Derbyshire v Birmingham Bears preview

Well, after four games of the Vitality Blast T20 last year, Derbyshire had still to register a win. This year, we are played one, won one, so are already ahead of the game.

Tomorrow's visit to play Warwickshire, by any other name, will be a different kind of challenge. Their overseas players are Jeetan Patel and Ashton Agar, so logically one assumes we will find a turning wicket tomorrow. You never know, though and we have enough bowlers in our squad to be prepared for most eventualities.

Thirteen travel to Edgbaston, which is the squad for the Yorkshire game less Harvey Hosein. There is a case for recalling Alex Hughes, who did well with bat and ball for the seconds yesterday, but logically that would be at the expense of Fynn Hudson-Prentice, who has done little wrong since he came into the side. Tom Lace got runs in both matches too, but my guess is that he will miss out as we field the following side

Godleman, Reece, Madsen, du Plooy, Stevens, Critchley, Hughes/Hudson Prentice, Smit, van Beek, Watt, Rampaul.

The argument for the retention of Fynn is his opening the batting to give a left/right combination, but Alex opened in both matches yesterday, so may be in line to do that tomorrow. Alternately, we may put Matt Critchley up top, where he has had some success, but I like the idea of him coming in to offer boundary clearing possibilities at the end of the innings.

The tail is perhaps longer than we might want, but if you need nine, ten, jack to bail you out in T20, the chances are that something has gone horribly wrong anyway.

Our hosts won their first game against Leicestershire on this ground in a canter. Fidel Edwards, on loan from Hampshire, took three wickets in his first over and makes up a potent opening pairing with Henry Brookes. The other overs were shared between off spinner Alex Thomson and the medium pace Will Rhodes.

Their batting will lean heavily on Sam Hain, but Ed Pollock's 'boundary or bust' approach needs to be watched, and Agar is a canny all-rounder. Michael Burgess, recently signed from Sussex, is a good cricketer at the top, and with Chris Woakes and Olly Stone on England duty, the home side will likely be very similar to this:

Pollock, Burgess, Hain, Agar, Hose, Rhodes, Banks, Thomson, Patel, Brookes, Edwards.

A good side, but not one that we should fear. Hain recorded a pre-season double century in a one-day friendly against us, but if we can nick one or two out early, including him, there is enough in this Derbyshire side to win, leaving us going into the East Midlands derby on Friday in fine fettle.

Finally tonight, Kent announced today that Darren Stevens will be leaving at the end of the season, but the player insists that he hopes to play on.

There is an argument for someone taking him on for the March-June period, when his bowling is at its most potent, but he has a fine shop window in this competition.

He is a far better player than his limited opportunity on Sunday suggested and if he does fire, we are going to have a fine, match-winning player on our hands.

Fingers crossed for another fine display!