What a difference a week makes.
I have to give great credit to Billy Godleman and his senior players for the way in which they have lifted themselves from a poor run to record excellent back to back wins in both T20 and four-day cricket.
That's the thing with this team and what frustrates us all at times. We KNOW that talent is there and the job of the new Head of Cricket is in tapping into what makes them tick and getting the top level performance produced more frequently. Every team has a bad day, no matter how good, but the best sides are able to keep such displays to a minimum.
Tomorrow night we travel the short distance to Leicester to play against a side whose coach, Paul Nixon, has managed to do just that. They started the season poorly, but week by week have improved until now they are doing very nicely indeed. They sit very much in contention in the Vitality Blast, with three wins from six games, and are fourth and in the promotion shake up in the County Championship.
Mind you, as notoveryet pointed out in his excellent post below the last article, had we not blown what looked strong winning positions against Durham and Glamorgan, we would have been in that promotion pack ourselves. It has not been a bad summer, by any means; more one in which we have too frequently failed to press home a hard earned advantage.
I don't see too many changes from the side that did well at Northampton for tomorrow night, though if the recent dry weather suggests turn we might see Matt McKiernan back in the side.
As for our hosts, they have not yet announced their squad but will be high on confidence having beaten promotion-chasing Kent in two days this week. In Mohammad Abbas and Mohammad Nabi they have two canny bowlers, Nabi also capable of quick runs. He quite often opens the bowling in this form of the game, so that might present a different kind of challenge for the Derbyshire batsmen.
Prediction? When two in-form sides meet it should be a classic. Home advantage may be key but if Derbyshire's fast and furious attack find their collective mojo there will be few sides look forward to playing them. In Lockie Ferguson we have a fast bowler in fine form and in Calum MacLeod a batsman who is in very good nick.
My head tells me the home side might nick it, but if we can take early wickets, especially the dangerous Cameron Delport and Colin Ackermann, we can come home with the points.
What do you think?
It's worth noting that Leicestershire have been at least as bad at home as we have, losing all three, with two real hammerings by Lancashire and Durham. I'm not sure that home advantage means much anymore in T20 as less than a third of North group matches has been won by the home side.
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