After the farce that was last night's game (whoever said Duckworth Lewis helped to make for a fair game of cricket?) the real thing starts tomorrow at Derby, weather-willing.
Both pre-season and since it began I have been extolling the virtues of a Derbyshire championship side that has played aggressive, fearless cricket from the end of March. There have been trials and tribulations over the shorter forms of the game, but in four-day cricket Derbyshire have bowled with penetration and batted with the sort of team ethic to success that other clubs could only dream of.
Tomorrow is effectively the start of six cup finals that we face before the end of the season and we will learn a lot about the mental qualities of our young team over the course of those matches. That they have considerable talent is beyond question. What we now need to know is whether they yet have the mental toughness to win each over, each session, each day of cricket.
We are in an enviable position, ahead with a game in hand on our nearest rivals. Few would have expected us to be doing so well pre-season, but I fancied our chances in this form of the game and the side has produced the goods on a regular basis.
Tomorrow will be a tough match against a Kent side moulded well by ex-West Indies star Jimmy Adams. Last winter they were in disarray, having lost senior players and a coach, yet Adams, well known locally for his time at Dunstall, has pulled together a good squad that mixes youth and experience to good effect.
There's no news as yet on their side, but Derbyshire's Karl Krikken has announced the following squad:
Madsen (c), Lineker, Khawaja, Durston, Redfern, Johnson (wk), Wainwright, Clare, Palladino, Groenewald, Turner, A. Hughes.
The final place in that side will be interesting. Does youngster Alex Hughes slot into the middle order on the back of encouraging all-round performances, or do we play four seamers, including the extra pace of Mark Turner? Had you asked me that question yesterday I might have said yes to Hughes, but today's re-signing of Richard Johnson from Warwickshire gives us a little extra batting that makes the inclusion of Turner less of a threat to the batting strength. I mean no disrespect to Tom Poynton, a cricketer I have a lot of time for, in saying that, but Johnson at this stage of his career offers greater potential for runs and that could be crucial to our chance of success this summer.
My gut feeling is that a positive result in this game is likely to fall victim to the weather, but Derbyshire need to rack up bonus points to further increase their strong position. Your guess is as good as mine as to the type of wicket we will have. One like we enjoyed against Australia A could see us rack up the batting points, but a more typical County Ground track could see a positive result - if the weather isn't too intrusive into the playing time.
Can top of the table Derbyshire (I love saying that) come out on top? You know, I think we can give it a really good go - and with our share of luck, could still be in that position on Sunday evening.
I have to say Peakfan,i,m a bit uneasy looking at the batting. It didn,t really work in the last game with Clare at number 6. This time we have Johnson but i can,t help thinking he may be a slot or two higher than he should be.
ReplyDeleteIt,s a big gamble by Krikken and there is a thin dividing line between being bold and downright reckless. I still think we would look better balanced with Chesney Hughes at 6 and Johnson at 7,plus four seamers.
As it stands, there is a good case for playing five seamers,which would obviously include Alex Hughes. He would,in theory at least,strengthen the lower middle order and allow good rotation of the seamers.
So no Wainwright then?. Not for me in this game. The wicket is unlikely to turn much and his batting has been unconvincing. Don,t jump to conclusions. I rate Wainwright highly but unless we can gurantee he will be effective,it is a waste of a place.
I hope and pray Krikken has called this right and we don,t end up with certain regrets. If we can win this game it will put us in a very useful position and should give us a real boost for the remaining games. My fingers are glued together.
Wainwright had done well and won games for us at the County Ground so I would say he has to play. If the pitch is like the Australia A game then I would expect a spinner to bowl a lot of overs.
ReplyDeleteI do however agree though that the batting looks thin with Clare/Johnson at 6 although am sure Krikken is hoping one of Clare/Johnson/Wainwright and even now Paladino steps up to the plate with the bat.
I can't see A Hughes playing in this game as it would be a huge risk to make his Championship debut in such a big match. As Peakfan states looking at the forecast there would seem to be a reasonable amount of weather disruption so it may end up a battle of bonus points again
Fair points Gary. I understand your thinking and you may be right. As I said previously,I sincerly hope it works for us,whoever plays.
ReplyDeleteI think it is important for the lower end to contribute runs. It happened quite regularly last season but has been much more spasmodic this season. All are capable of doing it though.
I beg to differ slightly with regard to whether Alex Hughes should play. i don,t really see it as a greater risk than playing anyone else. He is just as likely to contribute and if he were to have four seamers around him any pressure would be minimised.
Anyway, all will be revealed in due course and we pick the bones later. Weather looks okay at the moment. Good enough for me to start packing my lunch.