Glamorgan v Derbyshire preview

Derbyshire won their opening Championship match in some style at the weekend, while Leicestershire roundly thrashed tomorrow's opponents, Glamorgan. That being the case, if the weather stays out of things Derbyshire should naturally vanquish tomorrow's Welsh opponents with ease.

Of course, you know as well as I do, if you have followed the game for any length of time, that cricket doesn't quite work like that. Just when you think you have it worked out and things are going swimmingly, it has a habit of creeping up on you, smacking you on the head, kneeing you in the groin and walking over your fallen body. Form can go just as quickly as it came, teams can raise their game and you can take things for granted.

This is what Karl Krikken and Wayne Madsen now need to guard against. We beat Northamptonshire - a team I would regard as better than Glamorgan - with a brilliant, focussed team performance that has rarely been bettered in recent years. Anything less than that could see us in trouble against opponents  who will be smarting after a hefty defeat in the season opener.

The hosts have named the following 12, which of course sees Graham Wagg face his former team mates:

Rees, Walters, Bragg, Wright, Henriques, Allenby, Wallace (capt), Wagg, Croft, Owen, Cosker, Reed.

It's not a bad side, but by the same token there aren't many that I would swap into ours. Allenby is a dangerous player and we all know what Wagg can do, but there is no James Harris and Moises Henriques is as yet unproven, certainly on our tracks. The early season replacement for Marcus North, Henriques has a decent, if not spectacular record for New South Wales, though I would be surprised if he batted higher than Jim Allenby, a player that Derbyshire chased when he left Leicestershire.

As for Derbyshire, the old maxim "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" applies quite nicely. The only thing "broke" is Tim Groenewald's groin, so I would expect Jon Clare to take his place in the side. Mark Turner and Ally Evans will also be along just in case, but the Derbyshire side is likely to take the field as follows:

Guptill, Borrington, Madsen (captain), Durston, Redfern, Whiteley, Clare, Wainwright, Poynton, Palladino, Footitt.

The weather forecast isn't great for the next few days and that might legislate against a positive result. The reassurance against some recent trips to Wales, however, is that in Wainwright and Durston we have our own spin bowlers to counter Croft and Cosker. By the same token, our seam attack is stronger, as is the batting.

All we need to do now is prove that on the pitch - starting tomorrow.