavy rain seems likely to wipe out at least one of the days, this appears set to be a three-day game. The wicket isn’t likely to turn appreciably at this early stage of the season, so an extra batsman with Hughes and Durston to bowl spin may be the way we go tomorrow.

I’m delighted to see that Chesney is now England-qualified and he has every possibility of forcing his way into the minds of national selectors in the years ahead if he continues to listen to his coaches, work at his game and learn from the undeniable ‘great ‘ playing alongside him in Shivnarine Chanderpaul.

Shiv may score thousands of runs in the next two/three summers, but even that achievement could be dwarfed by his example and assistance to the very talented young players who will have an opportunity to work alongside him during that time.

As for Warwickshire, they have been dealt a blow by England withdrawing Chris Woakes from their side, which is already shorn of Paul Best, Boyd Rankin and Keith Barker. Chris Wright will be the danger man, though Woakes’ withdrawal through ‘tiredness’ will widen a few eyes at this stage of the summer. He had only occasional cricket in the winter and older fans, who saw the likes of Jackson and Gladwin bowl well over a thousand overs a summer, will be bemused.

“Tired?” said my old man when I broke the news to him. “He needs a few shifts down the pit…THEN he’d be tired…” As a comment it neglected the fact that there are precious few pits left, but the sentiment was patently obvious.

Not that Derbyshire will complain. Warwickshire have yet to announce a side, but as reigning county champions, will be stiff opponents. Oliver Hannon-Dalby, a winter signing from Yorkshire, is likely to play, while youngster Tom Milnes and all-rounder Ricki Clarke should make up the rest of their seam attack.

I’m going to predict a draw for this one, unless the wicket is really tricky, in which case our lads are as likely to cause havoc as theirs.

The countdown timer is nearly at zero, the season has arrived, winter has gone. Cricket is here once again.

Go get ‘em boys. Do us proud.