While accepting that it was a pre-season match against a non-first team attack in its entirety, you have to hand it to Ben Slater (89*) and Luis Reece (43*) in steering Derbyshire to 147-0 by the early close of a truncated first day against Warwickshire.
Time in the middle and runs on the board. You can't knock either, even if one side of the wicket, on the very edge of the square, made Heanor look like the old Oval, when the running of fives was commonplace.
Rather like the other side of the wicket. in fact. I've played in teams where that side would have needed a three-man relay to get it to the 'keeper. Mind you, I'd have fancied whistling it over the top of stumps like Keith Boyce used to do from the other side. Then again, so would Mrs P...
Useful stuff then. As, presumably as an incentive was reading several pre-season forecasts that suggest we will be bottom of the championship table.
I don't see that and there's potential in this team IF we get off to a flyer and have a full squad to choose from.
More tomorrow.
Ha ha, words of optimism every season Peakfan. Fair play mate and fingers crossed for a great season.
ReplyDeleteLike I said the other day mate, there's the best squad in many years.
ReplyDeleteIf we cant have a decent season with this squad, it will be a long time until we do so
Whilst our excellent-looking frontline pace attack should win us some games and keep us off bottom place in Division Two, the forecasts from outsiders aren't that surprising. We've gained Rampaul and Olivier. We've lost Thakor, Mendis/Tahir, Taylor, Cotton, and several others. Last season, when Thakor was around for the first half of the season, only Glamorgan got fewer batting points. So it does require a leap of faith to believe that, having not replaced Thakor, we'll do much better than last year. We can borrow players but we're perhaps more likely to end up with a Podmore than a McKerr. The squad certainly has potential, as you rightly say, but even so it looks thin compared to our competitors. My real worry is that Derbyshire will be perceived - fairly or unfairly - as not taking the championship seriously, and this will only encourage those who want to reform the system in a way that will disadvantage our county.
ReplyDeleteFair comments as always Martin.
ReplyDeleteI am factoring in a return to 4 day form for Billy and Wayne and further improvements for others.
There are runs in the top seven and for all his talent, Shiv averaged 32 last year, ninth in the batting...