I am afraid that time has been against me over the past couple of days. A consequence of working compressed shifts is little time at the start of the week, especially when the match is at such a cockeyed time.
We are looking down a barrel here, still behind and with three wickets left. Such is the nature of the pink ball under lights that our visitors will not fancy chasing 175 in the final innings if we bowled ok. But that would need someone to play an innings out of character with recent form tomorrow. Alex Hughes would be the best bet, but the thinking money is on a defeat before the end of session 2 tomorrow.
There is stuff I can say and likely will tomorrow evening, but we have a serious shift to put in tomorrow to get anything from this one.
Top marks to Wayne for his first innings knock and to Tony Palladino for another sterling bowling effort.
The rest...well, it could have been worse.
But has to get a heck of a lot better.
When are the powers that be at DCCC going to get hold of this 'senior management team' and impose a proper batting order, and also tell them we do have more than 4 quick bowlers, yesterday we needed a bit of variation from the short quick stuff we seem to think frightens teams out Critchley bowled 9 overs and Madsen none in the Leicestershire innings. We need some sensible batting from the captain and others today to set a minimum of 180 otherwise the inevitable will happen.
ReplyDeleteIt’s getting worse not better.....if Leics stuff us (which looks likely) serious questions need to be asked
ReplyDeleteI'm sure we all feel for you, Peakfan, with such tough work demands, but have a thought for those of us who've been grafting away at the coalface of day/night cricket. Apart from the glorious weather, it's been every bit as grim as I anticipated, with small and diminishing attendance as the day goes on, and Derbyshire's catering offer hitting new lows. Is there another cricket ground in the country where there is a proud announcement that ice cream is available in the members' bar, as though it's a brand new idea?
ReplyDeleteAnyway, to the cricket. It was a worthy bowling effort yesterday that got us back into the match. Palladino provided a master-class in medium pace swing bowling, and perhaps he needs to do some work with Rampaul, again the big disappointment in conditions that you would expect to have suited him down to the ground. He is going to need a huge T20 for us not to think that he's one of the worst value signings we've made. Viljoen bowled with a lot of discipline, perhaps cutting his regular pace a little and producing the really quick ball as a variation. Olivier again bowled too short most of the time, but every Leics batsman was troubled by him and several will be wearing painful bruises as a memento. It's thrilling to watch but ultimately frustrating when he ends up with only 2 wickets. Parkinson batted bravely and cleverly to eke out a 52 run lead that may well prove crucial. It's telling that they managed 72 from their last 4 wickets, where we only managed 13.
There's no question that the loss of the three wickets at the end was a huge blow. It was predictable to the extent that the ball suddenly started to move particularly sharply on the first day when the shadows got across the pitch at around 8.15, and it wasn't surprising that the same thing happened. However, the fact that we were starting our innings at that time was the result of an extraordinarily slow passage of play either side of tea, when it certainly looked as if we were slowing up play deliberately. It might have been to give the bowlers some rest on what was a punishing day for them, or to frustrate the batsmen, but the result was that Derbyshire had to start their innings at the most difficult time. Slater's dismissal was the most disappointing as he hung an angled bat at a good bouncer from Abbas, contrasting with most of the Leics batsmen who made sure they got their bats out of the way to anything short.
It's an uphill struggle from here, but our opponents in the last 3 matches have been in a much worse place than we are and fought back into winning positions. It's also to our advantage, perhaps, that batting seems a little easier in the first session than it becomes later, with only 3 wickets falling for 160 runs in the two so far. Given how wickets have fallen in both innings after the morning sessions, anything upwards of another 175 will make a challenging target for the fourth innings, but we're relying on several out of form batsmen and a long tail against a disciplined pace attack that is ideally suited to these conditions. Leics have shown in the last few weeks that it's possible to go from being a dispirited and beaten rabble to a confident and assertive team, so it shouldn't be beyond us to do likewise and turn this around. I have to admit, though, that that is more of a statement of fact than one of optimism or expectation.
I think someone needs to get a 100 and a couple of the best candidates are already out. A lot rests on Hughes and Godleman to get to over 250. Leics are much improved and have a few batsman who can score heavily. You're right about the lights Peakfan but last night I thought it was more the fact that Raine and Abbas bowled at the stumps whereas, whilst not a bad bowling performance overall and a good recovery, short stuff resulted in runs being given away.
ReplyDeleteAm waiting with interest to see who our marquee T20 signing will be but wasn't made clear whether thsi will be supplemental to Riaz or just to cover him in the last three games.
Your thoughts on this one very much concur with my own , although I am hoping to see 7 wickets still to fall when I arrive at the ground.
ReplyDeleteDurham and Glamorgan both ‘rose from the dead’ so Derbyshire need to show similar levels of application and fight.
Despite glorious weather the attendance at this match has been very poor , the ground has been as quiet as a cemetery after 7pm.