Weekend thoughts

There's a return to county championship cricket for Derbyshire this weekend, with a game at Derby against Gloucestershire to occupy minds before next weekend's hectic end, or otherwise, to the Vitality Blast.

I would regard tonight's point in the washout against Nottinghamshire as a bonus, just the same as was our point against Lancashire previously. We don't have a great record against either, so two points from a possible four is OK, thank you very much.

I have returned home after a nice break in the Lakes, less traumatised than some of you from not having seen last night's debacle. Your many comments have been enjoyed and appreciated, with a lot of common sense among them.

Next weekend we play Northamptonshire on Friday at Derby, then travel to Leicester on the Sunday, before finishing off at Old Trafford on Monday.

The key thing to remember, despite last night, is that, as notoveryet says in his excellent post, we still control our own destiny. I will quote him for convenience:

'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 will, as he also points out, have Mark Watt back from Scotland duty, and that will be key for those games, especially at Old Trafford. I'm not, I have to say, especially sold on the idea of playing on used wickets, because the side batting second is at a great disadvantage and you pretty much rely on the coin toss to win the game - or lose it.

Nor am I sold on Darren Stevens or Boyd Rankin, based on performances so far. For all their fine careers, both seem to be running on empty and whatever the cost it has not been close to justified. Perhaps one of them will get further opportunity and will go on to win us a match from here, but nothing we have seen so far has suggested that. 

From the comments I have read, Stevens committed a schoolboy error in his running last night, and at his age you really need to be giving yourself every bit of help possible.  Neither are an asset in the field and the side would likely lose nothing in swapping Watt and Dal in for them. Truth is, with Watt's bowling and Dal's all round ability, especially in the field, we stand to gain quite a lot.

A side that has beaten Yorkshire twice and the reigning champions once, as well as running them close a second time, is capable of beating anyone. Yet we must not make the mistake of confusing aggressive cricket with constant hitting, because it isn't that. Aggression is standing toe to toe with an opponent and using your full range of skills to outwit and beat them. 

I totally understand, as several have commented, that we had to try and get boundaries against a hard, new ball, before it slowed down as it got softer. Yet clever placement could and should have been allied with that. To lose wicket after wicket to attempted big hits was what Geoff Boycott would call 'brainless cricket'. I'd have loved to see Dean Jones in his pomp on that run chase. He'd have worked the gaps, run the twos and made sure the others did the same. We needed little more than a run a ball from the outset and should have played it accordingly.

At least, again as notoveryet mentioned, Daryn Smit used his noggin and ensured we batted most of our overs, preserving, to some extent, the net run rate. It looks increasingly likely to decide this group's final place and we need to make sure that we are the right side of it.

IF we make the knock out stages of the competition, with the handicaps that have been in place, then Dominic Cork and his squad deserve all the plaudits that will go their way. Maybe, with the year's delay of the European T20 competition and one or two players missing out on both that and the CPL, there may be a decent overseas player available to enhance the squad at that point, for one match or otherwise.

But first things first. A win against Gloucestershire will do us good in the four-day game, and then we see what happens next weekend.

For all last night's disappointment, we can still do this.

Muscle AND  mind. 

That's what will do it.