What a weird, unexpected day that was.
Derbyshire's talented, valuable lower order will never have a better incentive than they have tomorrow, with the side in a tricky position of 163-5, chasing their opponents 400 at Northampton. 88 more to avoid the follow on and then more runs to gain parity is the target, with plenty of good batting to come. Batting bonus points, irrespective of the eventual result will be massive.
Why? Because Hampshire imploded spectacularly against Leicestershire, with Derbyshire old boy Wayne White doing us a huge favour with a fine all-round display. 175 ahead on first innings, our local rivals chose not to enforce the follow on, partly because the bowlers will have been tired and partly because they would then have Hampshire on a wearing last day pitch. At 68-2 second time around, a lead of 243 after two days is a position of great strength and Hampshire will need an extraordinary effort to pull something out of the match.
Derbyshire did pretty well to bowl out Northamptonshire for 400, yet the top order fragilities (how often have I written that this summer?) were again in evidence as we slipped to 79-3. A good stand between the skipper and Dan Redfern saw the score to 155 without further loss before the latter, then nightwatchman Tony Palladino went in quick time before the close.
At 155-3 we would have been especially happy tonight, but with Madsen and Whiteley together in the morning we still have the batting in hand to post 300-plus, stay in the game and move a little further away from Hampshire.
In closing tonight a mention for Tony Palladino, whose 5-wicket haul today took him to 46 championship wickets for the summer. It is an outstanding effort by a very good bowler and only Balcombe and Shreck have taken more wickets (48 each) in the division. He has become a real asset to Derbyshire cricket and I hope that we see him pit his talents against the batsmen in the top division next summer.
In the immediate future, that is very much down to the batsmen. Big day tomorrow, time to get the heads down lads!
I bet you we won't get anywhere near 300 peakfan. If we do get promoted this season, then the batting has to be strengthened considerably. It's been poor for the last 3 months, and I still can't believe how we're sitting top of the table. I think we've got our fingers crossed for Leicestershire, because we've blown this match spectacularly.
ReplyDeleteYou might want to retract your words a few nights ago, Peakfan, about the team being on a roll. More like a dogged, spirited limp towards the line, with constant looks over the shoulder to see if any of the chasers are catching up. Even the win against Kent was eked out of the wreckage of the first two and a half days. Fortunately for us, Yorkshire can't take 20 wickets in a match, Kent look as though their fighting spirit has been drained by two failures to finish off beaten opponents, and Hampshire have an even more potent self-destruct first innings button than we have.
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to pick anything really significant from today, but a few sobering thoughts.
Our bowling is starting to run out of steam. We've conceded 400 on first innings twice in succession, and I don't recall that happening once in the season (of course, playing away against teams with stronger batting than bowling and with drier conditions have to be taken into account). Nevertheless, we're dropping bonus points like confetti, and my comment after the Kent game that draws could be enough was premised on picking up a minimum of 9 or 10 points per game.
We haven't passed 300 since early May, and in our last three first innings, have only once reached the follow-on target here, and then only just.
Hampshire has shown great chasing capacity after falling behind on first innings, and if they can bowl out Leicestershire for 250 or less tomorrow, I won't be betting against them chasing 375 to 425 in a day and a half.
Today's batting raises a number of questions for me. How strong was the logic for moving Kuwaija and Durston from 3 and 4 where they had scored runs against Yorkshire to 2 and 3? Or Madsen to 5, where he's never batted before for Derbyshire as far as I can recall. Of course, you can say that K and D have effectively been batting at 2 and 3 because of the early loss of the first wicket, so it makes no difference to have them batting in that position. And that Redfern and Madsen scored runs at 4 and 5. It's all working around the basic problem that we don't have an opening combination that has worked at any stage of the season. I don't see the big innings around the corner for Lineker that Peakfan senses, and he's now had plenty of opportunities. Nor do I see Borrington as the solution - his weight of runs in second XI or league cricket has never translated into first team runs before, and there's no real reason to think it will now other than blind optimism.
I'll go back to an old theme, then. For a team that has struggled all season for runs, and whose promotion chances might be put in real jeopardy as a result, it seems more and more perverse not to give Chesney Hughes the same opportunity as Borrington and Lineker have been given. He can fail five times out of six in the remaining matches and do no worse in those performances than Borrington and Lineker have. What he offers, unlike either of them, is the transcendent innings that he's delivered in the past, which turns a game on its head. Even in a poor year like 2011, he produced a couple of real match-turning jewels. One of these in the remaining six innings could turn a laboured trudge into a triumphal march for us.
Chesney may not be the answer, but he is undoubtedly the unanswered question. If we are dragged back at the winning post, do we really want to be asking "what if we had played Chesney Hughes?"
Ignore my question about the logic of the changes to our batting order today. I understand it was due to Madsen being injured fielding and not being able to open. It doesn't change my unanswered question though.
ReplyDeleteWe're seeing today exactly why Madsen needs to bat down the order, fantastic innings from him with able support from TP.
ReplyDeleteWith regard to the bowling situation I think we may be well served to give either Palladino or Groenewald a rest next week and bring Footitt back. If this doesn't happen I can see the 5 games in 5 weeks with which we finish off the season being problematic. Or maybe create a turning wicket for the Essex game and bring in Knight
Funny Game Cricket!One minute your down, the next minute your up!So many so-called DCCC fans with so little faith in their own teams ability.Every dog has his day and today is ours! Up the Falcons!!
ReplyDeleteYou have to give credit to the team as every time they are struggling someone pulls out the stops to save the situation. Look at the last few weeks - Palladino in the Kent game then Redfern and the other batsmen. Khawaja in the Yorkshire game to get a draw and now Madsen and Poynton in this game. Yes the whole team are not on fire all the time but at least appreciate the fact that they fight till the end unlike teams in previous years. Long may it continue
ReplyDeleteO.k I hold my hands up, I really didn't think we'd make 300 runs today, and I don't think any other fan bar Peakfan did either. Amazing turnaround yet again and it's not beyond the realms of possibility that we might actually now win this game. Well done Madsen and especially well done to young Tom Poynton on his first class century. Add another 50 runs tomorrow, and who knows what might happen.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely extraordinary. I don't think anyone could possibly have anticipated today, especially from 203-7 this morning. It's either the power of negative thinking - whatever you anticipate the opposite happens - or Derbyshire are taking the proverbial - wait until they think all hope is gone and then start playing. The one clear piece of learning is, give Madsen a whack in the chest every time he goes out to bat.
ReplyDeleteClearly, a win is now possible tomorrow with the pitch wearing and Northants spirits surely as low as ours are high after today. Add a bit more negative thinking about the bowling running out of steam and it's as good as done. That would settle the issue, pretty much. With even Hants unlikely to come back against Leics, we would be on 174 points, Hants on 144 (having played a game more), Yorkshire on 131 and Kent on 125. Two of the three would have to win all their games to have a chance of putting us out of the promotion places, and that's obviously as unlikely as - well, Derbyshire making 512 today.
Before we all get carried away though, look at an alternative scenario. We draw, Hampshire win against all the odds, and we are 1 point ahead of Hants, and 30 ahead of Yorkshire. We would still have settled for that at the start of the season, but it's still too tight to be comfortable with unless we start winning. Let's celebrate a great day and a great performance today, but don't forget how close we came to disaster this morning.