Sunday 15 May 2011

Sussex v Derbyshire Pro 40

Well, we slipped to a heavy defeat today and from our previous high standards of fielding, but these things happen and the record between the two sides is thus 1-1. That's not bad against a team that today fielded six internationals.

The most important thing now is to refocus and get everyone ready for the game against the Netherlands, when we will want - and need - to avenge the defeat at the County Ground.

We lost our way in the Powerplay today and the wheels came off an innings that looked like it could get to 220-230. Realistically, even that wouldn't have been enough and we were well beaten by the better side. There was again good batting from Wes Durston and Wayne Madsen, though sadly little support from elsewhere on this occasion.

Apparently a commentator today asked how much the defeat owed to the dismissal of John Morris. The answer, of course, being about as much as the near-victory against Essex at the County Ground on Friday did.

Absolutely nothing.

We're not world-beaters and never were. If the team all work hard they could, on a good day, surprise opponents who take them lightly and on others could get a doing, which happened today. It happens to all teams and if you're looking for another example, look at how poorly Hampshire are currently doing, despite a massive outlay on players.

Just need to get it back in the next one...

19 comments:

  1. Fair comments peakfan. We weren,t just beaten,we were thrashed. We HAVE to beat Holland now,no excuses. I still maintain Park should be at 3 and Hughes at 4.Opening with Hughes is not working. There were 8 players today who can and do bowl.We only need 5 or possibly 6 so lets play a couple of extra batsmen. We are far too reliant on Durston and Madsen and some of the others need to make a much bigger contribution.

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  2. Might be worth a try Marc. Need someone else to chip in for sure and Park deserves a chance

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  3. I am sorry but if John Morris had been in charge today and we would have got thrashed like that then this website would have been filled with people wanting him sacked.

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  4. I'm glad I cancelled my trip to Hove today. By all accounts we were shocking.

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  5. How dare the other website look to change the name of 'In Morris we Trust'. We can't change the name. John was the best man for us, sacked on a rich boy's whim. The website name should live on as a mark of respect to John.

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  6. Leaving it as "In Morris we trust" is a bit pointless now,isnt it?. They trusted captain Smith on the Titanic and look where that ended up!.

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  7. I am a very worried man tonight. One thing about John was that his team would have discipline. The team run by the players and the youth team trainer concerns me. Hopefully we won't go the same way as the Titanic but I am very worried that we might undue all the great work John and Andy did.

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  8. Holland might be cosy though, Chris, Griff and the players can all be friends.

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  9. I am one confused supporter. We supposeddly sacked John Morris citing his team selection as a problem. We played today though with exactly the same team!

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  10. Good point mate!

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  11. Peakfan, I won't blame you if you decide to change your "come all ye" approach to comments if this is an example. Every poor performance now is going to provoke this sort of response.

    This was the same team that were beaten by Netherlands a few weeks ago, and three good results against struggling or weak teams didn't (as some assumed) mean we were world-beaters or that John Morris was a genius. By the same token, one poor result doesn't mean that sacking him was a mistake. Sussex might also have learned something from their defeat by us a couple of weeks ago, and didn't make the same mistake twice.

    I agree with Marc's point about Gary Park. I think I'm right that all of his 2009 performances were at 3 and since then he seems to have batted everywhere else except there. I think he has the quality to bat anywhere eventually, but perhaps his confidence will be helped by batting in a position he succeeded in.

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  12. Wary of posting twice after midnight but I've only just seen this from the Daily Telegraph site, otherwise I might have included it in the previous.

    To put things into perspective...

    "It was Sussex’s fourth successive crushing win at home."

    More worringly...

    "It was a limp effort from new captain-keeper-player-joint-coach Luke Sutton’s side, although Sutton did manage to extricate himself from one of his responsibilities by getting out first ball. Yet a team short on inspiration but high on pplication can still make a game of it. And at crucial times, Derbyshire were found wanting."

    Finally, a classic piece of punning writing...

    "After the revolution, what? While the coup may have been intended to liberate them from John Morris’s guileless, divisive management style...the wisdom of their decision will ultimately be borne out by results; the proof of the feuding will be in the beating."

    Take a bow, Jonathan Liew!

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  13. Anonymous said...

    How dare the other website look to change the name of 'In Morris we Trust'. We can't change the name. John was the best man for us, sacked on a rich boy's whim. The website name should live on as a mark of respect to John
    -----------
    That's a joke right? Mark of respect? He hasn't passed away he just got the bullet.

    You can always take the name on yourself as its no longer in use and resurrect the forum it if you feel that strongly

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  14. I have to share some concerns with my brother's previous post. In John Morris we had a born leader who could make a decision and a man would would live or die on his sword. When you walked onto the county ground you knew his was in charge. He was called arrogant but when you have got 40 centuries for the club plus 100 fifties and been capped by England in test and one dayers we could afford him a little arrogance. Now we have Luke, Steff, Krik and Tony B running the show I am not sure you is going to take responsibility for horror shows like yesterday. My other concern is that taking Krik away from his duties with the young players then it might go pear shaped at both ends.

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  15. Cricket is a strange game. Within a team an individual can score a ton,take umpteen wickets and still be on the losing side.By the same token,that player scores nothing,gets clattered all round the park and ends up on the winning side. Individuals have to be assessed,critically or otherwise,within the framework of the team. What results this season will ultimately prove is whether this team,as a whole,is good enough and if not,why not. We have some players who are good county cricketers,no doubt about that,on the other hand there are those i personally believe do not have what it takes to play at this level.Potential is one thing,turning it into something more tangiable is a different matter. What we all share is a desire to see Derbyshire succeed. Opinions on how that may be achieved will always vary and will often be contrary to yours,or mine. I will conclude by saying this:- Last season was John Morris,s third in charge,not his first or second and we finished bottom of the pile.Our one day results were equally woeful. It is impossible to finish any lower,so occupying a place second from bottom would,in some quarters, be viewed as progress.We must set our sights high. To over achieve is impossible,to under achieve is always the easy option.

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  16. No concerns about the Academy. As I wrote the other night, they're in excellent hands in Howard Dytham who is Level 4 coach and both highly regarded in the club and outside. He was head-hunted by the ECB but returnede as he preferred the post at Derbyshire. As for taking responsibility, Krikk is now the man in charge so he will - end of story.

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  17. I was at Hove and Derbys were shocking. By all means look on the bright side if you like, but they were awful and there wasn't much bright at all. Sussex fans were openly laughing at some of Sutton's pitiful antics of field changes etc. Chucking out Morris mid-season will look a hell of a mistake if there are many more such performances, and it's no coincidence that Sussex are a success when they have stability and a committed core of solid pros instead of our revolving door approach.

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  18. How would Morris,s presence have affected field placings etc. Has he got a walkie talkie to Sutton?.

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  19. I forgot to add,even if he did, Sutton would probably have it switched off!.

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