by Andy Wilson


For large chunks of July and August, and even into early September, there was a tangible feelgood factor at Derby, even though the Peakites were to finish sixth in Division Two.

That reflected, perhaps, a lack of expectation surrounding John Morris’s lower league battlers, but the former Derbyshire and England batsman has begun to build something of substance – even if the structure owes much to a collection of foreign imports.

Derbyshire were the worst offenders in the country – a pejorative term which nevertheless seems suitable – in fielding nine ‘foreigners’ in addition to Chris Rogers, the official overseas player, who again provided outstanding value as opener and captain.

But the policy seemed to be working in mid-season as a victory over Gloucestershire at Cheltenham fired them into promotion contention. It was set up by a debut century from Wayne Madsen, a former South Africa hockey international who had been playing for Unsworth in the Central Lancashire League, and qualified for a European passport through his Italian grandmother.

Tim Groenewald - another Kolpak recruit, from Warwickshire - also played a key role in that performance, as did Greg Smith, who had his best season for the county.

So it was hard to have too much sympathy when Derbyshire’s promotion challenge petered out with their failure to convert potential winning positions at Leicester, Uxbridge or against Northamptonshire at Chesterfield – a defeat for which they gained pyrrhic revenge when Rogers’s desperate declaration allowed Essex to claim a victory that denied Northants promotion on the last day of the season.

Other than Rogers’s consistency at the top of the order, a couple of promising cameos by Dan Redfern, and Graeme Wagg’s increasingly regular willingness to switch from left arm seam to spin in the course of a match, innings – or, occasionally, over - the highlight of Derbyshire’s season was the sight of Steffan Jones, shirt unbuttoned to the naval, swaggering in once again from the pavilion end.

His recruitment in mid-season, on loan from Somerset, proved an inspired move by Morris, who juggled his limited resources shrewdly enough to earn a two-year extension to his contract – even if by the end of the season he, too, was suffering from the inability to fulfil raised expectations.

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