There's a fascinating day lined up at Chesterfield tomorrow, with any of three results possible, exactly what you want going into the final day of a four-day match.Derbyshire did well today, both in the field and with the bat. I said after the first day that there would be little between the two sides after the first innings, and my assertion was bang on the money, with the visitors getting a slender two-run advantage.
Tony Palladino (pictured) bowled superbly throughout the innings and 4-65 from 33 overs is outstanding by any standards. He was well supported by Tom Taylor, with the first three-wicket haul of his professional career and the bowlers did all that we had hoped in the first session of the day.
Losing Paul Borrington early wasn't part of the script, but Wayne Madsen played his second important innings of the game and Ben Slater lent excellent support in compiling the latest fifty of his professional career, before the partnership ended when the skipper slipped in going for a second run.
When Slater perished, quickly followed by Alex Hughes and the struggling - at least with the bat - Gareth Cross, we were in a bit of a pickle, especially with Wes Durston still hors de combat. But Shivnarine Chanderpaul played a key role with an unbeaten 62, ably supported by David Wainwright, as we finished the day 235 ahead. Wainwright has been our most consistent batsman in recent weeks and dug in well as Derbyshire got to a position where we control the game.
Tomorrow will be fascinating and there's a tight calculation to be made by Wayne Madsen and Graeme Welch. It is a 250-300 wicket but we will be wary of the potential of the Essex batting to make quick inroads into a target. My guess is that we will aim to set them around 320 in perhaps 70-75 overs - gettable, but with an element of risk if we bowl in the right areas and with the right discipline.
I hope we follow an encouraging day with another one tomorrow, as there have been positive signs from this match.
Hopefully it ends in a similar manner.
Ideally Wes will be fit to bat tomorrow morning. A chance to swing the bat without too much pressure would be ideal. Praise where it's due the team put in a good shift today - I saw some of it late on and Chanderpaul was making batting look exceedingly comfortable.
ReplyDeleteI suspect that says more about him than the pitch (which is a tremendous surface for 4 day cricket) - hopefully the Derbyshire bowlers can prove that tomorrow.
Our best all round day of the season so far.
ReplyDeleteGood penetrative bowling this morning leaving the match delicately poised.
Solid batting this afternoon from Madsen and Slater with Shiv looking imperious later and particularly aggressive against spin. Would be great if he could notch a ton.
Only downside Borrington and Cross who continue to look out of their depth and form respectively .
Forecast looking better so hopefully we can set them a stiff target as they probably have to go for the win more than us. After all the hard work I don't want to see us offer any ' sporting' declarations !
If we want to win we have to set them a target they will go for,without gifting them the match on a plate.
ReplyDeleteToday was quite a good one all round. We managed to keep the visitors under control and the produced a respectable batting performance. It looked a tad dodgy at one stage but sensible play from Wainwright and Chanderpaul steadied the ship.
Earlier,Palladino and Taylor did very well and the partnership of Slater and Madsen set us on our way. I,m sorry,Peakfan but you are going to have to admit defeat on Borrington. It,s game, set and match. He,s had more than a fair chance and it,s now time to give someone else a try.
With a bit of luck I think we can win this and a target of around 300 would gives both sides a fair chance and provide a good day of entertainment.
The chance for some of our youngsters to experience a close finish and we can't even get that right.
ReplyDeleteI feel sorry for anyone watching today, goodness know why there wasn't a declaration shortly before lunch.
I agree with Paul on the declaration. It makes it look like our ambition is to avoid coming bottom of the table - that's all the 5 points will help us with. It looks like the approach of a team very short on confidence, which is understandable. Massive improvement in this game though, so well done to the players, even if it ended in disappointing fashion.
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