Vitality Blast Finals Day preview

Somewhere in Australia, tomorrow, Kane Richardson and Billy Stanlake may well flick through the Sky TV channels and sit down to watch the Vitality Blast finals day from Edgbaston.

In their turn, each could have been there. Richardson withdrew from his Derbyshire contract to 'protect his workload' after selection for the World Cup, in which he played two warm up games, together with two in the tournament. He then failed to gain selection for the Ashes tour, which has left him protecting his workload for quite a long time.

Stanlake meanwhile sustained the latest stress fracture to blight his career and we will likely never know if his ninety miles an hour projectiles from around seven feet in height would have proved effective. Certainly it would be a brave man who went down that path again.

Yet despite those disappointments, despite what appeared then and now as panic signings of Darren Stevens and Boyd Rankin, Derbyshire will turn up at Edgbaston tomorrow with every chance of creating a shock.

To most, we are making up the numbers. 'Little Derbyshire', they usually say in a patronising manner, before they roll out that perennial phrase 'the only county to have never been to finals day'. It has frustrated and annoyed us all, despite, until now, its accuracy.

Essex supporters, on hearing the draw for the day, raced on to Twitter to proclaim it 'almost like a bye into the final', which betrayed a lack of class, together with a lack of knowledge. Because in sport, as in life, anything is possible.

Those of us who are battle-hardened over decades of supporting the county know that there are two sides to our cricket. We never know which side will turn up on a given day, yet in the season now drawing to an end there are increasing signs of a side that is learning to win with discipline, talent and professionalism.

We are still capable of sessions of madness, yet there is an increased resilience down the order that is starting to see the sprouting of something that could be special down Derby way. Yesterday's four-day win over a good Sussex side was an example, fighting back from being all out for 138 on the first day to win by nearly 200 runs. All that with an attack of three 23-year olds, plus one of 24 on his championship debut.

Regardless of tomorrow's results, Dave Houghton has done an admirable job in his first season. Likely mid-table in fifty-over and four-day cricket, which has seen them punch above their weight in the eyes of many critics, they have knocked out supposed heavyweights and strapped the belt around their waist in a tough T20 group. It saw them beat Yorkshire twice (comme d'habitude) do the same to Lancashire at Old Trafford, then beat the reigning champions at Derby, after narrowly failing to do so at Worcester.

Any side that takes beating us for granted is in for a surprise. The top four of Godleman, Reece, Madsen and du Plooy is a match for any in the country, with 1500 runs between them in the tournament. While the concern may be what happens if they don't come off, the threat is also what happens if they do. With a quartet of all-rounders to follow, as good a wicket-keeper as there is in the country and the tournament's leading wicket-taker to spearhead the attack, we need fear no one.

On these big occasions, the best roll up their sleeves and get on with their job, respecting, but not worrying unduly about the opposition. Essex will be tough opponents, and on a likely slow, previously used end of season wicket, their spinner, Harmer, may be a danger, as will be the evergreen Ravi Bopara. Likewise they have some fine batsmen, but I wouldn't swap top fours with them. With neither Amir or Zampa available, the game will not be dominated by overseas players.

Worcestershire have Wayne Parnell and Hamish Rutherford back, the latter well-known to Derbyshire supporters. With Rikki Wessels and Moeen Ali in prime form and a parsimonious bunch of seamers headed by Pat Brown, I think they will be too much for Nottinghamshire. Our local rivals need Alex Hales to fire at the top of the order or it will heap pressure on a young middle-order that has been exposed in four-day cricket this summer. Steve Mullaney will also be a key man, while Dan Christian is always a danger in the closing overs.

Supporters might like the idea of a final against our local rivals, though our record against them in the competition isn't the best. I'd prefer Worcestershire, but of course we need to win against Essex before getting too carried away.

Either way the players and staff have done an extraordinary job to get here and I applaud Dominic Cork for giving us our day in the sun. After that dreadful performance against Leicestershire, hardly anyone expected us to progress, yet Cork, in true bullish fashion, said that we now needed to win the next three.

We did, and the one after it, in a performance of great professionalism at Bristol.

Don't yet discount similar heroics tomorrow, as someone could be the Frankie Griffith of 2019. While there may be a consideration of  recall for Darren Stevens, after recent stellar form for Kent, his value as a closing overs hitter is likely to be overlooked in favour of Anuj Dal, whose brilliance in the field offers additional value to his fleet-footed running between the wickets and tidy bowling.

Good luck lads. You have made us proud.

You can win it from here.

Likely side: Godleman, Reece, Madsen, du Plooy, Hughes, Critchley, Hudson-Prentice, Dal, Smit, van Beek, Rampaul.

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