Something for the weekend

Don't you just love the weekend?

Any weekend is good, but this one is set to be special. Around lunch time tomorrow, I would expect Derbyshire to be setting off on the long haul up to Edinburgh for Sunday's match at The Grange against Scotland. And Peakfan will be there, for the closest I've had to a home game for several seasons.

I've seen all but one of the games up here between the two sides over the past twenty years or so, missing the game at Aberdeen in 1985 because I had no spare day's leave for the game (Mrs P and I got married that August, so it was a pretty good trade-off...)

There's been some good cricket too. I saw a lovely innings by Kim Barnett in Glasgow in 1988, after Michael Holding had proved far too good for a Scots side that included Clive Rice, while I have previously written about a professional century by Daryll Cullinan at Titwood in 1995.

1998 saw a trek to Forfar (be thankful you don't have that ahead of you tomorrow, lads..) and a typically Derbyshire display where we slipped to 116-7, chasing 175 to win before Tim Tweats and Karl Krikken silenced a very vocal crowd and took us to the win without further loss. That game saw one of the more bizarre opening pairs in our history...Dominic Cork and Ian Blackwell. Even at this distance it makes no sense whatsoever.

We played the Scots twice that year and were drawn against them in the Nat West Trophy, this time in Edinburgh. It was the easiest win I've seen, the home side slipping to 19-6 as Derbyshire eased to a win by seven wickets marred only by the dismissal of Michael Slater in the first over. I remember sitting by the sightscreen that day and watching Kevin Dean bowl as if the ball was on a piece of elastic. It jerked one way, then the other and Dean's ten overs produced three wickets for thirteen runs. Not bad...

In 2003 there was a chance to see both sides of the mercurial Shahid Afridi. He bowled seven shocking overs as the home side amassed 206 in 44 overs, pitching the ball on the side of the wicket where Dominic Cork had least fielders, the latter making it patently clear that he was unamused. Then the Pakistan all-rounder opened in true combined harvester mode, hitting an enormous skier in the first over that went down, then a six over mid-off that went straight into a waste bin, en route to 35 from 19 balls. It was exciting but not especially clever and there were few surprised spectators when he departed.

A Dominic Hewson cameo won that one, but we lost in 2004 after a poor batting display and some shockingly wild bowling from Mohammad Ali in what was a poor Derbyshire attack. Graeme Welch shone like a beacon, but the likes of Mo Sheikh, Nathan Dumelow and John Moss held few fears for the home side as they won with nine overs to spare.

We struggled again in 2005, but in a rain-reduced game won by three wickets thanks to an innings of eminent common sense by Steve Stubbings. He made an unbeaten 75 but no one else got thirty in another sub-standard display.

In 2007 it was swing that again undid the Scots as they slipped to 46-7 against Graham Wagg and Greg Smith, Derbyshire winning by six wickets and only chasing 103, while a 2008 Friends Provident tie never started. Indeed, it was so wet that day that I didn't bother going, it being patently obvious that there would be no play from as early as the previous evening.

That won't be a problem on Sunday though. The weather has been good here all week and the weekend is set to be fine and sunny.

Here's hoping that the Derbyshire performance does it justice.

More on the teams tomorrow.