westoelad wrote:I would expect a senior player to be a mentor regardless and I regarded Onions attitude a tad selfish. Surely it's perfectly reasonable to put a caveat of "conditional on fitness" on a 35 year old fast bowler with a back condition, particularly when the club have been twice bitten with Harmison and Blackwell. The fact that Rimmington was given a 2 year contract suggests that had Onions lowered his financial demands he could have been granted an extended contract. It's sad that he's departed with a touch of bitterness.
Yes, it's a shame how it ended. I can understand why Durham felt they couldn't agree to his demands and Colly has had the sort of one year rolling contract for several years so Onions could have followed his example.
My worry though is once they decided not to agree to his terms they really needed to go out and sign a couple of top class bowlers and they haven't done it - even if Rmmington turns out to be a star I fear we are still a little weak given Rushy is almost certainly past his best and the younger bowlers all seem to be Paul Coughlin types - talented but injury prone.