Well folks, the East Midlands is going to be the hub of the cricketing world next week, after Nottinghamshire, as I expected, sank to a near two-day defeat against Durham. The latter will be crowned county champions tomorrow and deservedly so. They have played good, attacking cricket all summer and have been unstoppable for the past month.
All of which makes our display against them last week the more laudable. We made them work more than our dear neighbours, for all their expensive stars. Who comes out on top between them and Somerset is anyone's guess, though I'd not be surprised if both teams tried to include their international big guns in a match of such importance.
As I wrote last week, even if we dare to dream of a Derbyshire victory, it will almost certainly be on a 'result' track, which I'd expect to preclude a score of 400 and maximum batting points. My guess is that 300 would be a target, which, if we won and got our bowling points, would give us a haul of 22 from the game. Less than that makes the Somerset and Nottinghamshire tasks considerably easier.
Somerset could lose and stay up with seven bonus points, based on the above figures. Nottinghamshire would need maximum bonus points to avoid relegation if they lost, as we would have more wins over the season. A draw would suit both fine and we cannot do anything about the weather over Trent Bridge next week - nor the County Ground for that matter.
Few sides are anouncing full retained lists at this stage, as the uncertainty over their cricketing destiny will be a major factor. I am sure that Derbyshire, like other counties, will have players in mind for next summer, but the targets will depend on the tier we are playing in. Our pulling power will be different in division one, for one thing.
Glamorgan have pulled off a fine signing for the next two summers in Jacques Rudolph. Interestingly he has signed as an overseas player, not a Kolpak, so presumably retains hopes of an international recall, slim as they appear to be. Still, it worked for Chris Rogers, so you never know...
As I have written previously, I can see Kolpaks being back in favour next summer, if appropriate people can be found. The T20 is set to be played on Friday evenings across sixteen weeks and the likelihood of getting an overseas player to stay here for four months on a one-night a week deal is only marginally better than that of my being in the England tour squad this winter.
Finally tonight, confirmation from the club today that they are deadly serious in considering all options for their ground development plans. Quite right too. We have to be thorough and the viability of all locations has to be assessed and explored.
The County Ground may well remain a preferred option, but anyone who opts to call the bluff of the professionals we have at the County Ground could get a surprise. These gentlemen know what they are doing and will get the very best option for the club and its members.
I will be watching developments - pun intended - with considerable interest.
Didn't Chesterfield Borough Council mess up their chance of having us full time in Chesterfield back in the 70s? Wasn't there a season with no cricket at Derby?
ReplyDeleteOne thing we can almost take for granted is the weather at the two venues will be very similar. I think we need to be careful not to make it too much of a result pitch. If it is then it might backfire and prevent us gaining valuable batting points,not to mention the unthinkable and have points taken off us. We don,t want a stick of rhubarb pitch,just one that offers something for the seamers.
ReplyDeleteI,m also wondering if we might not be better concentrating on an all seam attack. I know it puts all our eggs in one basket but if,for example,we played Durston in place of Hughes we would at least have a spin option as well as strengthening the middle order. That would mean leaving Wainwright out in favour of another seamer,a fair swop given the fact he has struggled all season to take wickets and I see no reason why that should change now.
Notoveryet will probably have a coronary at this,but I would be tempted to play Turner. IF he,s on form he could take wickets. It,s a risk but under the circumstances.....
The other thing that,s bothering me a bit is the recent lack of wickets from Footitt.I,m not going to suggest his eyes are on the exit door rather than the stumps,but it does make you wonder if the two things might be connected. It goes without saying Clare will be injured so there isn,t much point even mentioning him. Other than Turner,we would have to play Higginbottom.
Talking of Turner,we might produce a pitch that lives up to his name,ditch all seamers bar Groenewald and Palladino and overload with spinners. I can,t really see this being the tactic though.
Just an afterthought. Might be an idea to name all our spinners in the squad,bluff Warwickshire into picking the wrong team and then hit em with a seamers paradise.
ReplyDeleteSo our fate won't be decided until the last game. We'd all have taken that a couple of months ago. To be honest, I think most of us would have taken that at the beginning of the season. We have to beat the team that's sitting exactly in the middle of the table, at home, and rely on a bit of luck elsewhere. It's probable we'll be in D2 next year, but teams have overcome much worse odds. Good luck everyone - we've got a nervous week-and-a-bit ahead of us.
ReplyDeleteOliver
Looks as if there is something of a "fiddle" going on in the Surrey v Warwickshire match. Warwicks have been set a total of 281 after Warwicks declared their first innings at 120-0. Surrey then forfeited their 2nd innings to set a target with a day and half a session.
ReplyDeleteTo make matters worse, Surrey have snapped up a couple of quick wickets!
FOUL!!!!!!!!!!
Cant understand why Warwickshire excepted those terms they held the cards and surrey have to win, surely surrey would have to had to taken Warwickshire chasing 180, poor planning by Warwickshire or maybe big club helping another out.
ReplyDeleteChris.
Surrey have to win at any cost, and it doesn't matter to Warwickshire what happens in this game, so they can name their price - and it doesn't come much higher than a target of 280 in over a day on a wicket where the opposition has score 400-5. No doubt we'd have tried something similar in Surrey's position - and might well have to next week. Actually, we want Surrey to win here - it will leave us on 120, Surrey on 123, Notts on 135 and Somerset on 136. This will mean that Notts are not guaranteed to be safe unless they get 147 points, and they can't get there with a draw against Somerset. So there will be no cosy arrangements and Notts will have to play for a win. So, come on Surrey.
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