Friday 13 May 2016

Essex v Derbyshire preview

It's goodbye experience and hello, young tyros as Derbyshire head to Chelmsford for the four-day game against Essex, that starts on Sunday.

Out go Luke Fletcher, Andy Carter and Wes Durston, while in come Tom Milnes, Ben Cotton and Tom Taylor, as Graeme Welch rings the changes for what will be a tough game.They are brave moves, indicative of the man and sensible ones to boot. None of the experienced men have torn up trees as yet, while the youngsters have accepted their place in the seconds and produced figures to say to the coach 'Pick me'. Equally, Carter and Durston will likely be in the frame for T20, so a breather now will ensure they are ready to roll.

There's no better time to be picked for a team than when you are in form and while I accept that the gulf between first and second team cricket is considerable, the young players coming in have the ability and have proven it sporadically in the past. All have had brief careers with shining moments; their challenge now is to produce those moments more frequently.

Matt Critchley also returns and I applaud Welch's encouragement and reward of good performance. Without longer exposure to senior cricket, we won't know which of these lads can make it, but like the others, Critchley returns to the side on the back of form with bat and ball.

The final make up won't be known until the morning of the game, though Chelmsford is likely to be one for the seamers. Dare we play all five, leaving spin in the hands of Chesney Hughes and Wayne Madsen, or play four and the leggie? All will be revealed in due course, but the twelve is:

Billy Godleman (Captain)
Chesney Hughes
Hamish Rutherford
Wayne Madsen
Neil Broom
Shiv Thakor
Matthew Critchley
Tom Poynton
Tom Milnes
Tony Palladino
Ben Cotton
Tom Taylor

Essex will be tough. They won't have Alastair Cook, but Tom Westley is in prime form and Nick Browne always seems to do well against us. Ravi Bopara, Ryan ten Doeschate, James Foster and (if fit) Jesse Ryder give them international experience, while Jamie Porter has joined the evergreen David Masters and Graham Napier in forming a potent seam attack.

Can we win? We need to bat and bowl much better than we have, that's for sure. Half the batsmen are in good form and half aren't. Only Tony Palladino and Shiv Thakor have taken wickets this summer at senior level, so the side as a whole needs to up their game.

It is a game against the side that I expect to win the division this summer, after years of under-performance. As such, it will be a good benchmark for our team - and a feather in the cap of the young players if they acquit themselves well.

I hope they do, but we'll do well to get something from this one.

Your thoughts?

5 comments:

  1. It would look like Critchley will come into the team in place of Wes. Shiv has bowled too well so far to be 5th seamer and Critchley has got both runs and wickets for the 2s. Given our performances so far my expectations aren't very high but it would be great to see one of the young guys come in and really prove a point.

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  2. There are some interesting changes to the squad, I myself would leave out Tom Milnes. I saw one of the two T20 games against Notts today (second eleven) and he was a little loose early on with the ball. Matt Critchley has put in some good performances with the seconds and I always like to go in with a regular spinner - although we have to be patient with Matt's development. Andy carter bowled really well for the seconds today hardly going for a run in both games which bodes well for him and the side heading into T20. Hopefully Neil Broom will get some runs on the board, I think at the moment with him that it is just a confidence issue and once he gets his first score then he will be away.

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  3. Good comments gents. Yes, I'd prefer to see the spinner in. I don't see what five seamers can do if four don't do it. If it seams, four should be ample, if it doesn't you need variety.

    At least we can choose whether to bat or bowl...

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  4. Tim, Chesterfield14 May 2016 at 07:13

    Glad to see decisive action even if I'm sorry Wes has to go.

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  5. Absolutely no confidence in the "young tyros" but something had to be done. Sadly it smacks of desperation even at this early stage of the season. Now the bad news, weather looks set fair for at least 3 days

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