Lancashire 219 and 356-6
Derbyshire 195 and 202 (Reece 69, McKiernan 52)
Lancashire won by 178 runs
While there were suggestions on social media that we 'should go for these', the likelihood of repeating the heroics of Nottinghamshire on a vastly different wicket were as slim as my chances of becoming Miss World.
I didn't understand why Lancashire felt the need to bat on this morning. I felt they had enough anyway and it seemed unnecessarily cautious. Their doing so set a notional 380 target but left only a draw to play for, yet the Derbyshire reply was a disappointment.
Luis Reece batted well, as did Leus Du Plooy for a while, but the rest put up minimal resistance. After the cricket they have played this summer it was all rather underwhelming. There was a doughty ninth wicket stand between McKiernan and Conners, not for the first time in the match, but there was too long left in the game.
There's not much more to say, really. Five more T20 matches, where there is only pride to play for, then that is it for another year. Time to take stock, improve the squad as finance allows and hope for a start in April of 2021. That seems so far away right now.
In closing, I will say one thing about Mattie McKiernan. He perhaps isn't the most gifted player in the side, but he makes the most of what he has and gives his all, whatever he does. In both innings he was prepared to battle, but the question is whether his bowling is trusted enough for him at this level?
He hasn't had a long bowl all summer and the impression one gets, rightly or wrongly, is that he isn't trusted to get people out, or keep things quiet. If that is the case, the next question is if his batting is good enough for him to play as that alone, with his leg spin only an occasional option?
With his contract up at the end of the summer, only Dave Houghton knows the answer to that one. Yet on the evidence of this game, and other cameos in the summer, he would be very unlucky to be released.
As is ever the case in professional sport, if there is someone deemed better available, then the club will go down that route.
But Mattie has let no one down. Least of all himself.
I think this has been such a disappointing match overall after a really good start in the competition. I know you've talked about the lack of experience in the attack but it's the batsman who have really let us down; a couple of exceptions, clearly Hosein in the first innings and you're right to call out McKiernan who looked solid both times. Must remember this was more of a rookie attack than our own and against a top 4 who we know can score heavily. 5/6/7/8 are all problems in their own way. Critchley isn't really a 5; H-P potentially could bat 6 and I'm happy with Hosein at 7. Love Anuj Dal as a cricketer for the enthusiasm he brings but he needs to develop up the order and not at 8.
ReplyDeleteKnow this blog and comments favour Tom Wood; I haven't seen him but can't help thinking that competition has been an opportunity to have seen what he can do.
"I didn't understand why Lancashire felt the need to bat on this morning. I felt they had enough anyway and it seemed unnecessarily cautious."
ReplyDeleteCompletely disagree, Lancashire scored 312 runs on day 3 in 67 overs, why they would then set Derbyshire 337 in a full day to win, especially with an attack that had a combined 22 first class wickets before this match. Batting on was absolutely the right move and the commentator complaining continuously on stream sounded more like a case of sour grapes than any reasoned argument.
We disagree, Stuart. On that pitch, 300 was always a mountain and if you had been left a wicket short at the end - which could have happened and nearly did - it has cost you the win points.
Delete337 was a challenge, a gauntlet thrown down. 380 for me was 'let's bat out the draw', which we failed to do, of course.
I didn't hear the commentary as I don't listen to them, but if they agreed then fair enough.
A disappointing end to the 4day season, but overall I think we should be encouraged by the teams performances. The BWT has enabled us to expose a number of youngsters to 1st class cricket, none of which have let us down, and with more experience the likes of Connors, Aitcheson & Cohen should develop into good players. Consistency in the top 4 has been disappointing, but the middle order has shown more back bone than previous seasons, particularly Matt Critchley, who's batting and bowling has improved to show he is the fine player we all thought he was. Obviously the 20/20 has gone so the next few games are about pride and blooding some
ReplyDeleteyoungsters to gain experience for next season, let's hope Wood gets a chance to show if he can make it. I didn't see any of the streaming from this match but 10 of Derbyshires wickets fell to LBW, is there a problem for the coaches to address?
I'm on Stuart's side in the argument about the declaration. It's been evident throughout the match that this was a decent batting wicket when the sun's shining but seems to become sticky and adhesive when it's cloudy. The Liverpool CC chairman confirmed this when he said "it's a road when the sun shines". So Vilas will have factored the weather forecast in to his equation, as he will the inexperience of his bowlers facing a challenge they've not dealt with before. And he'll have had in mind that we've already chased a big target against Notts. The size of the target meant that he never had to worry about keeping close fielders up, so it seems to me that he got the declaration just right.
ReplyDeleteWe can pick out individual faults and failures, but it seemed to me rather like T20 finals day again, where a side that has climbed the heights playing assertive, confident cricket suddenly becomes tentative and edgy. I've spent quite a lot of time scrambling around on mountains, and know the feeling of getting out of your comfort zone and realising what a knife-edge you're on and how far you have to fall. Every step you take then is edgy and tentative but, ironically, it is the very care you take that increases the chances of falling. This is a good analogy for how Derbyshire play in these situations, and while it's a question about the character of individuals, it's also a matter of learning. Very few teams do it at the first time of asking, so it's a bit unreasonable to expect Derbyshire, with its recent history of failure, not to get a bit giddy and nervous when it approaches success. We (and they) should take pride and pleasure from the things they have done well, that got them into a position that we could not have imagined a few weeks ago, but looking to build on learn from the experience.
I accept that, not over yet, but I factored into my comments that we had a top four out of touch, it was day four of a wicket that had offered increasing turn throughout and they had three spinners.
ReplyDeleteAs the home skipper I would have still been confident that we wouldn't get close.
And we didn't.
But I agree with the rest. Plenty of reasons to be proud this summer, as there were last year.