Thoughts on last night

Totally agree with John Morris about last night. For me, it was the low point of the season so far. We played badly against Lancashire but I can live with losing against Lancashire to some extent.

Last night should have been a breeze and as Morris said, chasing 145 on a good track its a case of rotating the strike and keeping the board ticking over. We failed abjectly and there have to be questions asked of batsmen who should be better than they showed last night.

Thirty dot balls in an innings that lasts only 120 in total is shocking. I don't care how the opposition bowl, as a batsman the onus is on you to get it away. Scoop it, squirt it, hey - even hit it. Especially galling last night was that we ended up 15 runs short with so many wickets in hand. Pipe, Wagg and Groenewald - all players who can hit a ball, were sat padded up and never got a hit.

Now I like Garry Park, who has shown himself a fine all round cricketer since he joined the county from Durham. Last night, however, he never came to terms with things and should have got out. The old adage of "hit out or get out" was never more relevant than in those closing overs. Maybe an over of Pipe or Wagg at their best might have swung it. We'll never know.

Tonight on the radio I heard Dermot Reeve talking about playing 20/20 and it made for fascinating listening. He said that he tells his teams that if you win the toss in these matches, you always bowl. Firstly, teams often over reach and you may end up only chasing 120. Secondly you can see what the wicket is like and can assess the areas you can hit safely. Makes sense when you think about it.

Then he talked about batting and said that losing wickets early didn't matter if it came as a consequence of attempting a flyer. He said that being 5-3 off 2 overs could be turned into 140, but 30-1 off 6 rarely saw a team go on to win. In the past week we have been five an over from six overs in most games and we've lost all four...

John Morris has hinted at changes in the remaining 20/20 games. I think we need a hitter at the top of the innings. Maybe Dan Birch, maybe Groenewald, but SOMEONE has to go for it. I cannot see us making 50 from the first five overs as things stand. I'd also drop Park down to 7 or even 8 in these games. He's not a quick enough scorer in the normal run of things. I know he got 50 in the first game, but hasn't looked like repeating it. We need someone to take advantage of fielding restrictions early on and Park would be my insurance against collapse.

Personally, I think the 20/20 is gone now. I can't see us winning at least three of the remaining games, though I'd love to be proved wrong. Until last night I thought we were at least more competitive this year, but last night was dreadfully poor.

Tomorrow sees a return to Chesterfield and a game against Gloucestershire in the proper form of the game, four days. Steve Stubbings and Dan Redfern return to this side

Rogers
Stubbings
Park
Redfern
Hinds
Smith
Pipe
Wagg
Lungley
Hunter
Lawson

The vistors have named a 13-man squad, namely:

Kadeer Ali
G.Hodnett
H.Marshall
C.Spearman
A.Gidman (capt)
C.Taylor
S.Snell (wkt)
R.Dawson
J.Lewis
A.Ireland
S.Kirby
T.Stayt
G.Hussain

With a strong batting line up and good seam attack, Gloucestershire will be a test for Derbyshire. I maintain we're better suited for this form of the game than any other, but we need to return to winning ways, sooner rather than later. If the weather stays out of it, this should be a good game in the most idyllic surroundings you could wish for.

As I close England are on the verge of defeat by the Netherlands.

And we think we're bad...