Tuesday 22 August 2017

Derbyshire v Hampshire T20

Hampshire 249-8 (Afridi 101, Vince 55, Critchley 3-32)

Derbyshire 148 (Cotton 30, Dawson 3-27)

Hampshire won by 101 runs

On a ground that used to be a racecourse, Derbyshire, sadly, were not even at the races tonight.

You have to give credit to Hampshire, who outplayed, out thought and out fought us, but it was tough to watch for Derbyshire fans near and far. The bottom line is that our favourites never got going. We played the occasion, not the opposition and were so far in second place it was, quite frankly, embarrassing.

From the first ball we were outflanked. Hampshire sent in 'Boom Boom' Afridi to hit Wayne Madsen out of the attack, which he did with four boundaries in the first over. At that moment it seemed that our game plan had gone and, with hardly anyone else finding a consistent line and length, or being allowed to, the Pakistan veteran simply slaughtered us.

The frustration was, from someone who has watched him bat for 20 years, that we never tried to tuck him up, dig it in at his ribs, make him think. He hits through the ball well, a fine, clean striker of a ball, but he has never been a strong puller. He never needed to tonight, as we pitched it into his arc and he kept hitting it further and further down the ground. If I know that, even from watching him play for us in the distant past, surely we should have known it as a team?

Matt Critchley was the only bowler I would absolve from criticism tonight. He at least mixed up line and length and was rewarded by three late wickets, but the rest were poor. They were made to look worse than they were by a Hampshire side that never let their foot off the accelerator, the late wickets we took making it look more of a contest than it ever was. Vince was classy, Bailey briefly brutal, but after Afridi's explosive knock, they could have batted Richard and Judy. Or Punch and Judy, for that matter. Credit where due though, to far superior opponents.

The likelihood of our chasing 250 to win was wafer thin and it soon evaporated. Godleman tried to slog sweep everything, without any use of feet, and soon holed out, Critchley did the same and Luis Reece, after a few good shots, was caught behind.

Then came...Viljoen. On a night of disappointments, why we thought Viljoen a better bet than Madsen at four was beyond me, especially when he proceeded to play 'like a batsman'. It smacked of Alan Ward going in early against Yorkshire at Lord's in 1969. A move of desperation and, for me, sending out panic signals a mile high. Hardus is no mug with a bat, but to put him in ahead of Wayne, our star batsman, or the skipper himself, made no sense.

Neither succeeded and although Alex Hughes played a few nice shots, Daryn Smit improvised and there was a merry last wicket stand between Cotton and Tahir, it was way too little, too late.

It was, in short, hugely disappointing. Those who have seen us perform with skill, aplomb and discipline through an encouraging campaign will have found the lack of bowling discipline tonight a real frustration. Daryn Smit had his work cut out with some horribly wide balls outside leg and off stump, while we didn't field well. One or two good catches were held, two or three more were put down and when the usually reliable Madsen drops a straightforward  catch from Afridi, you know it isn't going to be your night. There was some sloppy ground fielding too, none of it helping our cause.

We have done well to get to this stage, very well.

But to play like that, on a big occasion, in front of the television cameras was really sad to see.

Still, well played Hampshire.

Go well on finals day. You were way too good for us tonight.

30 comments:

  1. disappointing yes and maybe a tad embarrassing Peakfan but there are times when you have to doff your cap to a class act - boom boom took it away from us from ball 2 and we didn't really find a way to change that - money talks i'm afraid and hants will be hard to beat - proud of the way we played in the group and at least we finished higher than many a fancied and more expensively assembled team - lets keep our heads held high

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yet again I agree completely. Hampshire's top 4 were outstanding but we were so so poor tonight. Over throws, drops and poor length bowling. The batting was desperate and there seemed no plan, as big a total as it was. Godleman has played 2-3 good innings but look at his last 6 scores hmm. Not the answer!! It seemed like we had lost all our vigour and fight after the first over..

    ReplyDelete
  3. Pathetic and embarrassing, agree with you entirely Peakfan. Shambolic bowling from everyone, and total surrender when batting. I've been highly critical of our overseas duo of Henry and Viljoen and I'll continue with that criticism tonight, absolute rubbish from them both again and is there any way we can end their contracts now, as they're not deserving of playing any more cricket for Derbyshire. I would love to see their combined figures in the whole T20 tournament, as I'm sure it would make for very grim reading.

    We gave up when batting which I found pretty disgusting, wickets absolutely tossed away with not a care in the world. We've been a lot better this season in the T20 but this performance stunk the place out. Still a long long way to go with this squad, and will we ever get this chronic overseas problem right. Bitterly disappointed and pretty angry tonight.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I have to agree with Mark. As someone raised in Derbyshire in the heyday of Carr, Harold Rhodes, Smith and the Jacksons, this is more than embarrassing. My granny could have made a better effort to catch Afridi. I think I could have held that myself and I'm 67. Several players should depart immediately after a failure on that scale. Terminating half a dozen players first thing tomorrow would send a message that surrender and freezing on that scale are not acceptable at this level of cricket. What was wrong with them ?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bit harsh Rob. We have all dropped them and I remember Sharpe Barlow and Taylor doing so a time or two.
      It happens. Frustrating but it happens...

      Delete
  5. Sorry Peakfan, I often think you're very defensive of players and believe our players to be better than they really are but I disagree with your summoning up tonight. Let's not look at the individual failures tonight, but give credit to a Derby team who have won over 50% of games in this format this year. That's an incredible achievement when you consider we only have 3-4 players who probably are good enough.

    Hampshire came with a game plan and executed it to a T. Afridi was a pleasure to watch and good cameos from others really boosted the score. The game was over from the power play but you know what, I'm not disheartened or saddened by it but I'm proud we were out there tonight rather than watching someone else play.

    For a team with probably one of the smallest budgets in the Pro game we competed well this year. Let's look back at that rather than criticising individual performances. Nobody lost it for us tonight - every bowler was over ten and batters were going to give cheap wickets away. We don't have guys who can do what Afridi does so let's not pretend that we could/should be winning this game.

    Of course I'm disappointed, yes it's season over, but you know what, well done Hamps, and let's move on to next year and hopefully John Wright will still be there for the 20/20.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. To be fair Roger, my comments do acknowledge that...
      Yes we did very well this year but didnt last night.
      And the frustration is that they have the talent to be better than that...

      Delete
  6. Does anyone know what the review on Alfridi was for?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think it was when they checked to see if he had been bowled but smit knocked the bails off.

      Delete
  7. Tim, Chesterfield22 August 2017 at 23:46

    We froze. Pure and simple. Very dissapointed but proud to get here.

    ReplyDelete
  8. It was men against boys tonight. How long is it since Afridi played such a destructive innings? Quite a while, I fancy, but we gave him lots of help with the way we bowled and fielded. All very embarrassing and frustrating. And what a shame to end our (very encouraging) T20 campaign with such a debacle.

    As for Messrs Viljoen and Henry, I think Mark will find they have both conceded at least 500 runs.. Which I find inexcusable. I wonder if anyone at the club agrees and, if so, what they are going to do about it?

    I have also been very upset about the parking (or lack of it) for "ordinary members" (aka the scum of the earth) at the T20 matches, but that is another story ....

    REV KEITH

    ReplyDelete
  9. There's a little bit of a Wirral Derbyshire fan club coming on over here, and we had 20 (rather apt) or so gathered tonight. Ouch! Always a winner somewhere though, well done Hants, and er William Hill.
    Sadly, we all knew it was done by the 5th over, but at least we made the QF. Just wish it was a bit less excruciating!
    To next year then. Think I'll leave the cricketing aspect to some of you chaps with far more prose than I.....Dave, Wirral.

    ReplyDelete
  10. There's a little bit of a Wirral Derbyshire fan club coming on over here, and we had 20 (rather apt) or so gathered tonight. Ouch! Always a winner somewhere though, well done Hants, and er William Hill.
    Sadly, we all knew it was done by the 5th over, but at least we made the QF. Just wish it was a bit less excruciating!
    To next year then. Think I'll leave the cricketing aspect to some of you chaps with far more prose than I.....Dave, Wirral.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Of course they have the talent to be better than that, but we can't be the standard that Afridi set last night. The dropped catch didn't make any difference as he had already done the damage and even with that, the score would have been 220 plus. that's also criticising the one player who is leading the rankings for all 20/20 players in the country!

    Comments such as terminate the contracts of a number of players (as one contributor has written) are embarrassing in themselves. I get people are angry in the grand scheme of things but for every comment about how poor Henry and Viljoen were, they were brilliant on the Friday night before.

    One question I would ask in hindsight - why not use the same pitch as Friday night? Slow, dry, runs wouldn't have been so easy to come by?

    ReplyDelete
  12. Whilst tremendously disappointing, especially for the players, in a showcase to the world the Derbyshire we have seen this year did not turn up so anyone looking in from afar will have just seen us as the same old whipping boys which has not been the case. Massive progress has been made this year in 20/20 but we don't seem to have a plan b and still have to wiggle 4 or even 8 overs from somewhere as one of our main line bowler always seem to go for a few. We missed shiv thakor, (anyone know the situation) but we have a core of players who have performed, Wayne, Matt c, Hughes, Reece, just a problem with the big timers. Let's hope we can take confidence from 20/20, and be competitive in last few cc games. Looking forward to next year. There is still that gulf between a team of 7 internationals and us, well done hants, and well done DCCC.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Not impressed by the Derbyshire players reaction when Hampshire finished their innings, smiles all round, Madsen fist pumping to other players. It was as though they were all thinking job done we've restricted them to a good total here. I think at that point the general consensus was game over from all concerned.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Well...that was brutal. I don't think we could have expected what happened last night, Hampshire got the jump on us by sending Afridi in to open, and it seemed like the captain/bowlers/fielders/crowd panicked as soon as he had hit his first two fours - game plans went out the window and there was no viable plan B. Perhaps teams no longer have plans for him, and fully expect for him to slog one in the air in his first 10 balls, rather than bowl to a set plan, as you stated Peakfan.

    I'm no tactician but I would have persevered with what has worked for us throughout the group stage and kept Madsen on for another over or two - the man at the other end may have fallen cheaply and slowed progress somewhat. Needless to say the complete opposite could have happened and the over could go for 20, but bowling him for only one over put pressure on the rest of the bowlers and it was always looking like we were stretched for options.

    It has been a pleasure watching a Derbyshire team play with freedom and skill this year in the T20, and I sincerely hope they take great pride in their accomplishment in qualifying second in their group behind champions-in-waiting Notts and more illustrious competition in Yorkshire and Northants. I hope we can build on it and make the knockout phases a regular occurence. We will hopefully learn from the chastening experience and be better prepared mentally in the future.

    Sometimes you have to sit back and admire a freak innings - perhaps the last Afridi innings of its kind that we will see, and it was a privilege to see some of the cleanest hitting that there is. Any other day he could have hit his first ball straight to midwicket and been out for 0. Our margin of defeat - 101. Afridi's score - 101.



    ReplyDelete
  15. I,ve never witnessed such a one sided game.From the very first ball to the last we were totally outclassed.
    We prepared a green wicket for our pace bowlers and they countered by bringing in Afridi to open,so we open with Madsen and Afridi
    must of thought his dream had come true.We never bowled any short stuff and were poorly captained.
    Billy Godleman played another totally clueless innings.On a plus point well done to Reece.critchley,Madsen and Smit who performed
    well in our 20/20 games.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Tim, Chesterfield23 August 2017 at 11:09

    On reflection last night highlighted brutally every single issue we have; no plan 'b' with the ball, an inability to bowl the correct lengths consistently & batsman without clear hitting ideas and the ability to carry them out.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Hi Peakfan,
    I thought I would wait and read some of the comments before adding my two 'penneth.
    I agree with some of the comments about us freezing, and I have to say that it was a disappointing end to our campaign. When mentioning our two oversea's, I believe Imran Tahir has been a success, but on the whole Matt Henry has been a disappointment.
    The experience gained by our comparatively young squad will be invaluable, and it's good that Gary Wilson has been quoted in the media today saying that we want more success and that we'll be back.
    Going back to oversea's players, Shahid Afridi's contribution to Hampshire's T20 season before last night was....Played in 9 matches, did not bat in three and with scores of 5-1-13-8-0 and 5, making a total of 32 runs, his bowling performance was 10 wickets for 208 runs. Hardly what you would call a roaring success!!!! Obviously that will all be forgotten with his contribution last night.
    As you, I and many others have said in the past, you pays yer money and takes yer chance.

    ReplyDelete
  18. I think Peakfan's summary is a fair assessment. It was a hugely disappointing night, and did bring back memories of 1969. But it was also a reality check.
    John Wright has done a great job in strengthening the mindset of the players to get them this far. Madsen was consistently brilliant until last night, Reece was excellent, and others contributed.
    It's rightly said that this is a competition when any county can beat any other, and we've proved that. But there remains a gulf between Derbyshire and the better sides. This is partly a question of resources, but as Notoveryet said in one of his excellent comments recently, even compared to other less affluent counties, Derbyshire have under-performed for years. That's why reaching this stage has been greeted by fans with such enthusiasm - because we've been starved of success, and often even of competence, for far too long.
    John Wright has shown that it's possible for a side with significant limitations to be competitive, but in future we need to set our sights higher. We should aim to be competitive in all forms of the game, not just one. Success breeds success, and vice versa. Surely one of the reasons the players froze last night was because so much effort had been put into T20, and so much was riding on it, given that we have no chance of promotion from division two. More focused recruitment will be essential, because - despite the depth in batting and bowling that served us well this year- there are also some very obvious weaknesses.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Perhaps the only positive from last night was h viljoen bowling at over 90 mph the question now is can he / will he now do it on a regular basis for the rest of the season in the championship

    ReplyDelete
  20. Agree that it has been a great campaign compared to previous years but just froze on the big occasion.
    I saw the stat today that Afridi scored 14 runs from 5 balls (full tosses), 43 from 15 from half volleys, 41 from 17 good length and 4 from 4 from back of a length balls. Doesn't take a genius to say we lost the plot bowling to him. He hasn't scored a run all summer and you know if you bowl short at him he eventually sticks one up in the air, even from the brief time he played with us.
    Some of the decisions on the bowling were bizarre - Madsen our best bowler got one over in the powerplay and then.....nothing. Really odd as people like Henry and Viljoen regularly were going for 15+ throughout the tournament.
    And as Peakfan says the decision to put Viljoen ahead of Madsen was the oddest thing I've seen. Especially as he didn't even have a slog as presumably he was sent out to do!! - The best batsman in the tournament not coming in till 5 chasing 250 was just plain wrong. However you couldn't blame the batsmen on the whole chasing 250 - they had to basically smear from the word go and hope a couple of them came off
    Anyway as I say the tournament as a whole was positive - maybe a couple of tweaks here and there would improve us for next year but it was a highly improved showing on previous years - Shame about last night

    ReplyDelete
  21. I personally think it is very harsh to criticise any of the batsmen from last night. It was our bowling and fielding, and a freak innings from one of the most mercurial players of the last twenty years that did for us. Chasing 250, they had to go at everything from ball one and hope some of the batsmen came off. Yes it would have been embarrassing to subside to a record T20 defeat but in the end that would have been of little importance. I'd rather go down swinging than meandering to 160/170 five down.

    As it stands, we made more than we did when we beat Worcestershire on Friday on the very same ground.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Well it finally happened. The result we could all see or fear happening happened. Largely down to our consistently below par bowling. I've seen 11 out of the 14 matches and with the exception of the home game to Leicester and Yorkshire the games were all won by the batters. setting a good score that we could defend or chasing down a score. The bowlers just haven't bowled well enough for sustained periods. Hardus and Matt H being the chief culprits. As fast bowlers they simply lack 1) basic control and 2) variation. Neither appears to have a affective slower ball which for me is essential for a fast bowler in this format. Critchley was under bowled in my opinion considering how well he bowled in this format last year. The batting certainly as lacked consistency also. I can't help thinking we still picked the wrong team half the time. I'm a big fan of Smits keeping but the guys not got a decent score in any format since he's been here. Apart from a few sweep shots he appears even less suitable to T20 than the other versions we play. Not sure but I can't find any history of him even playing 20/20 back in SA which tells you everything. This would have been a great chance to give the gloves to Wilson and bring a young player who can hit it. I'm talking about Tom Wood who for me is a natural choice in this Format. Billy also apart from 2 knocks which I witnessed at Notts and Hedingley as failed in the other 13 knocks. On the positive side Reece, Critchley have both made strides in this competition. Wilson disappointed with the bat also. Hughes did ok but no better than that. I don't want to sound like the messenger of doom here. After all this was a hugely successful campaign compared to our normal effort. Largely thanks to the brilliance of Madsen who without we would have been way out of quarter finals reckoning. Shiv could have also made a massive difference in this comp but we can't blame the club for that. I'm just left feeling incredibly frustrated by last nights game after daring to dream about the possiblity of reaching out first finals day. Afridi can do that to any team on any given day. That's something we just have to accept. He plays a brand of high risk cricket that is difficult to combat when it's his day and yesterday was definitely his day. Could we have bowled better at him, of course we could. If Mads had caught that catch (shock of the night by the way)we might have been able to keep them to achievable score. We where never going to chase down 250. Virtually impossible with the strength of their bowling attack. Game over at half way I'm afraid. All we can do is take the positives of a largely successful campaign and vow to improve on the mistakes made in this one. JOHN from Derby.

    ReplyDelete
  23. After time and reflection of the disappointment not reaching finals day. I can see this years competition has been great to follow from start to finish. The best memory was the Notts away game even tho we lost what a game of cricket. There was many occasions this year where I have come away thinking thats is good competitive cricket. As a club since the restructure and loss of Krikken and Houghton we not seen consistent competitive cricket. I would like to now see the club to sign Kim Barnett, Mel Loye, Steve Stubbings and John Wright on long term contracts. We need to get rid of players who have had there opportunity but not took it. I think County championship is quite a way off from being consistently competitive and mainly due to small amount players who have owned there position in the team. The success of 20/20 was we had 10 players who claimed there place. I think next year we need to look at different option to Henry he didn't do enough to warrant another year with us. I think Tahir will be very difficult to sign again and will have a high price. Would the supporters stick or twist with overseas option in 20/20 blast if they had a choice?

    ReplyDelete
  24. As a long standing or should that be long suffering supporter of Derbyshire, l wasn't entirely surprised by last nights debacle.  I have seen the wheels come off too often to be shocked by our capitulation last night.  Nevertheless it was disappointing after some excellent performances in the group stage.

    On reflection, l suppose there were signs in earlier matches that the bowling could fail and it certainly did last night.  And when confronted by the onslaught from Afridi, we did not have a plan A, B or C to deal with it.  Mind you, l think many other sides would have buckled under that kind of pressure.  Part of the problem is that most of our players haven't been in this position before and it showed.  When even the ground fielding becomes ragged and catches are dropped we really are on a hiding to nothing.

    We should, however, be proud that we reached this stage and produced some wonderful performances in getting here.  I personally saw an excellent team effort against Yorkshire at Headingley to complete a satisfying double over our illustrious neighbours.  That was no mean achievement in itself.

    And a number of players have enhanced their reputations with some fine individual performances notably, Critchley and Reece with the bat.  We don't have anyone capable of replicating that knock from Afridi but Wayne Madsen showed that skilful stroke play can still bring it's rewards.

    The slow bowlers have performed admirably in this competition but there has been doubts about the seam attack and they were found wanting last night.  When experienced bowlers cannot find a good line and appropriate length then we are in trouble.

    Just rather sad that we put in such an abject performance after a wonderful journey in the T20.  I just hope that the self belief engendered by this successful run can be sustained in the remaining games and that we come back stronger next season.  John Wright has done a good job and would like him to be given the opportunity to finish what he has started.

    Stuart, York

    ReplyDelete
  25. Why was there no fight last night?, I can't accept a team surrendering after their opponents finished their innings. Zero belief that we could get anywhere near 250, so the players just gave up bar Cotton and Tahir who showed the top order what they could've done. Should we really be counting reaching a quarter final as success, I'm not so sure?.

    ReplyDelete
  26. When John Wright was brought in, and Matt Henry signed, the plan was clear. Restrict teams to a below par score and knock the runs off. 15 games later, and despite progressing to the last 8, one has to conclude that apart from the Leicester game, it was an abject failure. As was the case with Footitt, pace bowling is expensive in t20 in this country, and it's usually slow bowlers who get the wickets and are the most economical. Over the competition Viljoen and Henry went for over 10 an over game after game after game, and it was generally Madsen and one other batsman who batted beyond themselves to score big totals.

    Reece and Critchley have enhanced their reputations, and Madsen was superb throughout with bat and ball, but when push comes to shove, Billy is still capable of the big hit but chews up dots in the process, Wilson seldom was there at the end of the innings in his finisher role, Alex Hughes' bowling has become less effective this season(though his batting has improved), Smits glove work was excellent but his range of shots limited, and Cotton bowls a heavy ball but no shortage of full tosses and length balls along the way. Tahir was excellent and his wickets ensured we reached this stage. And the back up simply isn't up to the job at present.

    Tahir has to be retained if we can afford him, but a batsman is required for the second overseas slot, as most people suggested before the competition began. A medium fast bowler, preferably a left handed one for variation, wouldn't go amiss. A Graham Wagg perhaps?! Going forward, we have to rely on spin friendly wickets, with an attack next season of potentially Madsen, Tahir, Critchley and Qadri with Viljoen, Hughes, Cotton and another seamer for green wickets.

    This season was the first one where we made batting look like a science, by trying to minimise the dot balls at all stages and still collect the boundaries, and I'm sure that was Wrights influence, but last night showed there is still a big gap between us and the best teams to try and bridge in terms of raw ability

    ReplyDelete
  27. Despite our improvement in theT20 this season, we are unlikely to do any better until we have batsmen who can clear the ropes regularly, in the air or on the ground, and bowlers who can vary their length and pace as required whilst bowling at the stumps.
    The catching and ground fielding also needs to improve from current levels.
    Any qualified cricket coach should be able to instil these basics into his team over the coming winter months.
    The annual reshuffle of the squad should improve our chances for next season.

    ReplyDelete

Please remember to add your name. Avoid personal comment at all times. Thanks!