Years ago, when I was a kid, my Dad introduced me to all sorts of music. Not just the popular stuff of the day which we heard on the radio - I grew up in the Sixties, which was pretty cool - but the older stuff too. So I heard Hank Williams, Bing Crosby, The Mills Brothers, Glenn Miller and many, many more. Some I liked more than others, but it gave me a thorough grounding in music and ensured that my taste remains very eclectic to this day.
One of my favourites was an influential American vocal group called The Ink Spots, who broke ground later trod by the likes of The Platters, The Drifters and more. One of my favourite songs of theirs was the somewhat apposite "Maybe".
Where am I going with this? Well, maybe Derbyshire have now blown it. Maybe we're not good enough to go up. Maybe Yorkshire will beat Essex next week. Maybe Kent will beat Glamorgan. Maybe we will play in division two again next summer. Maybe our batting will fail again next week and we will finish third.
Maybe, maybe, maybe.
Then again, maybe the batting will fire against Hampshire. Maybe one more big effort will take us across the line. Maybe Glamorgan will fight hard to avoid the wooden spoon. Maybe Yorkshire's average attack will struggle to bowl out Essex.
You don't know. I don't know. None of us know.
Now for a fact.
With one game to go, Derbyshire are STILL top of the league. You'd be forgiven for not knowing that, with the comments doing the rounds at present. Without a shadow of a doubt, our batting remains poor at present, flimsy, unreliable and a definite weakness. It will undoubtedly be an area addressed in the winter. It will be a major concern should the unthinkable (for some) happen and we go up.
For what it is worth, I think we have punched above our weight this summer and, given the youth of this side, are way ahead of any schedule anticipated by Karl Krikken, Chris Grant and Wayne Madsen. If we were to go up there's a danger that we could get some serious hammerings next summer. Maybe not on the Derby County/Billy Davies/Premiership scale, but hammerings nonetheless. Perhaps it would be better to be among the favourites for promotion next year, rather than being a bookies certainty to come down. But should that REALLY stop us trying for it? As I've said all along, this is a work in progress, after all. Again, just as Poynton and Redfern have emerged this summer, maybe others will do so in 2013 and we would again surprise a few people. Who, pre-season, expected us to be top with one game to go?
I won't sit here with my laptop on my knee and pretend our batting is good, because it isn't. Generally speaking, we have won matches this summer despite our batting, rather than because of it. Fans are rightly stating that it hasn't been the same since Martin Guptill left, but we need to get used to it as Guptill won't be back next summer, unless we can persuade him to play T20. This is in many ways a typically Derbyshire side, one that wins when the batting gives the bowlers just enough runs to play with. I'm of an era that can remember when Venkat taking 6-115 saw him concede more runs than we had scored, after all...
We all know their faults - they've been debated all summer, of course, but for this next few days, get behind a bunch of young players who have given their all. Perhaps, at the end of it all, it may not be enough, but that should not detract from a summer in which our interest is likely to run to the very last day. Today that young side tried their best but against one of greater experience it was not enough. There were some stirring efforts, with Usman Khawaja, Tom Poynton and Paul Borrington resisting longer than most, but Kent's bowlers proved their betters on the day and fair play to them for doing so. After all yesterday's fuss, Tredwell didn't take a wicket...
We may see that result replicated next week, but if there's one thing I've learned over 45 summers of watching Derbyshire it's that cricket is a funny game. Our batting is a concern, but for now we play with the hand we're dealt and hope that a couple of them come up with the goods. Whatever happens, I know the team will battle to the end and I am proud to support a team that does that.
Maybe next week will be a disappointment, an anti-climax. Then again, maybe we will get more points from our game than Yorkshire and Kent do in theirs. Promotion is just one game away.
Maybe...
Postscript
Quite sad to see "Anon" jumping on here within minutes of tonight's defeat with a sarcastic comment about division one. I still despair of a minority of our "support" who would far sooner lose, so they can have a good moan, than win and celebrate success.
hi peakfan - creweblade here - even though i thought our top order (usman apart on this occasion) was extremely poor and it deflated me considerably this afternoon i will reserve judgement till after next week. We are still top as you say and i just hope our bowlers plus help from the english and welsh weather might help us but we need to maximise the batting and bowling points on offer next week. My big beef is the confidence must be pretty much shot and im not hearing any positive upbeat messages from KK other than winging about Tredwell (agree it was a shambolic ECB decision but he didnt take any wicket at all) - the coach needs to earn his corn this weekend and next week cos he aint done much this season in my view! But with my glass half full view we are top with one game to go and its in our own hands to win or loose
ReplyDeleteOf course we can beat Hampshire but i'm not brave enough to bet on it. Good blog that Peakfan, perhaps we have over achieved this season especially in April,May, when we looked unstoppable. When Guptill left it went pear shaped in my honest opinion and Khawaja has been a really poor replacement. A lot of batting practise between now and Tuesday is essential Mr.Krikken ,and come in Chesney Hughes please. He can't do any worse than messrs. Lineker and Borrington can he?
ReplyDeleteMaybe we can use the loan market. Chopra and Compton would be handy and reading the rules,there is nothing to stop us,other than the fact we would have to pay them for a month.
ReplyDeleteIf not,we have what we have and we have to make do. We must work on the assumption that both Kent and Yorkshire are going to win. That means we have to win aswell and we must set our stall out to do just that.
Hopefully we bat first and prepare a pitch that is suited to either spin or seam,not a halfway house pitch.
It,s probably a bit soon to think in terms of team selection,but given a seamers pitch,which most have been at home,I will pick the following.
1) Hughes (C)
2) Khawaja
3) Whiteley
4) Durston
5) Madsen
6) Redfern
7) Hughes (A)
8) Poynton
9) Groenewald
10 Palladino
11 Footitt
We need some changes both to personnel and batting order. Hughes has to play and open. Madsen bats where he is best and with him,Durston and Redfern we have our best players where they have the best chance of producing some runs. Alex Hughes can bat and offers a bowling option. His inclusion would hardly weaken us,would it?. push Whiteley up to 3. It might not work,but we wont be losing anything if it doesn,t.
Ive gone for an all seam attack with Durston and Hughes (C) providing the spin. This team can get the necessary runs in good time,if it fires. Remember,we are working on the theory we HAVE to win this game.
If we fail in the first innings,then so be it,we will be staying where we are. We cannot afford to be timid and we must go into this game with all guns blazing.
It can still end happily but if we are going to be sorry,then let it be for something we have done,rather than something we haven,t.
A calm and sensible blog and as usual I find myself agreeing with virtually everything you say.
ReplyDeleteOverall this has been a good season even if we finish third. I can remember quite a few years when "as long as we don't come last" has been a target for the second half of the season. So whatever happens next week some well dones are in order.
What is confusing the situation is the way we gained so many more points in the first half of the season than the second. Partly this is due to some loss of form and partly due to the absence of "the best overseas signing in England". However, a big factor is the odd order in which the fixtures were arranged this year. Since the T20 we have played the teams currently 2nd and 3rd twice each and the rest of our fixtures are the teams 4th, 5th and 6th. In these circumstances it is inevitable the points would drop off significantly. Rearrange exactly the same results into a different order and almost everybody would be delighted going into the last match.
I hope we go up having got to this position but promotion is not everything and progress has been made this year. I am glad Tredwell got no wickets today as it removes an element of sourness about a Kent win that I would otherwise have felt. Those two Gloucester give aways to Yorkshire still rankle though. At the end of the season we will still be the only team to have five (or six!!) proper wins with no declarations involved.
SR
Think we need to put this in perspective as there seems to be so many moaners on the forums the last week or so. We are still top -we have more points than Yorkshire, Kent, Essex, Hampshire for a start with all their England 'stars'. If our batting is poor, which I agree it has not been at its best the last few weeks, then what does it say about the others for them still to be behind us? Clearly they are also struggling with their batting this season or their bowling is not up to our level.
ReplyDeleteThe Kent team we played against is full of 'names' such as Key, Nash, Powell, Stevens, Jones, Shreck, Davies and Tredwell and young England 'certainties' such as Northeast and Coles yet we won one game each against each other and they felt compelled to try every trick possible to beat us. Yes we may have lost games against Yorkshire and Essex if the weather hadn't intervened but we could easily have beaten Leicester and Gloucester had it not.
We have young players who will have dips but it is good to see them when they come through - I wasn't convinced with Poynton but have been really impressed with him the last few weeks that he seems a different player. Same with Whiteley and Redfern at different stages over the last couple of years.
Yes we may need to recruit new players to improve the squad - am sure the coach knows this and changing the team every week won't help. OK - Khawaja has not been a huge success but you wouldn't really have argued with his choice at the start of the season. He is young and eager to do well but it hasn't really happened this season - maybe next week?
Anyway enough of the rant - Lets enjoy being top for another week and not being Glamorgan, Leics or Northants with nothing to play for, and get behind the boys - the best teams will go up at the end of the season and it will be deserved - let's hope it us
Making my debut on the Comments section tonight, though I have been a regular reader of the blog for some time.
ReplyDeletePeakfan is right to despair a little of those who like to leap on the negative; it seems to be a growing trend in sportswatching. As a Spireite, I spent much of last season seeing negative comments on the club message board, but I could often understand it; expectations had been raised the previous season, and it finally felt like the club was using the previous years' experience to do something a bit special. To watch the club chuck that momentum against the wall was
infuriating.
After a brilliant start this season, it looks like Derbys may have hit the wall, but let's have some perspective; we have done absolutely nothing of note as a cricket club for many years. There has been nothing before this season to suggest that we might be top of the table going into the last game of the season. There is no real reason to castigate the team. They have performed at or above their previously exhibited levels for much of the season.
With a young, largely English team, the team has made people outside of the county take note of what is going on at the club. Articles are written about Derbys in national newspapers that are positive. That is very rare.
Yes, if we miss out on promotion it will be gutting, but really...instead of bellyaching exclusively about the shortcomings in the team, celebrate what is good about a team that we should be proud of. History suggests we may not see this kind of season again for a long time.
Mr Pleasant
It's difficult to find too many positives at first glance. We were well beaten and from Kent being 93 for 5, the game's momentum changed with the match winning contributions of Jones, Davies, Northeast and Stevens eclipsing by far any efforts of our team.
ReplyDeleteThe final outcome hides that the eventual scoreline was irrelevant as the draw became our focus. In the end decent crease occupation was acheived by Khawaja, Poynton and Borrington. The latter apparently unfortunate to be given box before wicket.
We need to regroup, not panic and have the belief that a deflated Hampshire will be there for the taking. A win on our home patch is not beyond us at all and that would take away any other outcome and more than likely take us up as champions.
We are currently still top. Now is the time to instill confidence not write of the acheivments to date.
bf.
Can't see wholesale changes for next week. Maybe Clare, if fit, for Turner, and Hughes for Borrington. No rhyme or reason to put Whiteley at 3, indeed there might be a case for replacing him with Alex Hughes, but that would be a big call.
ReplyDeleteMay I take this opportunity to implore our true supporters to get behind the team. They have done remarkably well to be top with a game to go and deserve praise rather than the inane drivel being spouted on the Falcons Forum.
This has been a season of real progress, and the players and coaching staff deserve congratulating on their efforts irrespective of the result next week.
If we finish third, this will still go down as a season of progress. Furthermore, for me it has been the most enjoyable championship season for many a year.
ReplyDeleteNatWest 81
Good comments again folks. Welcome to the site Mr Pleasant - may your contributions always match your name!
ReplyDeleteNice to see some old faces back here! Also will echo the comments on well thought out, constructive comments. We may not agree all the time, but that's the beauty of the game and part of life's rich tapestry. Hope to catch up with a lot of you at the County Ground next week!
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteLet's put the situation into perspective:
We have only lost 2 games all season in the CC.
We are still top of the league with a game to play.
If we avoid defeat, we have gone two years and only lost once at home in the CC. It's a bit different to when we went several years without winning at home.
Kent, away to Glamorgan, have to win and score at least 7 more points than us in doing so. (If there is a tie between us and Kent, we have the advantage of 1 extra win).
Kent can only be promoted by a draw if we lose and gain less than 5 points. Kent average 5 bonus points per game, similar to us and Yorkshire.
The preliminary forecast for Monday night / Tuesday for Cardiff isn't good at all. If the anticipated rain falls at the scheduled time it could rule out play for at least a day maybe more, with showers to follow for the rest of the week.
Hampshire have fewer batting points than us, thus it can be said that their batting is as brittle as ours.
If we tie with Yorkshire, we are champions.
Above all, after 15 games, 180 sessions and thousands of overs..... our destiny is still in our hands.
There's lots of thoughtful views on here that I don't have time to read and absorb fully at the moment - but some obvious nonsense that doesn't need a moment's thought. I doubt if Karl Krikken has spent a waking moment (and probably a few sleeping ones) in the last three weeks when he hasn't been thinking about how to turn things around.
ReplyDeleteI've been a bit of a negative voice here for a few weeks, and I want to put this in context. I said a few weeks ago after the Kent win that five good draws would be enough with 9 or 10 points per game - but hasten to add that I wasn't recommending this as an approach.
I wonder if some of this thinking has influenced our cricket without anyone declaring it as a formal plan. If so, it's come undone because a) we haven't got all of the bonus points we needed for good draws and b) our rivals have finally worked out how to win.
I anticipated this scenario a few weeks ago and hope that I recorded it in comments here so it doesn't look as if I'm being wise after the event. I'm reminded of the cliche "do what you've always done, get what you always got". Derbyshire's strategy seems to reflect one meaning of this, that it's not brilliant but it's good enough so don't change it. It would have been good enough if Kent and Yorkshire had carried on doing what they'd always done. I don't know if they've changed anything, but their results certainly have, and that's why we're where we are.
I've managed to organise my time so that I can take leave and be at Derby next week for the last two days, and still hope that I'll see us promoted first, and as champions second. I don't expect and I'm not optimistic, but I am hopeful. I also hope that KK will take the next step on his learning curve and think to himself that "do what you've always done" might not be enough, and that bold and decisive leadership means taking a gamble. That might mean Hughes, Clare, Evans or Burgoyne for A.N Other and A.Nother, or it might mean giving those who've been playing so far a new brief, but it needs to be positive, and it needs to be "do something else". After all, it's not over yet.
It's quite sad to see around people pointing fingers at Khawaja et Bozza on a day when the duo faced 291 out of 650 deliveries... that said, it was good to see the team showing some fight, but the game was mainly lost in the first innings, and this time they paid the full price for being again few-for-many.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, we cannot really complain, at the beginning of the season we knew pretty well that the major weaknesses of this team were the shortage of seamers (which wasn't felt because the Gods of Cricket Injuries have shown clemence this year) and the lack of solid batsmen (expecially openers), the last one covered in part by the relative competence with the bat of our lower order, in which everybody could (and does) average around 20.
Still, in a league which heavily favours results as opposed to draws, as long as our attack is fit to play, talent-wise this is still a top 4 team (despite the top order collapses), let's not forget that the main reason for this late season slump is just that the schedule was way easier in the first half (which in part also explains the difference in production of the two overseas players... 400 runs in 7 games at 40, while not exceptional, isn't a bad return by Khawaja against the top of the league).
However, given that:
1-Heavy rain is forecasted for the whole week in Cardiff
2-Essex will have Cook back in an already solid batting outfit
3-Hampshire might well play below full strenght because their LO final
...I reckon it doesn't look all doom and gloom for this last round.
Fingers crossed and good luck to the lads, one game to the finish and it's still in their hands.
Marco
If we score 250 runs in our first innings, and take 9 Hampshire wickets in their innings, Kent will have to win. If they do win, they will have won 3 consecutive matches when in the first 13 they only won 2. If it happens we can consider ourselves very unlucky. Our game is also televised next week
ReplyDeleteAs an aside, I'd love to see Kent win, us win and Yorkshire get hammered, that way the Roses game will be a division 2 clash!
Some very good comments Marco and very valid ones at that.
ReplyDeleteMuch of the recent cyper-furore has been unfortunate between followers and Chairman (on both sides, I hasten to add), but in the cold light of day it only serves to reflect the bitter disappointment with yesterday's outcome - so near, yet so far. Yes, there has been some over-stepping the line with personal slights, which is not fair or appropriate, but when you strip it all away, the common factor is that everyone wants to see success for the club and only frustation has got the better of some.
We are still in with one hell of a chance in our last game, so let's all get firmly behind the team and give the lads all the support we can muster!
MASTERVILLAIN
When the fixtures came out obviously nobody knew what positions teams would be occupying half way through the season. It,s worked out we had an easier first half than second,purely by coincidence. Kent,for example were second bottom last season, so before a ball was bowled,that fixure on paper was looking an easier one. No one could predict how the season was going to pan out,so any talk of schedules seems a bit strange to me.
ReplyDeleteNot only do we have Hampshire to beat next week, but also the Curse of Sky Sports.
ReplyDeleteI've seen my comment's been partially censored... can't say I'mhappy but fair enough, rationally I reckon it was probably for the best. Still...
ReplyDeleteMarc, nobody is saying that the schedule helped or hurted anybody's chances, I'm just saying that playing only against weaker teams (because what counts is what they are, not what's written on paper, and, as we see now, they were weak) in the beginning of the season might have made Derbyshire looking better that they are, and the latter tough schedule have made them looking worse, leading us all to maybe overract a bit ('they were so good, what have they done to become so crap?'), when it's probably not only about them.
Again, I'm not searching for excuses, just pointing out what I feel is a bit more logical reasoning for our decline than blaming pressure, the openers or the change of Guptill with Khawaja (I'm not talking specifically about you here). Mind, those are probably factors aswell, I just think they're lesser ones.
On a sidenote, I'm really happy that we scoreboard-and-highlights fans will be finally able to see a first class game. Cheers Sky, Warwickshire and Lancs for that. Bring on the curse!
Marco
Marco
ReplyDeleteYes, I censored the comment, as I won't allow this blog to go down the Forum route and criticise a bloke who is working his socks off for Derbyshire Cricket Club, and without whose business acumen we would be in a very difficult position.
Constructive, fair, justifiable comments are fair game. Anything else will be chopped. Thankfully the comments on here are usually excellent and are appreciated!
Like the rest of yours Marco...
Big overhaul needed this winter at Derbyshire whether we win promotion or not. Borrington and Lineker will be released I think, maybe to a minor counties side. Whilst the potential may be there, neither have pulled up any trees and both seem incapable of making runs. I just hope we don't stand still and decide to stick with the current squad, especially if we gain promotion. That would sure be a recipe for disaster. Others to be released include Footitt and Chesney Hughes.
ReplyDeleteLineker has already gone Mark, while the rest are all under contract for next summer. Unless they pay them off, which would cost money, I don't see it happening mate.
ReplyDeleteAgreed we need to strengthen though