Leicestershire 149-7
Derbyshire 94 all out
I can't say too much about it as (thankfully) I didn't see it, but Derbyshire did their best to put me off my evening meal in the pub tonight
The good news is that the results and no results in this group have left us still in it, but that must have been awful to watch, wherever you were doing so.
The concern was there when we lost the toss, given we were playing on a used pitch. It was never going to be easy batting second and we effectively gave ourselves a 50/50 chance of winning through the toss.
Yet the dismissals seem to have been poor and one would hope that we were better at playing on our own wicket than that.
From the sound of it there were too many given away with big shots, when a more prudent approach might have been beneficial.
The bowling was not too bad, but you have to balance that against what followed.
I will leave you to comment on the rest. A point from a rain off against Nottinghamshire is perhaps the summit of our ambitions in that game, then it is how we do in the return against Leicestershire, another against Northamptonshire and a final trip to Old Trafford, never a happy hunting ground for us.
We never do things the easy way, do we?
And the frustration felt by fans tonight is tangible from here.
Over to you.
Why on earth is Stevens playing as a specialist batsmen. Pace off seemed to work if gonna play him at least give him an over. Ludicrous. Also the last two balls of their innings we lost the initiative no men on the offside boundary when Rampaul is bowling outside off is a disgrace. Those last 8 runs was a nice boost for Leicestershire. Joke performance with the bat. Some of the dismissals of likes of Madsen, Godleman and LDP were absolutely shocking. Game gone at 3 down. No way back.
ReplyDeleteAn absolute batting shambles when not even chasing a big total. Sums up Derbyshire, one step forward two huge ones back. Not confident we'll register another victory after tonight's dross.
ReplyDeleteI really cannot understand batting second on a worn pitch
ReplyDeleteAlso having restricted them to 150 we batted as if we needed to score at 10 an over and many dismissals were similar
Need to win the last 4 tbh
All live on SKY TV !!!
We lost the toss I think
DeleteVery disappointed but predicted from preview and the times we have seen winning positions thrown away. Bowlers did their bit and wasn't going to be easy but the total was achievable with application. Senior batsmen let the side down with poor shot selection at a point too early in the innings and they will know that. The run out didn't look clear from the replay but presume the umpire must have had a better view; bit unlucky but poor technique though in not " grounding the bat" . Tailend tried and provided some effort and application but already lost to a well organised Leicestershire side. I left the ground more dissapointed than apparently some of the side.
ReplyDeleteWell how disappointing was that, having done the hard work of restricting Leicestershire to less than 150, we just played like 10 year olds. Even at the basic level of Club cricket we would have had the instruction to keep rotating the strike, pick up the singles every ball and the boundaries will come, what did we do.. tryto hit over the ropes from the off, the whole of the senior batsmen just self destructed and gave their wicket away with poor shots, I can't think of a wicket that went down to good bowling. I am Wayne Madsens biggest fan, but the high risk reverse sweep so early in the innings when risk wasn't required just summed up the batters performance. I think we just panic when we have to chase no matter what the target and feel we have to go at the required rate straight away at all cost, we have all seen how successful teams build in the first 6-8 overs and try and have wickets in hand for the fireworks to start, at 24-6 before the powerplay had finished was poor management. What made things even worse was that after the excellent result where we managed things so well against a highly efficient Worcester, we played like headless chickens and everything just went pair shaped against an eminently beatable Leicester. A chance to go third was blown and control our own destiny now makes the job of qualification more difficult! Never let Sky on the ground we never perform when they are there, and the world only see our poor performances!
ReplyDeleteTo try and end on a positive, the performance of the bowlers particularly from Matt Critchley and Hudson-Prentice, and the fielding was good.
I admit to not being an expert on cricket I watch the T20 & a couple of 50 over games. But even I could tell the batting was truly horrendous first six out five to appalling shots and one run out where stevens doesn't ground his bat! If the first four don't win us the game were scuppered. Just a word on the bowling as we saw against Durham/Worcs the pitch is slow and last nights was a used pitch so why only pick 1 spinner? Do we not have another? Durham/worcs/leics all had 2/3 slower bowlers.
ReplyDeleteNot sure why we signed Watt if he's going to miss 4 games (3 of which are on slow pitches we have prepared?) and several 50 over games. Dal in for Stevens for me.
Morning after and still can't quite believe what I saw - such a disappointing batting performance.
ReplyDeleteThere was a lot of catching practice for the boundary fieldsmen in the Leicestershire team, surely when Reece and Mads went in quick succession there was a need for the skip to calm things down a bit ?
...and I know that in the grand scheme of things it made no difference but the selection of Stevens was an odd one - perhaps this would have been a good run out for Dal ?
Cork hopelessly trying to justify the signing of Stevens by keeping on picking him. He's been useless and is keeping a player like Dal out of the tesm, let's face it he couldn't do any worse could he?. Rankin another shocking signing, I'd personally send them back now as neither will contribute anything significant in these last four matches. Really disappointed after last night.
ReplyDeleteI'd comment on the pitch - The toss was a massive difference and with Leic having 3 spinners (they didn't even need Lilley) and once we lost and conceded 150 then we were struggling (Am guessing Madsen can't bowl as he doesn't seem to be given an over in this years competition and we clearly are lacking in the spin department without Watt) . It was obvious to anyone watching that we had to go hell for leather in the powerplay - it was pointless being 40 for 1 after 6 overs as we would have lost. If we hadn't got to about 60 then the game was up so I wouldn't blame the batsmen entirely for continuing to go for it (Ok shot selection was not great but they did have to keep going)
ReplyDeleteThe scores are getting lower over the country - Durham failed to chase less than 120 last night. 4 wickets left and didn't get a boundary in the last 12 overs! - Not blaming the groundsman but this is the issue with so many games in such a short time.
Such a contrast to the performance on Tuesday but the difference was that the top four all came off against Worcs and none of them did last night. At 24-6 it was a question of avoiding a record score; all around me were questioning the need to go for it so much in the powerplay with only 7.5 an over required. Cork wasn't happy but who makes the calls in terms of how to approach a chase like this? To be fair to Leics - all their bowlers did well and the two wicket in consecutive balls off Griffiths were the killer.
ReplyDeleteBowling was generally good and another good spell from Critchley but I agree with one of the other comments regarding the field setting in the last over - Parkinson's two fours from the final deliveries must have given them some extra belief.
Sadly I was proved right though I couldn't have dreamt how awfully we would bat. At that point Wayne Madsen is far too good a player to toss it away like that and du Plooy will regret playing for the longest boundary when we needed time at the crease.
ReplyDeleteNever mind the cameras, we can't play at Derby. Our record at HQ must be horrible over the last few years.
Our only real strength relative to other teams is the top 4 and we had a day of collective failure.
ReplyDeleteIt concerns me though how the team seem to struggle with home conditions, a club like ours needs to absolutely leverage this advantage.
On reflection maybe they scored 20 too many as Cork suggested but with only 150 needed they could certainly have ticked over for a while. With that said if they had got behind the run rate and new batsmen got out trying to accelerate we would criticise a negative approach too.
My biggest criticism is spared for Stevens. His dismissal is a disgrace for a professional cricketer never mind one of his experience. This was his chance to shine, he couldn't have failed more miserably and time to send him back down the M1 IMO.
This isn't a championship winning team and so at best they are going to win some and lose some. As such they are very difficult to predict but they do seem to be capable of beating anyone with a following wind.
Still hope albeit not a lot!
StaffsFan
The point we have from Trent Bridge tonight is probably a useful bonus
ReplyDeleteI think we all need to keep a sense of perspective. First, qualification is still not out of the question, even if we've made it an awful lot harder. With the expected wash out of all matches tonight, we'll only be one point off the third and fourth qualification places, and still with a better run-rate than Leics and Durham (credit to Daryn Smit for recognising the need to bat for as long as possible and not sacrifice his wicket in a futile gesture). If we beat, as we should, both Northants and Leics, Leics will need to get three points from games against Notts and Lancs to overtake us, Warwickshire would need to win three out of four including beating one of Lancs or Worcs, and Durham would need to match our results. So it's still just about in our hands even if we don't beat Lancs in the last match. We have Watt back for those games, and with Critchley, van Beek and Reece now bowling well, can end the dispiriting and depressing experience with Stevens and Rankin.
ReplyDeleteSecond, all of the shots that the top 4 played were shots that we've applauded when they've come off in other matches. The problem wasn't that they took risks but when and how they were played. Reece and Madsen you can take, as one of the openers often goes quite quickly and Madsen often opens with a reverse sweep, and 2 down in the powerplay isn't a disaster especially when you are already ahead of the run rate. You need to dig in a bit, as leicestershire did, and accept 40-2 as par when you're only chasing 150. Fast scoring in the power play isn't critical when you're chasing modest targets but keeping wickets in hand is. Godleman, du Plooy and Hughes simply ignored this, while Stevens was just unforgivably stupid. 19-2 or even 19-3 was the point to take a breath and say "we just need to sit in a bit and build a partnership" and it was extraordinary that it took the two youngest batsmen, Critchley and Hudson-Prentice, to do so. They kept the scoreboard ticking over and were just beginning to pick up the tempo when Critchley got a perfect yorker from Parkinson.
The real problem for me is that it's the second time in a week that we've collapsed chasing a modest target on our own ground. While the scale and speed of the disaster was different the pattern was exactly the same. Batsmen looked to dominate when they only needed to accumulate, and refused to rein themselves in to avoid a clatter of wickets.
I suspect the problem isn't that we're not good enough but that we're not as good as we sometimes think. Both this and Durham was the result of over-confidence after a succession of fine performances, and arrogance towards a pretty humble journeyman attack. I don't think we'd see any one of that attack as better than what we have, and yet they still delivered an object lesson in how to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, and we simply didn't play them on their merits until it was beyond redemption. This, for me, is the key lesson we need to learn if we are to have any chance of qualifying.
Think that's a good and balanced observation and as a new poster enjoyed the comments . Not being familiar with the short term contracts in cricket just wondered ...and not stirring ...if anyone knew if they are linked to guarantees of appearances . Would like to see dal play as he offers good fielding in addition to batting
DeleteI don't think any guarantees, just Derbyshire have prioritised experience. especially from players who know what it's like to win trophies. Both Stevens and Rankin have that, but both are pretty long in the tooth, and from what we've seen, well past their best in this format. It was a reasonable gamble to take, and certainly better than risking a lot more cash on an unknown overseas player, but hasn't worked and should now be put behind us.
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