Saturday 28 May 2016

Sussex v Derbyshire day 1

Derbyshire 142-9 (Thakor 44 not) v Sussex

I think it is safe to say, from his remarks at the end of the day, that Graeme Welch was unhappy with his side today.

Rightly so. Having had the option to bowl today, we opted to toss, lost it and Sussex opted to bowl. Welch and Billy Godleman presumably thought that the best chance of success in this game was in batting first - the coach suggested 250 would have been a competitive score, but it didn't work out that way.

'Poor shot selection' said Welch. To be fair, having arrived at their hotel in the early hours, they may have got to the ground and wondered what format they were playing. By the same token, the weather meant they didn't play till after tea and they should have been well tuned by that stage.

It was a dispiriting day, truth be told, each buzz of my phone heralding a new tweet and another wicket. Once again the admirable Shiv Thakor held things together and led a late rally, but there was little support and to lose nine wickets in forty overs was an especially weak effort.

Got to do better than this, fellas.

For your coach, the supporters and professional pride.

7 comments:

  1. Tim, Chesterfield28 May 2016 at 22:58

    Sad to say I've already mentally written off the four day game for this season. It seems the playing staff have too.

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  2. Well without Thakor it would've been another complete embarrassment, if it wasn't already. It's not good at all is it, no sign of getting it together at all in the championship. Another dire season in the offing, surprise surprise.

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  3. The batting as a unit has not improved at all this season despite a good start from Chesney and promise from Shiv.We shall have to bat better second time around to avoid an innings defeat.

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  4. Roy of the Falcons29 May 2016 at 12:59

    The batting has been woeful in this game and some others but who do you drop and who do you bring in. Yes we have Ben Slater and Alex Hughes who could come into the team but this would involve a couple of brave decisions.
    For Ben to come into the team we have to drop the captain or the overseas player and alter the batting order. Yes we could drop Neil Broom and put Chesney down the order but he is currently scoring a lot of runs opening.
    To bring Alex Hughes into the team we need to drop Shiv Thakor, Neil Broom or Wayne Madsen, Shiv is the one player who in the last couple of games appears to be in some form. To drop Wayne, I feel is a little harsh, he has had some good innings and you just feel there is always a good score around the corner. Personally I feel to bring Alex into the team he is only a direct replacement for Shiv his batting is not as good as Wayne's nor the potential of Neil Broom's.
    it is very easy for me sitting in my arm chair to pontificate I am not watching nor the men who have to make those decisions.

    The other alternative which I feel is a bit of a negative scenario at this time of the season is to pick a team based purely on player development giving everyone a game and changing the batting/bowling order each innings.

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  5. Tim, Chesterfield29 May 2016 at 13:58

    By all accounts we've not even threatened to take a Sussex wicket today, let alone actually take one. Perhaps we could get Joyce run-out backing up if one comes back straight.

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  6. Ian, South Africa29 May 2016 at 18:51

    Six weeks into the season and it's already beginning to look very familiar.
    A bowling attack without Footitt was always going to struggle and the Kiwi batsmen have failed to deliver so far.
    Arriving at the ground in the early hours can hardly be used as an excuse for a poor performance.
    Whenever Derbyshire underperform, one can almost hear the likes of Willis, Atherton & Simon Hughes calling for their removal from the first class game in a bid to reduce the number of counties.

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  7. Making hay while the sun shines springs to mind for the Sussex reply.

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