Harvey Hosein and Hamidullah Qadri are added to the fourteen-man squad that has been together for the first three games, ahead of tomorrow's match against Leicestershire at Derby.
Logic suggests that only injury will change our line up from yesterday. The extra batsman that I had suggested ahead of the game proved his worth, as Gary Wilson joined Alex Hughes in the match-winning stand.
The question mark is on Luis Reece's fitness to bowl, but I am sure Fran Clarkson will have been working to sort the bruising from the heavy blow he took, when trying to stop a straight drive from his own bowling.
Reece has gone from being the useful batsman and occasional bowler that we signed to a key all-rounder who offers balance. He is starting to replace Shiv Thakor in that respect and it affords the option of an extra batsman if required. With Daryn Smit's brilliance allowing him to stand up to the stumps, batsmen cannot risk dancing down the track to him, while the bowler's accuracy is testimony to a lot of work over the winter, bowling both round and over the wicket to good effect.
The same goes for Alex Hughes. There is quite a change in his bowling method over the winter and in the last two games the two all-rounders have clawed things back when the quicker bowlers have been getting lined up. With Matt Critchley also much improved, we have three all-rounders, together with Ravi Rampaul, Hardus Viljoen and Wahab Riaz for the T20. If we keep in mind Wayne Madsen and Safyaan Sharif, the skipper will have plenty of options, irrespective of who comes in for the T20 as the other overseas specialist.
Tomorrow will be a tough game, as ours usually are against Leicestershire. They have a strong, experienced batting order, with skipper Michael Carberry heading it and Mark Cosgrove still scoring big runs for them. Ned Eckersley always does well against us, while all rounder Ben Raine is a player I would have in my side any time, a combative player with bat and ball.
I think we can win it, again as long as the right mental attitude and fighting spirit is there. The latter was exemplified in the way that we fought our way out of a slump yesterday to edge the result.
Here's hoping for more of the same tomorrow.
The final overs from Critchley, Viljoen and Rampaul were absolutely dire and it is surprising that we hung on to win. When will they learn to follow the batsman, vary the pace and keep a full length. The majority of the bowling was way too short. Just very thankful that Reece is showing more intelligence in his approach.
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