That was a bit special, wasn't it?
The Yorkshire fans were as self-righteous and patronising as only Yorkshire fans can be last night, attributing their loss to 'Kolpakshire' as 'ridiculous' and 'embarrassing'. To be fair, one did have the grace to say that they had been outplayed by a better side. I felt obliged to go on and point out a few things in a dignified and proper manner...
Which is 100% the case. It was great to see it last night on the live stream, even though the score seemed to run a ball or two behind the pictures. No doubt a work in progress.
The difference last night was that a club with some stellar talents failed to live up to its billing. Ours, less regarded in many circles, delivered everything we could have asked for, with chocolate sprinkles on top. It was magnificent.
It was the first of three big games this week. Next, we head to Trent Bridge on Thursday, then entertain Birmingham on Friday. If we win one of these games, qualification is certainly on and in current form I don't think anyone would bet against that.
It is now imperative that Derbyshire secure the services of someone to replace the excellent Wahab Riaz for the last four games. Riaz has delivered all we hoped for as an aggressive bowler, but last night showed an untapped talent in his role of pinch hitter. It was the thought process behind this that I liked, thinking outside the box and perhaps throwing Yorkshire, just as Hampshire did to us last year when they opened with Shahid Afridi. The fluid batting order, with Viljoen also moving up and down to good effect is very pleasing.
Yet without the four overs of control from Riaz for the closing games, we need to have a replacement coming in.There must be a few players out there who could do a good job for us and it is imperative that the club's CEO and board back the coaches and players, even if it is to the detriment of the budget for one season.
I'd far sooner maximise the possibility of T20 progress than announce a small profit next Spring. There is time to make up the outlay anyway, with another sell out concert on the way, the fireworks show and a no doubt busy Christmas season.
I wouldn't be averse to someone like Jimmy Neesham coming in for a few games. He is not a like for like with Riaz, but is a lively character, a hard-hitting left hand bat and a very useful seam bowler. He wouldn't be my choice of death bowler, but I think he would be a very useful asset to this side in that final period, his fielding being top drawer too.
I'm not a fan of 'revolving door' professionals and have said so before, but we will see much about our board's ambition in the next few days.
The players have done everything they can to haul us back into contention in this competition, with some wonderful displays. John Wright has travelled across the world to take charge and he, with Grant Bradburn and Dominic Cork, have done really well.
Now is the time to back them to the hilt.
Spot on with your comments about spending over and above the budget Peakfan.
ReplyDeletePeople want to watch a winning team. People will pay to watch a team of winners. If we get the right player and have to put a quid or two on T20 admission prices, so be it.
Whatever happens in the rest of the T20, if we carry our good form into the CC2 until the end of the season, I would certainly accept an increase in my membership for 2019.
Regarding Riaz leaving, do you know if Mitch Santner is anywhere near ready to return????
Cheers David. I think Mitchell's recovery from a major knee op will take some time yet and as much as anything it is regaining confidence that the knee will do its job, post reconstruction. And with T20 being very intensive, with lots of running and diving, I doubt he would go straight back into that form anyway
ReplyDeleteIt's a nice change from winning the first matches, giving us hope and then falling away.
ReplyDeleteIncredible win first time in a few years I was unable to make this fixture. Gutted but managed to watch most of their reply via the stream. Well done all. Certainly after the poor start the lads have turned a corner and credit to John Wright and the coaching team. I must confess I thought such a turnaround was beyond us. How wrong I was. Well done all. Keep it up.
ReplyDeleteI was there, along with a smattering of other Derbyshire fans I think. I thought your write-up of the game below was spot-on Peakfan, particularly picking up on the positivity of the team and Riaz in particular, in words and actions.
ReplyDeleteA near perfect performance, Madsen’s innings was incredible, I felt sorry for Rafiq, who in the midst of the onslaught came round the wicket and bowled two wides in a row, such was his bewilderment. I thought 160 was par, but Yorkshire’s attack seemed one-dimensional without Rashid, in contrast to our pacers.
I wonder what has changed (other than Billy back in the team)…
Most Yorkies had disappeared long before the end, and the few left couldn’t muster any applause for our team, which says more about them I think.
Final word on Tim Bresnan – he cut a disconsolate figure walking off, and I hope this isn’t the end of him and he goes out on a high which his past performances for England and Yorkshire deserve. More culpable in the Chesterfield loss were the Yorkshire batters, who were 20-30 runs light. Unlike Derbyshire on Monday night, that is…
See that Yorkshire are back with a similar margin against Leics as against Derbyshire win on Monday - so it's game on. Have to assume that Lancashire and Worcs will go through although the former no longer have Livingstone and Jennings. Durham are playing really well and we still have to play them twice. Wins in the next three games are essential (Notts/B/ham/Northants) - Worcs away will be tricky - could all come down to the two against Durham.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of a Riaz replacement - won't be easy with the Carribean league clash- notice quite a few players currently in the T20 Blast are contracted there so options aren't huge. Wonder what's happened with Tim Southee and people like Trent Boult. Hoping that John Wright will be able to pull out his contact book again to good effect.
Whatever happens - those two games against Yorkshire should go down as part of the club's history.
In your comments about Yawkshire" as a Derbyshire member living in "Yawkshire I can confirm that the bias even extends to BBC Look North. On both Sunday and Mondays news bulletins no mention of cricket but last night after a win a full match report with video footage. It happens all the time in winter when Leeds United win or lose
ReplyDeleteGary Wilson said after the Northants win that teams are never as good as people say they are when they are winning, and never as bad as they say when they're losing. The truth is somewhere between the two, and I don't think Yorkshire supporters (apart from the lunatics talking about industrial scale match fixing) are any different from most of us 2 weeks ago when everything was going to the dogs and everyone needed to be sacked. There's might be more angst for them because their expectations are so high and their sense of entitlement so strong but it's what supporters do.
ReplyDeleteI commented a couple of weeks ago that, although our poor start was disappointing, we had lost to two very good teams in great form in Lancs and Worcs, and even then had our opportunities in a couple of the games. We also had a lot of home games to start with, which in this competition this year doesn't seem to confer any advantage on most teams. The issues we had to address were the lack of runs and getting more dynamism and energy in the field. Godleman opening, Critchley dropping down the order to where he feels most comfortable, and Wilson keeping wicket and allowing in a more agile and mobile fielder dealt with these. The other factor was the fact that the team had very little time together as a group. Team work doesn't just happen and it was inevitable that the cricket was going to suffer whilst players and coaches got to understand their roles.
I think Godleman is the key because he brings the kind of strength and power that means even the mishits clear the field and the ones he times go to the boundary, so he can go hard from the start and take the pressure off his partner so that he can play himself in, as Macleod has been able to do. We don't have many batsmen with Godleman's power, probably only Viljoen and Riaz, so it makes sense to send Riaz in to do the same job if Godleman is out early, with Viljoen held back to disrupt the spinners. When Mcleod is out early, Madsen is sent in at 3 with the same ability to play himself in a little and travel in Godleman's slipstream for a couple of overs. Not that he needed it the other night, of course, when he was as murderous as any one day batsman I've seen.
It would be as well not to get too far ahead of ourselves though. Every winning run has to come to an end. We only have to remember the one day cup when we followed up a performance against Northants that was just as ruthless and professional as the one against Yorkshire with a pretty limp display 2 days later against Lancashire and the debacle at Trent Bridge.
Even if we can carry this run on through the next three matches, which you'd hope given Notts poor performances generally Trent Bridge and their overall form, and Warwickshire's general weakness in T20, and Northants who seem to have given up the ghost, we have a tough final three matches. Worcs look nailed on to qualify, and I think that Yorkshire still have a very good chance with 2 games coming up against Northants and 2 against Notts. Durham are on an even longer roll than we've been on, so I think there may only one place within our compass, depending on what Lancashire do in the absence of Livingstone. I suspect they are going to struggle now as they were hugely dependent on him, and this is going to benefit anyone who still has to play them.
One area I still don't think we're getting quite right is how we use Dal. We lost a few dot balls in the final couple of overs as Wilson and Hughes got going, and Dal has shown that he hardly ever lets a ball go by without scoring, and can hit boundaries, so I'd be inclined to have him coming in ahead of them.