Sunday 22 August 2010

Essex v Derbyshire

I'd to take my socks off this afternoon.

I ran out of fingers in working out the Derbyshire players who stood up to be counted against a strong Essex side and basically hammered them. It confirmed my belief that this is a talented group of players who just need to find a level of consistency to be a useful side. Indeed, it was hard to think that this was the team that suffered the debacle of Horsham. As I have said previously, on a given day we have players good enough to beat anyone, as we showed in the T20. Hopefully greater experience will make them stronger and then able to produce this sort of form more often.

There were strong performances all round, but it was perhaps the fact that we won handsomely without a contribution from Chris Rogers that was most encouraging. Chesney showed more of the form that has made him this year's success story, while Greg Smith again led by example when Rogers was out early and helped in a solid second wicket stand. Wes Durston then played another fine hand and importantly batted through to the end of the innings. He was well supported by Wayne Madsen initially and I'm still of the opinion that the latter would make even more runs in the middle order than he does as opener.

Then came Wagg and the all rounder showed what we will miss with a swashbuckling 36 from just 15 balls. A respectable score of 200 suddenly became a very good 250-plus, although even that was within the range of a strong batting side.

It didn't happen though. Mark Footitt has made a habit this season of dismissing good batsmen and the door was open when he bowled Ravi Bopara. When the ubiquitous Wagg ran out Matt Walker the game was on, with Ryan ten Doeschate at the crease against a team he has made hay against in recent seasons.

But not today. Perhaps THE most telling contribution was that of Jake Needham, who in tandem with Robin Peterson worked through the rest of the order, both men ending up with three wickets. Most importantly, Jake removed ten Doeschate and top scorer Grant Flower in an outstanding spell. When I saw Jake recently on Sky he seemed to have rediscovered the loop that made him look a bowler of talent and his wickets today, following six in the week for the Second Eleven, will have given him confidence.

We won in the end by 85 runs, but most importantly we restored pride and confidence. Some will say that the game wasn't important, but they all are. Any winning habit, at any stage of the season, is a good one to cultivate. The new skipper can reflect on a job well done, while the players can return to Derby with a spring in their step and their heads held high.

If they can follow that up on Tuesday in front of the Sky cameras, there's a few players who will start to believe in themselves. And if Jake Needham can build on this performance, we may not need to look too far for a first choice spinner in 2011.

Special mention too for Steve Adshead, with two catches and a stumping, besides allowing no byes. After being one of the few successes at Horsham, Adshead is making a very good fist of his extended trial and must be in John Morris' thoughts for next year and beyond.

Nice one lads, professional and promising. We can't ask for more than that.

9 comments:

  1. Great performance today. I wished I'd have gone! Now hopefully, to those it applies to, everybody can get off John Morris' back and get behind the team for the rest of the season. Hopefully he will be given a slightly bigger budget for next season. If not he might raise the extra funds to make sure that the likes of Rogers, Smith and Wagg stay with us by releasing a few of the squads weaker players.
    The release of Sadler might free up some cash to pay our 'better' players more and perhaps we might have to look to release the likes of Hunter and maybee Lungley.
    DCCCFOREVER

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  2. Adshead is certainly doing himself no harm and he is the man in possession after all.

    I was interested to read Laurie Evans has become available after being released by Surrey. Okay, he has not had that much 1st class cricket during Adam's tenure, but his record is decent - average 35 (1 ton, 3 50s in 8 matches)and he has also performed well in the 2nds.


    MASTERVILLAIN

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  3. Went to colchester yesterday, and the boys were out-standing. the key period was when the derbyshire spinners came on, they really put the essex batsmen under pressure. also footitt pace was unplayable at times, he must be bowling at 90 +, and the catch that adshead caught was one of the best ive seen, the catching and fielding all match from derbyshire was world class. durston looking like hes going to be a great signing for derbyshire, and it was great to watch waggy smash the ball around at the end. great day for derbyshire and it was good to see the smile back on john morris face.lets hope for same again next week.

    MR ROBIN HOOD.

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  4. Nice to see Needham doing well. I hope we can keep him in the side for the rest of the season in both 40 overs and the Championship. We could have done with a little more variety in our bowling at Horsham. My side for the 4 day game on Wednesday would be;
    Rogers, Madsen, Hughes, Durston, Smith, Peterson, Adshesd, Wagg, Jones, Greonewald and Needham.
    For the one day game I may look to give Whiteley a go instead of Clare.
    DCCCFOREVER

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  5. Whiteley not earned the right to play in the first team, his highest in the 2nds is only 20 odd. Also footitt would be in my team.

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  6. Just seen that Yorkshire have granted Brophy a benefit after only 5 years because he has not been paid a lot by the club. I am thinking that we should look to do something similar in a bid to keep Graham Wagg. We could offer him a decent contract with a benefit at the end of it. I am sure that if he showed loyalty to us the supporters would repay his loyalty and who dig deep to make sure he got a decent benefit. Can someone whisper this idea to Messrs. Loring, Morris and Amott?
    DCCCFOREVER

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  7. Three have left Somerset today:

    Robin Lett - batsman, aged 23

    Ave: 26.73, 5 x 50s

    Michael Munday - leg spinner, aged 24

    86 wickets @ 29.86 (2 x 4 wkts, 4 x 5 wkts, 2 x 10 wkts)

    David Stiff - Seamer (previously with Kent among others).

    43 wickets @ 44.32

    Stiff is a big quickie (6'6'') - I know, I know Cusden was similar - and left Kent at the same time as Stiff did. Apparently Stiff gets up to around 87-88 mph, but I doubt he offers as much as Footitt (or potentially Sheikh).

    Munday interests me far more - yes, I know, we took a flyer with dear old Mr Lawson, but I reckon Munday is far better and his stats add up to more. I recall one of his 10 wicket returns in Somerset's last match of the season a couple of years back. He obviously can take a side out at times. With Khartik and the young and fancied Waller on their books and Blackwell previously, Munday hasn't featured that much.

    If we cannot remedy Peterson's, almost certain, loss via a foreign solution, I reckon Munday might be the best on offer. Perhaps with both him and Needham getting equal opportunity, as Jake seems to be rediscovering his mojo. In a way, I would like us to curb the number of imports anyway - technically we can do it, but it doesn't feel good to me.


    MASTERVILLAIN

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  8. It's allright looking at other people's 'cast offs' but I think the main priority should be to keep hold of our best players first. If we have money to spend I suggest that it would be better to spend it on our players that we know are good (Rogers, Smith and Wagg) rather than take chances.
    DCCCFOREVER

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  9. DCCCFOREVER,

    As things stand, current rules do not allow Rogers return and Wagg looks sold on a change. Smith appears to have been given the Captain's role in an attempt to cement his future with us. Without being fatalistic, it don't look to good on the retention front, particularly with Peterson almost certainly being ineligible too.

    MASTERVILLAIN

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