Northants v Derbyshire FP Trophy

Derbyshire produced a professional display to beat Northamptonshire in a game that ebbed and flowed after we had produced our best batting of the season in posting 286-9.

This impressive score was based on good contributions from our holy trimuvirate with Stuart Law (pictured) leading the way with an imperious 95, Wavell posting another good score with 57 and the newly arrived skipper hitting 42 before holing out on the boundary edge.

When you arrive at a new club with the career average that Law has accumulated in the past 20 years there is little left to prove. His comments on arrival that it was more than just about his runs were valid, but there is no doubt that he will sleep easier tonight having shown the county's fans what an outstanding batsman he is.

Rogers batted remarkably well too for a man who must be pretty jetlagged and I loved Dave Griffin's comments on the radio this afternoon about Buck's arrival in this country. Did he want to go home for a rest? No, he wanted to go to the ground for a hit and some exercise - exactly what you want from your overseas pro and your skipper. When the two Aussies were posting their second wicket stand, my mind was cast back to the last time I felt so good about a Derbyshire line-up, which was in the halcyon days of Wright and Kirsten. When those two were going well you thought a win was a formality and there was a similar air from Rogers and Law today.

Wavell's knock added to his excellent record in this year's FP Trophy and its funny to think we were moaning about him (me included) a week or two back.

After Law and Hinds were dismissed we lost our way a little but the late assault by Graham Wagg which saw him lift three huge sixes (and hurt himself in the process) took us to an eminently defendable total.

Yet when Wessels and O'Brien stormed from the blocks with a stand of 66 in around nine overs we looked in serious trouble. Wagg was only able to bowl three expensive overs and Garry Park was also expensive today. The advent of Tim Groenewald was a key factor, as the middle order was strangled effectively. Derbyshire's bowling options stood them in good stead too, with Dan Redfern doing a good job and removing Mark Nelson after the youngster threatened a late challenge and there was no need for Wavell to turn his arm over as Derbyshire eventually won comfortably.

With Essex soundly beating Lancashire, the group is again wide open and our game on Wednesday is a really big one. The weather forecast doesn't look too clever for this one and it may be that any game is truncated at best. At the halfway stage Lancashire and Essex have 6 points from four games and we have 4. Our destiny is very much in our own hands and with better luck with the toss in the remaining matches (we lost it again today but did OK in the end) we could still sneak into the business places.

Again though, today was a new Derbyshire playing with purpose, confidence and no little skill. It's been a long time since we were able to say that about our one day form and the side are to be roundly applauded for their efforts. Well done guys.