Derbyshire: Wayne Madsen, Zander de Bruyn and something for the weekend

File Photo: Wayne Madsen of Derbyshire off drives for four

Sorry about the lack of blogging last night, but it was a busy one. There was a trip into Glasgow for a couple of hours, followed by time spent attempting to salvage a team from the debris of my work side’s game against my club tomorrow.

I have a magnificent seven when all is said and done, which effectively rules out such niceties as a slip, third man or fine leg, but will focus the bowlers on line and length and means that point and square leg have a lot of ground to cover. Think mid off will do me quite nicely thank you, oh, and do feel free to mail me if you fancy an early start and a game. We don’t start till 1pm. An easy run from Derby in that time and still home in time for midnight.

First tonight, sincere congratulations to Wayne Madsen on winning the Christopher Martin-Jenkins Spirit of Cricket award, the result of his ‘walking’ when given not out in his first innings against Yorkshire at Chesterfield. Coming, as it did, in a summer when the ‘walking’ controversy over Stuart Broad in the Test series ran deep, it was sure to make an impression and deservedly did so.

Then again, it highlights for the wider cricketing world what we at Derbyshire know – that Madsen is a diamond of a man and player who we are lucky to have at the county. John Morris brought some good players here and Madsen was his crowning glory. Even John probably didn’t see him leading us to a trophy in his first full season as skipper, nor setting the tone for a late season fightback when we were nearly dead and buried.

On and off the pitch he is a model professional and an ideal figure head for the club. He thoroughly deserves the award, as he does the Player of the Year award that will almost certainly head his way once more at the end of the season.

Off the pitch, a player was released yesterday who is the sort that would have been good for us at his best.

Zander de Bruyn is the player, a casualty of a poor summer at The Oval. At 38, he is not unduly old and will look at the example of Murray Goodwin and consider continuing his career elsewhere. A career batting average just under 40 and over 250 wickets tells of a good cricketer, though his statistics this summer suggest one whose talents may be on the wane.

Then again, an opportunity elsewhere might give him a new lease of life and I think that a middle order player of experience – especially one who could offer balance as a seamer – would be an asset to us for 2014. Mind you, I doubt a Surrey salary will be on offer in many places around the county circuit, so the player may need to adjust his financial needs to get another playing engagement – assuming he hasn’t alternative plans, of course.

Finally tonight, the groups have been drawn for next summer’s as yet unnamed fifty-over competition, which may yet end up being called something catchy like “the YB50″. We’re in group A – naturally – and those groups in full are:

Group A: Derbyshire, Hampshire, Lancashire, Leicestershire, Worcestershire, Northamptonshire, Yorkshire, Gloucestershire, Essex

Group B: Surrey, Kent, Glamorgan, Middlesex, Nottinghamshire, Warwickshire, Somerset, Durham, Sussex

Four home and four away games and we start on -2 points as things stand. Not a bad group though and at least some different opposition to the usual T20 groupings.

More soon, with a look at this week’s game against Warwickshire. First, though, cue the music for the Magnificent Seven.

For tomorrow we ride.