Glamorgan v Derbyshire day 2

Houston, we have a problem...

After two days in Wales we're facing a bigger uphill climb than someone standing at the bottom of Everest. Having posted a semi-decent first innings only thanks to the lower order (again), our bowlers have had some serious tap and we are already behind with the home side still having seven wickets in hand.

As Charles Gibson says on the BBC 606 site, we need to start posting a first innings total and things will be easier for us. Geoff Boycott has often commented on looking at a batting total and then considering if it looks as healthy with two more wickets down. We're losing two, sometimes three quick wickets in most innings and at the moments there's nothing can be done about it. John Sadler, Dominic Telo and to a lesser extent Steve Stubbings are all out of touch at present, but there's really no alternative. With Greg Smith still out for a while, Wavell Hinds not arriving (if he signs the Kolpak deal) until June and Dan Redfern and Paul Borrington in the middle of exams, we have no other batsmen.

We've also chosen this innings for what appears to be our least disciplined bowling of the season, with only Jon Clare and Jake Needham bowling with anything like the required control. With Langeveldt, Wagg and Doshi all going for above four an over, Glamorgan have made hay and we're set for our first defeat of the season unless we bowl much better today and then bat considerably better.

It would be unfair to be too harsh, as I don't think we've become world-beaters overnight, but with the exception of Clare, Needham and captain for the game Chris Rogers, we've performed pretty poorly here. I just hope that this is a blip and that we've simply had a bad one, rather than having over-performed to date with this being what we can expect as the norm.

It was interesting seeing Robert Croft reach his 900 wicket milestone in this game. Were it not for the games against us each year, he'd be on about 750, as we always seem to make him look like a cross between Jim Laker and Muttiah Muralitharan. If Glamorgan get a lead of 150 or more he'll be keen to get out there and head for the thousand.

Hopefully later today I'm reporting on an improved day for us, we can only hope so.

Apologies for the less frequent articles this week, but having sustained a cracked rib in a 20/20 on Tuesday evening (I didn't pick up a full toss from a quick bowler), we've had a surprise visit from my best mate over from America for a couple of days. As they say in all the best circles, normal service will be resumed as soon as possible - i.e. over the weekend!