Thoughts on two defeats

When I look back on the 2017 season, I think that I can broadly encapsulate it in one sentence.

It's not the losing that hurts, it's the fact that we threw away a win.

There was a time, and not that long ago, that we were hammered in most T20 matches and rarely entertained the prospect of beating bigger clubs. That has now changed and it is perhaps an inverted compliment that we have genuine expectations of beating most sides. Progress has been made, but it still hurts, perhaps even more, when we lose and will continue to do so when we continually throw away hard-fought advantages.

I didn't see any of the Northamptonshire game, although it was streamed, as I couldn't get a stable wi-fi signal, but it seemed to me that we fell around 20 runs short of what should have been attainable. Only eight came from the closing over and a half and when the visitors got off to a flyer it never seemed enough.

Apart from a snorter of a yorker from Ferguson, yet again, that would have removed the foot of Vasconcelos had it been in the way, we bowled poorly and gave away too many freebies. At the same time Duckett and Cobb, both free-scoring players, had one of those days and the fact that we lost to a bottom-place team  with ten balls to spare tells it all. It was a poor performance, one that critics would deem a 'typically Derbyshire' one when it matters. We can beat the best, but remain worryingly fallible against sides we should be beating.

Moving on a day, we bowled beautifully at Worcester and the discipline for which the attack has been known in previous games was fully restored. As I basked in the afternoon sunshine with my family at Morecambe, the regular tweets suggested that we could get back to the three wins in four that I suggested might see us through. Their free-scoring batsmen never got going, with the exception of the hugely talented Joe Clarke, and the final target of less than 140 looked well within our compass.

Yet we never threatened. This time our batting let us down and a dreadful start was only partially rescued by Gary Wilson and Billy Godleman, who built the innings but never at a rate that suggested a win was on the cards. It was again poor fare.

Yes, qualification is still theoretically possible, but only by dint of a sequence of results so unlikely that my hopes of one day playing for Derbyshire seem modest by comparison. I just think we have shot ourselves in the foot too many times this year and the batting order has made little sense to the casual observer.

Surely you want your best batsman, Wayne Madsen, in as early as possible, yet he came in at five at Worcester. Why do we promote Riaz to three, see him play two fine innings, then not bat there again? Why play Dal everywhere between three and nine? Why not bat Hughes higher than eight, where he seldom had a chance to make an impact? Why bat Critchley, a free hitter, as low as seven or eight? In this format both Alex and Matt will score more quickly than Gary Wilson, who can hit a ball but is a slow starter and limited on the off side.

It smacked of a batting order being pulled out of a hat, or otherwise the result of a power struggle where the coaches are saying one thing but the captain something else.

Have we improved? Yes, over two years, from where we were. But we could do so much better with greater consistency of plan, such as we had last year. It is as if we have taken on the lesson of the Hampshire game, where we were out-thought by their promotion of Afridi, and decided that no one will ever second guess our batting order.

For me it made no sense. Being an honest guy, I don't think we picked the best captain, nor wicket-keeper and I got the impression that results were being achieved despite selections, rather than because of them.

We engaged Sharif and he has never played a game, while McKiernan has played only one. The latter should have played at least another couple, but there seemed an unwillingness to change the bowling with four international bowlers. I get that to some extent, but top coaches make brave decisions and we didn't. Whether captain or coach has final say I am unsure, but that person has made errors.

Finally, the pitches. My understanding is that our home matches have been played on two pitches, which have naturally got slower. Why, with the fastest attack on the circuit? We saw at Northampton  how they destroyed a side, but they have since had to bowl on wickets resembling a beach. It makes no sense and they have to join up the dots for future seasons and prepare wickets that better suit the resources at our disposal.

Leicestershire tonight and I hope we win with the cameras on us. It will be good to see Henry Nicholls  in the county colours and see the impact of an international batsman on our fragile batting, but we will undoubtedly miss the excellent Wahab Riaz.

Overseas players flit through counties on an annual basis and five years down the line there are those who will barely register in the collective memory.

Riaz came and did a sterling job. He bowled quickly and accurately, kept things tight in both Power plays and played a couple of innings that some may not have considered possible. He was a positive role model for younger players and was often seen having a word at key moments, making up a potent overseas combo with Lockie Ferguson.

He did it all with a smile on his face that suggested he enjoyed the experience, an object lesson for some around the circuit who seem to scowl their way from day to day.

A successful signing, beyond any doubt.