Derbyshire v Australia A day one

I guess I didn't go too far in my assessment of the strength of the Australian A side the other night.

A composed century by Ed Cowan and 81 from George Bailey amply  illustrated the talents of the two men I picked out as their star turns. It was hardly rocket science to be fair, with Bailey the national side's one-day captain, while Cowan is one of the pretenders to the various batting thrones within the side.

I could see merit in the investigation of his availability next summer to be honest, as a batsman in the Chris Rogers mould who has a sound technique and a good range of strokes. For all his talents, I don't see him breaking into the Australian one-day side for the ICC Trophy and he could more than adequately fill one of our problematic opening berths. Having said that, I have no doubt that several counties would be interested in such a player, especially after his debut century (and cap) for Gloucestershire a couple of weeks back.

Derbyshire didn't do too badly on what appears a good batting track, though there was predictable punishment of anything erratic from good batsmen. It was nice to see Mark Footitt back, although he was understandably rusty after several weeks out and was used sparingly.

When it was our turn to bat it was good to see Wayne Madsen back at the top of the order. I know he has his centuries at three this summer, but Madsen is, for me, our best chance of a stabilising influence at the top of the order, where he has previously scored heavily. I hope that he goes on to a big innings tomorrow and would be delighted to see more of the top order do the same.

More from me tomorrow.