DERBYSHIRE are to hold their awards night next Wednesday and it will be interesting to see who takes the top prize as the player of the year.

There are three very good candidates for the 2008 award and whichever of them takes the trophy, it will be hard to argue against the decision.

Chris Rogers has been all you could hope for from your overseas player. The Australian scored 1,372 first-class runs – more than twice as many as any other Derbyshire player and the second-highest tally in the country before this last round of Championship matches.

He was also by some margin Derbyshire's highest run-scorer in one-day matches this season and took on the extra burden of captaincy late in the season to good effect and without any disruption to his own productivity.

Charl Langeveldt, the supporters' club choice as player of the year, has been a class act in a belated first full season of county cricket.

A haul of 55 Championship wickets, at an average of 22.50 in only 12 matches, compares favourably with the returns of any bowler in the country and the calm assurance and knowledge the South African has brought the Derbyshire dressing room has been invaluable.

But if I had a vote in the award, it would go to Graham Wagg.

Statistically alone, he has a good case. Wagg was Derbyshire's leading wicket-taker in all limited-overs cricket this season and currently leads the way in the first-class game as well, with 57 at 25.75.

The 25-year-old has also completed the all-rounder's double for a second successive season, adding 527 first-class runs to his contribution, which included a maiden hundred, at Northampton in July.

What is really encouraging is that Wagg is getting better and better, because he is still plainly developing as a cricketer.

He has always been a terrific fielder and the addition of his role as left-arm spinner has been a real bonus this season. Wouldn't you know it, he actually bowls it rather well and takes wickets.

Wagg has a tremendous appetite for playing the game and just loves to be involved at every opportunity. You suspect that if he could bowl at both ends and go out to bat two or three times per innings, he would.

What makes his effort this year even more remarkable is that he has been playing for the whole of this season with injury. His back has been a concern all year and may need surgery in the winter, while shin splints have been an additional problem through the second half of the campaign.

Yet how many matches has he sat out? One Championship and one Friends Provident Trophy match early in the season, when he was taken into hospital with an asthma attack, and the Pro40 game at Cardiff, which had nothing resting on it.

Wagg's extraordinary efforts are much appreciated by his coach and team-mates.

"He has the ability to be whatever he wants to be," said head of cricket John Morris. "He's got to be consistent with it and do it on a regular basis but he is a talent, no doubt about it.

"Credit to the people who were here before me for giving him the opportunity to come back into the game and put his problems behind him, because he's invaluable to this team and this club."

Team-mate Langeveldt added: "He gives 100 per cent every time he walks on the field and that to me is very important.

"He's the type of guy who, when nothing is happening, you give the ball to him and he makes something happen and that's what you need in a team.

"He's had a good season with the ball and the bat and is one of those players you can't leave out of the team."

It has to be remembered that this season has been only the second full campaign of the 25-year-old's career and the Championship match at Leicester, starting today, will be his 50th first-class game.

The question is – how far can he go?

The England selectors must have at least taken notice. There are not many other players around who can bowl left-arm at a decent pace with swing and can score useful runs too, though Wagg may have to bowl with greater discipline to keep the runs down before he is a serious contender for an international call.

Certainly, he has to be considered a possible future Derbyshire captain.

Wagg has a good cricket brain and has a potential which was recognised on the pre-season trip to Grenada, when he captained one of the sides in their inter-squad matches.

However, it is still early for him yet and Wagg could probably benefit from another couple of seasons at least to concentrate on his own responsibilities before he adds another.

One day, however, we may well see Wagg lead out the Derbyshire team. By then, we may also have seen more of what he is capable of as a player because my suspicion is the best is yet to come.