Lancashire v Derbyshire T20 - QUARTER FINALS HERE WE COME!

Derbyshire 162-3 (Madsen 69, Godleman 57, Hughes 22*)

Lancashire 151-9 (Livingstone 58, Rampaul 3-19)

Derbyshire won by 11 runs


Wow, wow, wow!

What an incredible, thrilling, professional way to make the knockout stages of the Vitality Blast! To go to fortress Old Trafford and beat a Lancashire side that has largely carried all before them in the competition was the cherry on the icing on the cake for Derbyshire.

We could have qualified anyway, relying on the results elsewhere and the likelihood of Durham winning their two remaining games was slim. But no need to worry, because Billy Godleman's boys made it three from three in the final run in, each game won by tight bowling, brilliant fielding and sensible batting.

Once again the skipper and Wayne Madsen led from the front, each posting fifties and helping to set a target that was always going to be challenging, on a ground where it tends to get slower as the game goes on. The pair are a modern-day Wright and Kirsten, with Billy's 1750 runs in all cricket this summer almost matched by Wayne's 1654, but how they have set an  example for the rest of a young side.

There was a danger in trying to overreach, and score too many, but they took us to the point where it was going to be competitive, before Alex Hughes' crucial late onslaught took us past the 160 signpost on this ground that usually reads 'challenging'.

No one in the country has scored more one-day runs than Billy this summer, his 940 runs a tribute to how he has reinvented himself as an unorthodox yet hugely successful player in the format. You probably wouldn't teach a young batsman to adopt his methods, but you would be proud if he or she was anywhere near as successful. Wayne meanwhile continued to show how he has been one of the unluckiest players in the country to not gain international recognition. There are still few I would want in the middle in his place when runs were most needed, and again he delivered, three sixes helping to accelerate after a slow start.

And yet...that Lancashire batting line up is long and powerful. Davies, so often a catalyst for a big score, went second ball to van Beek, but Croft and Livingstone have scored a lot of runs quickly, and looked to be getting settled, before Ravi Rampaul took two in two balls, Croft caught in the deep and Bohannon bowled.

It was nip and tuck through the middle overs, but with Critchley, Reece and Hughes slowly strangling the run rate. All three did splendidly, Hughes delivering a key wicket by having Livingstone caught by Daryn Smit, but it was only when Reece removed the dangerous Glenn Maxwell that the win started to really look 'on'.

Still there was Vilas, a fine player, but the final key moment came when he chanced two against the speed over the ground and the arm of Anuj Dal. It was a big mistake, and Rampaul's excitment as he removed the bails after a pinpoint throw was clear. It left James Faulkner as the man to get the red rose home, with 29 still needed from the last three overs and 24 from the last two after Ravi bowled a terrific over.

Once again, Fynn Hudson-Prentice delivered under pressure, bowling a fine penultimate one where only eight were scored, six in one blow to Faulkner, before he perished to the next, caught by the safe hands of Madsen.

I had hoped that Ravi might have a dozen to play with on the last, instead he had sixteen and needed only five. Wonderful death bowling by the third senior player who has set such an example this summer. It took him to 21 wickets for the competition and he finished with the astonishing figures of 3-19. He has taken 70 wickets in all cricket this year, looked and stayed fit and has been outstanding. The overweight and disappointing bowler of 2018 has been replaced by the cunning, skilled international bowler that we thought had gone forever. Whatever your team, I doubt you have had a better bowler this summer in T20 cricket than Ravi Rampaul, an economy rate of just 6.71 underlining his value to the side.

Reaching the knockout stages is a huge achievement, for a young team and for Dominic Cork. Their four senior players have led by example, Smit's peerless wicket-keeping and sage advice being invaluable to the skipper. The youngsters and they have clearly responded to Dominic Cork's coaching style and against all the odds they have got through a very strong group. When one considers they didn't manage that last year with Ferguson, Riaz and Viljoen in the side, the scale of the achievement is clear.

Finally, a word about Dominic Cork. A few people, myself included, were slightly sceptical about how much influence a coach could have on a group of players. When we couldn't find or afford a second overseas we brought in two players, Darren Stevens and Boyd Rankin, who haven't offered much. A few even said we should have spent the money on another overseas instead, but as notoveryet pointed out the other day, few of them have made a major contribution around the country.

Cork, doubtlessly in the same bullish manner that he always showed on the pitch, has galvanised his team and inspired them to play sensible, aggressive, intelligent and purposeful cricket. There have been blips, when the plan wasn't carried out as it should have been, but the plan has come together and it has increasingly proved effective. It has been siege mentality, everyone against Derbyshire stuff, and the erstwhile star all-rounder who became a respected pundit has now emerged with great credibility as a coach

We will be away from home for the quarter final, but in this form, whoever we play will know they have been in a game.

And if we can make finals day....now that WOULD be something.

Well done guys. There's a lot of proud supporters with broad smiles tonight.