On a day that started with England leading Australia a merry dance, before getting an Agar-doing, Derbyshire subsided with barely a whimper today.
Yes Agar the 'orrible (at least in English eyes) became Agar the Magnificent and broke records at Trent Bridge with a wonderful display of clean hitting, but there was little prospect of that being replicated at the Riverside on a vastly different track. At least Tom Poynton gained some confidence with the bat that will stand him in good stead. After that, I'm struggling for positives.
We were well and truly hammered by Durham and that has been covered more than enough this week. The inquests will doubtless continue behind the scenes and one hopes for a positive response from the players next week at Chesterfield against Yorkshire.
More immediately, we turn our attention back to T20 tomorrow night at Old Trafford, where a repeat of our victory at the County Ground would do very nicely. The boys need to put this loss behind them, remember the way they have played T20 thus far (for the most part) and be well aware that a win tomorrow sees them in remarkably good shape as the group approaches the halfway stage.
The following squad has been announced:
Wes Durston, Chesney Hughes, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Wayne Madsen, Dan Redfern, Billy Godleman, Albie Morkel, Tom Poynton, Jonathan Clare, Peter Burgoyne, Tom Knight, David Wainwright, Mark Footitt, Mark Turner, Tim Groenewald
It is a tough team to call as the top six is unlikely to be changed from earlier games, but the attack will be dictated by the wicket. Lancashire often have slow tracks offering assistance to the spinners at home and I think that Peter Burgoyne or Tom Knight will play tomorrow alongside David Wainwright. Slow bowling has been a great success in T20 across the globe and I think we will play an extra one tomorrow, especially after Mark Footitt's expensive last two appearances. Clare, Groenewald and Morkel can handle that side of things and all offer more with the bat in what I expect to be a close encounter.
Simon Kerrigan should replace Stephen Parry for the home side, the latter having a broken arm while the former took seven wickets today. Lancashire will be desperate for revenge, especially as we have a game in hand on them and a point advantage in the group.
Old Trafford is a tough place to win, but there is enough one-day talent in the Derbyshire ranks, as we have seen, to be capable of doing so. No prediction from me though, as Krikk has to get their heads right after that Durham defeat.
If he does that, we'll win. If he doesn't...
I just hope this latest battering doesn't detract from what's been a very good start in this competition. A win makes us strong favourites to finish second, which regardless of our four day problems, would have to be regarded as success.
ReplyDeleteFootitt surely must be left out and I'd hope to see a deserved chance for Peter Burgoyne. Knight is hampered when competing with Burgoyne by his inferior batting - he'd have to be a much better bowler to take his slot and there's little in it, though Knight perhaps shades it. So far anyway.
Good luck boys & don't be mistaken, the good people of Derbyshire are still very much behind you.
I know we all thought we wouldn't tear this division apart this season, but I'm sure we all thought we would at least be competitive. All our defeats have pretty much been hammerings, which shouldn't really be happening to a decent squad of players. Where has it all gone wrong?.
ReplyDeleteNow that question of yours is ripe for a lengthy, end of season blog Mark! Lack of genuine quality at this level, confidence, too many bad sessions, too many injuries, crucial dropped catches - that's enough to start with...
ReplyDeleteSorry, but that comment by mark, is yet another one of complete and utter over expecatation and unrealistic amabitions. Why would you expect Derbyshire to compete 'at least'?. the gap between div 1 and 2 is huge, and derbyshire didnt exactly dominate div 2 and with only the addition of chanders to improve you (the other signing were no better, at best, than what was already there)so you really should be realistic in your expectation (to escape relegation on the last day by a point would have been a good acheivement in the real world, given your budget) and be thankful for actually having a coach who has managed to get you into the division in the first place and punch above your weight, and recognise what an acheivement that was rathert han unfairly asking whats gone wrong because you keep losing, really if you had sensible expectations you wouldnt be so shocked by what has happened. still i suppose thats what happens in this day and age, people want instant success regardless of looking at the bigger picture. the bigger picture indicates that on resources, even more so in div 1 derbyshire wouldnt be able to compete, and all that has happened is just that. a downer shouldnt be put on the skipper/coach just because the team are not performing way above their level based on the resources they have, like they did last year.
ReplyDeleteWe can,t afford back to back defeats in 20/20 otherwise serious doubts will be emerging as to whether we can qualify.
ReplyDeleteWe have to play as many spin options as possible.In this type of cricket it should always be the rule and not the exception. The batting looks to be short on firepower so a telling innings from Hughes would do us a power of good (and him as well for that matter).
I,m not sure why we are picking Godleman,though in fairness he hasn,t had many chances to bat in this type of cricket,so i,ll reserve judgement for the time being.
If there are any hangovers from the Durham match then we might aswell not bother turning up. This is a new day and a new game so we must be positive and believe we can win.
Marc