Derbyshire 143-9 (MacLeod 39, Wilson 30 not)
Birmingham 127-9 (Bell 65, Wahab 3-27, Viljoen 2-12, Hughes 2-26)
Derbyshire won by 16 runs
At halfway in this match there might only have been the super-positive who saw Derbyshire in with a chance of victory.
Only 143 runs to defend, against a team with strong batting and led by Ian Bell, who has had a wonderful Indian summer in his career.
Yet we did it with sixteen runs to spare, with another superb, disciplined bowling display that limited the visitors to 127-9 in their innings. The bowlers were again backed up by keen fielding and safe catching, although I understand Gary Wilson did put down Ian Bell at a stage when it looked crucial.
Fair play to the captain, he played a slow knock tonight but after the dismissal of Billy Godleman and Calum MacLeod no one else really found scoring easy. Grant Elliott bowled a typically miserly spell but an innings that looked like it might end somewhere between 160 and 180 ended up considerably
lower.
Yet, to their immense credit, you simply cannot discount this Derbyshire attack. Riaz led the way with three wickets and closed out so well again, yet the best figures went to Hardus Viljoen, with a terrific 2-12 in his four over spell. No miscalculations tonight and the five seamers all did their jobs manfully. Rampaul was the most expensive, but when you bowl in both Powerplays that is always likely. Ferguson was for once wicketless, but again a model of parsimony and is going for only 6.59 an over at this stage in the competition, an outstanding effort. So too Riaz, at 7.25 and both bowlers could have done no more for their side.
I was a little baffled by the batting order again. I understood a rationale of replacing one pinch hitter for another with Godleman being replaced by Riaz, but the success of the last two games didn't come in until eight. Dal was rightly elevated, but overestimated his powers of acceleration and underestimated the arm of Woakes and was run out without scoring.
I still think Wilson is too early at five, but he can argue tonight that his knock, especially a four and six in the last over, won us the game. Yet so too did a return to normal bowling discipline, with only eight extras conceded.
At the end of it all we lifted ourselves up and won again. Five from six and very, very much in the shake up for the knockouts. Northamptonshire at home on Wednesday then Worcestershire away on Thursday, who won a high-scoring thriller against Durham in the last over.
That will be it for the magnificent Mr Riaz, but hopefully between times we will learn who is coming in to replace him.
Because someone surely has to.
You did us proud tonight boys, well done. And with Derby County getting off to a flyer under Frank Lampard, it's a good night to be a Derbyshire sports fan.
Postscript - there is still time to bid for the autographed Derbyshire T20 kit, size small. The current leading bid is £50. If you would like to win this, mail me with your top bid at peakfan36@yahoo.co.uk by midnight tomorrow. All proceeds to two very worthwhile charities.
Brilliant bowling performance after it seemed that we had put up a well below par score. After a the good powerplay 143 was a disappointment, but the way the bowlers bowler was exceptional. Alex Hughes may have lost his touch with the bat, but he can now hold down his place on his bowling ability alone, and I’ve never seen as many successive dot balls in a t20 as I did with Viljoen and Wahab in the 18th and 19th over. With 35 needed from 3 overs, we could’ve been put under pressure but instead the ball flew past the bat almost every time.
ReplyDeleteWe are still in this.
J
Excellent bowling performance tonight; I really though they had no chance at half way. A quarter final place remains a possibility.
ReplyDeleteWhat seemed like a poor performance with the bat, especially after such a good start, was recovered with an excellent bowling performance by all bowlers. The merit of one batsman staying there was highlighted with macloud, while Billy hit out. The proof of how good our early batting actually was was show by how a quality player like Ian bell struggled early on, his dismissal was vital, if he had stayed there I think it would have been a different story, he was timing his exceleration. Again not needing to fiddle 4 overs from a couple of part time bowlers proved a good decision. It of course helps that 3 three of them could be classed as T20 alrounders helps selection. Wahab replacement is vital.
ReplyDeleteTbf the wilson drop if it was the one off riaz was very very difficult diving full length, did well to get a glove on it. I can't think if any other chance he spilled.
ReplyDeleteBrilliant win and superb bowling.
Like 98.5% of the Derbyshire supporters I didn't think we had a chance half way through the game last eve. How we was all wrong.
ReplyDeleteVery good all round bowling performance combined with some well taken catches.
More of the same next game please & if batting first another 40 to 50 on last night's total will certainly make things easier.
Keep it going!
MH
Well, we stayed alive in the group, though I'm not sure how many of that new cricket audience we're trying to attract who made this their first game will be going back and telling their friends about the fantastically tense and attritional match they'd seen. It was another desperately slow and uneven pitch with big boundaries that defied most batsmen's attempts to time their shots, and with one win in 4 at Derby (and that against the weakest opposition we've played there), I'm not convinced it's either playing to our strengths or helping to draw in the crowds. It also means we can't complain too much about our opponents rigging their own pitches against us, as many had been doing at Trent Bridge the night before. The irony is that those who were most engaged by it were the knowledgeable traditional cricket watchers who understood why sixes and fours weren't flying and relished the cleverly bowled dot balls.
ReplyDeleteI'm a little surprised that commentators seem to see this as a matter of disciplined bowling rescuing our poor batting, as I think events showed that we possibly got something above the par score for this pitch. Godleman and Mcleod deserve a lot of credit for getting us off to such a quick start, perhaps taking advantage of the pitch when it was at its freshest and the ball its hardest, and the bowlers still working out the length to bowl, and to Wilson for scratching out enough runs in the last few overs. Godleman's first three shots off Stone were amazing, all short-arm pulls from in front of his face, all looking as if they were top-edged. By the third, I was half-convinced he was doing it deliberately, and watching the video clips back, he does seem to be watching the ball all the way off the bat, suggesting he was in some kind of control. Those 32 runs off the second and third overs were crucial.
I still found the batting order confusing. Having been calling for Dal to bat earlier, I didn't expect to see him at 3, and I'm not sure why you wouldn't have sent in Riaz given his recent record in that position, although 7 off 11 balls later might have indicated that it wasn't a bad decision. Dal was desperately unlucky, as it wasn't his acceleration that let him down, but the lumpish physique of Thomason, who backed straight into Dal's path and effectively body checked him. There were a fair few calling for the decision to be reversed, but it was clearly inadvertent on the bowler's part, although a more gracious skipper than Elliott might have withdrawn the appeal. Note for Dal - add about 3 stone or run inside to avoid dead weights in front of you.
After the disappointing efforts of the night before, the bowling and fielding was excellent, and the captaincy thoughtful. Also in fairness to Wilson, I think the "drop" off Bell was more of a heroic attempt to save a boundary, and his batting, keeping and captaincy was right up to the mark tonight. There are no margins on this type of pitch, and Derbyshire showed the discipline that was needed.
With Northants to come next, we should be going into the much tougher last three games with 12 points. I'm not convinced by the argument for replacing Riaz unless we can be very confident that we can get someone of comparable match-winning quality who is match-fit and has been playing recently. I see the Jimmy Neesham being mentioned, and apart from his modest record with us and Ken, he hasn't played cricket in 4 months. I suspect that most players who might be available will be in a similar situation, and I don't see the point of spending £20k plus simply to get a "name" on to a team sheet, especially when some of our rivals in the group are also losing players.. Now Trent Boult might fit the bill having recently been playing in Canada, but very few others.
Agree with a couple of your observations notoveryet.Dal was very unfortunate with the runout.By the time the ball hit the stumps,due to being forced wider and wider by the retreating thomason,dal wasn't even in the picture at all,so had actually moved two pitches to his right to avoid him,and had probably run another several metres further. Also agree about a replacement for Riaz. Finding an adequate, upto speed,and ready to go bowler/allrounder is not going to be easy. The spirit within the squad looks good,so would probably be happy with safyaan or mckiernon coming in,depending on pitch conditions. They have both been part of the squad all through,so no doubt are both already on message as to what the tactics and plans are,so hopefully either will find it easier to step in,than most outsiders at this stage.
ReplyDeleteGood points notoveryet and I agree on many of them.
ReplyDeleteI disagree on the overseas role and you know that. Yes there are limited options out there but if a good one became available we should take it.
Playing Durham without Tahir will be better than the alternative, but if we can find an international class batsman (and it wouldn't cost us 20k) or bowler we should take it.
Only 2 counties have never made finals day. We are one of them. How nice if we supported John Wright to get us there.
I mentioned Neesham, whose record may have been modest to you but was actually pretty good to Kent and he took 14 wickets and batted usefully for us.
But I understand he cannot bowl at present due to a recurrence of a back injury and is not a good enough batsman to sign as a specialist.
Boult? Yes, but his starring role in IPL etc would make him a costly signing even I would struggle to justify.
Might need a change of emphasis, but I hope we are looking..
Despite living in South Staffordshire, I have found that Derby is by far the easiest place for me to watch T20 and coupled with the excellent matchday experience, I suspect this is where I will do most of my watching from now on. Thanks for your excellent blog that has enabled me to get up to speed with DCCC.
ReplyDeleteRegarding Friday’s game, I was surprised by the decision to field as I feel Derbyshire lack ability to post big totals which on paper would have allowed the powerful Bears batting line up to chase down totals below about 180. Hence I gave the Falcons little hope at half time. I feel McLeod or Madsen need to bat through most of the innings and their departures in close proximity to each other led to the innings petering out a little.
The pace trio however look menacing (I remain to be convinced regarding Rampaul) and will be a handful for most teams. After the early dismissal of Pollock the Bears never got going. Bell was classy as ever and whilst he remained the Bears were favourite. Hughes’s over was always going to be key, Bell knew he had to travel as he would get precious little from Riaz and Viljoen but it was Hughes who laughed loudest and the game was sealed.
Derbyshire were ok in the field but I thought in comparison the Bears looked sharper, a reflection I think of a younger side who have played together for much longer. That said, this didn’t stop Chennai in the IPL and the Falcons remain solidly in the mix.
You have a great place to watch cricket, so simple for me. I look forward to joining you again.
Welcome and thanks for your comments!
ReplyDeleteIf you can just stick a name.. Real or assumed.. on comments it is easier to get to know folks.
Do pop in as often as you wish!