Derbyshire v Kent day 2

Wow...

There seems to have been a bit of a positive surge in the poll for this week, somewhat emphatically backed by today's performance.

In a nutshell, there can have been few days in recent, or indeed distant memory where Derbyshire have so thoroughly dominated very good opposition as they have today.

Last night I suggested that early wickets might change things a little and Derbyshire ripped through the Kent lower order as an overnight 232-5 became 281 all out. The Jones boy 20 overs for 35 runs and five wickets. That's Les Jackson territory, hostility and accuracy and confirmation that we really do need to sign this chap for next year. He was well supported by Tom Lungley's three wickets while Graham Wagg and Tim Groenewald got one each.

Then it was time for the skipper to come out with a biggie and he responded in fine style. I wrote a couple of weeks ago that I thought Rogers and Madsen could be an outstanding opening pair, yet this was our first opening stand of a century this season. Extraordinary! Should they get to 200 tomorrow it would be only the twelfth time in the club's history that an opening pair has reached that milestone. Extraordinary to the power ten...

At the close we were 186-0, just 95 runs behind and Chris Rogers (pictured) is just 32 runs away from completing his 1,000 for the season. He and Madsen have an interesting competition going on for top of the averages, with the skipper at 60 and the so-impressive Madsen just under 59 per innings.

What now for the game? Well, the next two days look good weather-wise, so tomorrow we'll hope to be ahead by lunch, flogging it before tea and having them in again before stumps. Key to it all again (deja vu anyone?) is bowling them out a second time. They're top of the league because they've played consistently good cricket this year, but in six days against them we've probably only lost 2 sessions. Yesterday after lunch they got away a bit, and after lunch on the last day at Canterbury they did the same, before we hit back, too late, after tea.

The only down side about the day was that Gloucestershire and Northamptonshire both did well. Still, no point worrying about what you can't affect. This was a terrific day for Derbyshire cricket and its fans.

It was topped off by the news late tonight that John Morris has signed a new two-year deal at the club. Regular readers will know I think Morris is going in the right direction, and tonight 80% of those in the poll seem to think the same.

Well done guys!