Derbyshire v Glamorgan day 3

Those two little pals of mine.... Peterson and...er....Smith.

With apologies to calypso lovers everywhere (so many tune in to this blog, you wouldn't believe it) I can't recall the last time a Derbyshire SPIN duo took us to within sight of victory in a Championship match.

Well I can, actually. It was probably Geoff Miller and Fred Swarbrook, unless it was Geoff Miller and Dallas Moir. There's a few observations about today to get through, so I'll crack on.

Firstly, Greg Smith. A well known brand of lager doesn't arrange cricket matches, but if they did, they'd have sorted Greg Smith's. A wicket in the first innings, four in the second and a career-best unbeaten 165 in between. Yup, that's a fine display.

All things being equal, we should win this game before lunch tomorrow. I don't think it will necessarily be easy, but with nine wickets in hand and ninety-five to win we would need to produce the mother of all cobblers displays to lose from here. Had our opposition had Robert Croft in the side I would have had more concerns, but I expect us to win tomorrow and move to the top of the table.

We did very well to bowl out Glamorgan today when lacking one of our three seamers, with Graham Wagg unable to bowl at all. Steffan Jones and Tom Lungley made early breakthroughs and there were again wickets for the admirable Mr Peterson, but Smith ripped out the late middle order with his off spin to take Derbyshire to a good position with a day to go.

Credit is also due to Garry Park, who followed a good knock with two key wickets today. He is another player who is emerging as a key member of the side and gives us good balance, while Peterson has made one of the quickest positive impressions of any Derbyshire overseas import. Only two an over went from him today, putting pressure on scoring from the other end, where Smith bowled beautifully. For an average player (eh, Steve James?) he played a blinder and in this form must attract the national selectors attention at some point. There's not many out there can bat stylishly, bowl seam, spin and field brilliantly and if he maintains this form it will be to everyone's benefit.

Two other observations. Firstly, there was great discipline from the bowlers and no byes in a very tidy display by Lee Goddard. Steffan Jones said yesterday that the bowlers have been working on hitting the top of off stump and keeping tight lines, which looks to be reaping dividends. Jones himself hit his bowling straps in this game and his stand today made a huge difference to the course of the match. Last night I suggested another thirty runs would be useful. We got 78 from the last pair, a superb effort.

Finally, mention should be made of the pitches at the County Ground this season. Two matches, two results. Won one (hopefully), lost one, but the groundsman, Neil Godrich, can only provide a result track and the rest is down to the players. If he can keep them like that for the rest of the season, with two good spinners we won't be too far away when it matters.

Let's just finish it tomorrow lads, then it's off to that batting paradise known as Bristol...