Thoughts ahead of the East Midlands derby

One swallow doesn't make a summer and one defeat doesn't ruin a T20 campaign. But Derbyshire need to make some key decisions ahead of the game against Nottinghamshire at Derby on Friday evening.

Let's face it, few expect us to win and we don't have a great track record against our under-achieving neighbours. They will probably do well in this competition, because they appear to have spent the summer playing T20 with the bat and doing appallingly in the county championship.

They should win, given their massively different resources, and probably will. Yet we can give ourselves a half-decent shout of competing better than we did last night by getting some key decisions right.

Much as I respect Billy Godleman as a cricketer, a man and a decent captain in other formats, we missed a trick in not giving the role to Daryn Smit for T20. When Dominic Cork made the decision to select him for this competition ahead of Harvey Hosein, he should have made the even bolder decision to give him the captaincy. Everyone I have spoken to who has played with him has only praise for his shrewd and innovative captaincy. What he has done with a young second team, largely made up of trialists, has been remarkable and his reputation preceded him in that respect, both from his time in South Africa and as a highly respected professional at Ramsbottom, where he will return as professional next year.

A good captain can get ten per cent more from his team, individually and collectively. I fear that Corky won't change things now, but for me it was an opportunity missed. Whether there was a concern over making the second team captain the first team skipper is neither here nor there. A team without a second overseas has to find advantage where it can, and this would have been an easy win, for me.

Billy is a fine batsman, but he is developing a reputation as a poor and sometimes indecisive runner. In a team with two outstanding batsmen who can score quickly, in Madsen and du Plooy, it is self-defeating to run one of them out, especially when Wayne looked to be in fine form last night. I don't know how you fix that, but if Billy is the self-appointed man to bat through the innings, he has to score more when he has the strike, not get bogged down, like last night. A run a ball is the bare minimum for the 'anchor' role.

Then there's the Darren Stevens signing. The jury is out on whether this was an inspired move or a panic buy, but he needs a good performance. Of course he has been an outstanding cricketer for many years, but in two matches he has scored five runs and bowled three overs for 33 runs. Both Alex Hughes, our most successful T20 bowler last year, and Anuj Dal could better that, AND improve the fielding.

Maybe Friday is too soon to press the button for the ejector seat, but at some point the case for Hughes, at least, will be undeniable. The same goes for Logan van Beek. He needs to show that Chesterfield wasn't a fluke, because the runs I thought he might offer, based on his record, don't appear likely and my concerns over him going for 11/12 an over came to fruition last night, perhaps not for the last time.

Dominic Cork was critical about the bowlers this morning and rightly so. With one short boundary, your lines need to be bang on, just as Ravi Rampaul showed. Our hosts had three international bowlers and that difference told. With eight bowlers, a captain will hope five of them get the basics of line and length right, but when they don't, you have nowhere to go.

My conclusion? Well, we keep working, try to find that extra ten per cent and deliver the basics better. There will be times, in a tough group, where the basics just aren't enough and a better team gives you a good hiding. For what it is worth, were I picking the side for Friday, it would be as follows:

Godleman
Critchley
Madsen
Du Plooy
Reece
Hudson-Prentice
Hughes
Dal
Smit (captain)
Watt
Rampaul

In the field we would give ourselves a better chance and there is greater depth to the batting too. Nine bowlers as well, so we can mix it up.

It still might not be enough, but I'd be keen to hear your thoughts, as always.