It is all uphill here after being bowled out for under 200 on the first day.
To be fair, the eventual total of 194 was more than expected when both Steve Stubbings and Dom Telo were back in the pavilion before we'd reached double figures. It summed up young Telo's season and we'll know a lot about him by his response to these misfortunes.
Speaking of which, your heart goes out to Mark Lawson. Having impressed in the nets, he earned a Derbyshire debut as part of a four man spin attack, which was probably the reason for the decision to bat first on winning the toss. I would also assume that the omission of Ian Hunter was to give Wayne White another chance to impress as it has left us with a very inexperienced attack.
Anyway, Lawson sustained a broken finger while batting and will be unable to bowl in the match. This makes any decision on his future more problematic, so I'll make this week's poll on your thoughts on his future.
Dan Redfern showed his usual class when batting and Greg Smith and Tom New showed their ability. So too did Ross Whiteley on first class debut but no one stayed long enough to enable a big first innings score. With Graham Wagg, Wayne White and Whiteley as the seam attack and Greg Smith, Redfern and Jake Needham to bowl spin, a certain Mr Ackerman must tonight be thinking of boosting his season average. meanwhile Botha Dippenaar must surely score runs here or be out on his ear, having had a shocking season at Leicester.
So tonight the thinking money is on a defeat for the Derbyshire Academy, but the game could have important repercussions for several players, all of whom are staking a claim for next season on the staff.
Stubbo, White and Whiteley are all effectively playing for a contract, while Telo must be desperate for some runs to take into the winter. Tom New will be out to impress his own county and a potential suitor, but tonight Mark Lawson must be desolate after a bad piece of luck that has ended his season prematurely.
It would be a shame if it did the same to his career at Derby. Time will tell.
Bugger, I'd not heard about the injury until I read this. I'm not sure we'd have learnt too much about him from one end of season game anyway. Its a shame for the lad that he can't prove himself but anyone could have a great or a poor game and it wouldn't mean much either way. There don't seem to be many spin options around and I wouldn't have thought he'd be on massive wages so I'd sign him.
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