Well, Derbyshire had an early wake up call in their pre-season friendly at Taunton, going down by an innings and quite enough to a Somerset side that will surely challenge for the trophies by the time September comes around.
The batting will need to do much better, starting next week against Warwickshire. It was a friendly, a match that largely didn't matter, but it would have been nice to have seen a few batsmen doing a little more than producing innings that I'd refer to as a pot noodle. The latter are satisfying for a while, but don't leave any lasting effect on your appetite. Similarly a couple of thirties help to make a scoreboard look superficially better, but when that's all they amount to the effect on an innings is negligible.
Unless it is a T20, such innings win few matches and it is in the mental approach to playing longer ones where Shivnarine Chanderpaul will be invaluable. I have little doubt that the mental effort in batting for an hour or more at that level of the game is considerable. The bowlers will be constantly 'at' you, the fielders will be chirping away and the pressures of a match situation will be considerable.
Yet these are skills that need to be acquired quickly and produced on a regular basis if Derbyshire are to fulfil my prophecy of doing well this summer. A four-day game of cricket requires 400 runs as a minimum in the first innings or you are under pressure as a team. Under 300 against a good side leaves you very exposed and dependent on bowlers doing their stuff. While they can do that from time to time, it would need wickets of questionable quality to win match after match with such totals.
We have seen the fighting qualities of this Derbyshire side over the past twelve months and will undoubtedly see them again in the coming season. It would make the lives of all those following their fortunes a lot easier if they can dictate the course of matches with strong first innings, rather than having to come from behind and 'chase' the game.
My season preview comes soon. Today doesn't change anything, but clearly highlights the work that needs done, the efforts required and the level at which we are now playing.
We can compete - but we'll need to learn a few things quickly to do so.
Slightly worrying but hopefully as it was near arctic conditions and a friendly that we will be better for the game. Still see the major problem as the batting - we didn't pull up any trees with it last year and need a couple of the top 6to have plus 1000 run seasons along with Chanderpaul otherwise it could be a difficult season
ReplyDeleteIMO this season will be sink or swim depending on how fast they can improve and adapt to every aspect of playing at Div 1 level. They will come into contact with far more "International" players during the course of this season compared to last. No doubt they will have learnt a lot from 3 days of playing against probable title contenders (the weather was the same for both sides so no excuse there) so hopefully the main issues can be identified and corrected quickly. Chanderpaul will make a difference but he won't be able to bat at 1,2,3,4,5&6 (unless there's a rule change that I'm not aware of!) and this standard of 4 day cricket is new to most of the squad. I reckon KK and the rest of the coaching staff will soon see in the first couple of games who is up to the challenge and who is not.
ReplyDeleteThe best thing we can do is forget this game ever existed. I don,t wish to sound like i,m being wise after the event but I would question the wisdom of playing teams such as Notts and Somerset in friendlies anyway. We will be meeting them soon enough in any case. The outcome may not have been any different but I would have gone for someone like Glamorgan,Gloucs or Leics. The purpose of friendlies is to try to build form and momentum,which may have been a little easier against the aforementioned teams.
ReplyDeleteWe certainly mustn,t panick but neither must we think the arrival of Chanderpaul will solve all our problems. It,s up to each player to do their bit and take responsibility. We need to learn these lessons quickly. It,s no good blaming the weather or pitch conditions. We need to deal with whatever comes along. We certainly can,t blame the pitch at Taunton,can we?.
forget the game and move on. imo this needs to be the policy throughout the season, whether we win ,lose or draw matches. Minimum third from bottom is the aim - now lets get going and show the mental toughness required. A good idea or not, at least the recent match has clearly shown that Div 1 cricket is no place for dropped heads or lack of self-belief. On the plus side - there will be better days, and easier matches but whether we can take advantage when the opportunities are there is the vital question.
ReplyDeleteI'm concerned about Godleman getting enough runs. He didn't pull any trees up at Essex, so why will he at Derbyshire? I agree about our batting being our achilles heel again this season.
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