Derbyshire 147-8 (Godleman 34, Madsen 33, Hughes 25)
Leicestershire 143-4 (Dearden 36* Welch 32 Cohen 2-23)
Derbyshire won by 4 runs
It didn't look that way for much of our innings. Opposition sides have got wise to our tactic of last year and now open with spin, something that Godleman deals with less convincingly. Madsen was the only one in the early order to come to terms with a slow pitch, but he was run out by a poor call by the skipper. In his defence, it was his call, but so slowly was he batting that he might have been better falling on his sword at that point.
Once again it was Alex Hughes who injected much needed momentum and my comment to a friend that 140 would be a challenge was realised in the final over.
Leicestershire set off like a train, but the introduction of Cohen, who bowled very well, pegged them back. Critchley and Hughes did their stuff in the middle, mixing it up to good effect, but the game was in the balance with the home side needing 36 from 4, then ten from the last.
Massive respect to Melton, whose final over conceded only five singles with intelligent bowling to his field. Derbyshire edged it by four runs and it will be a relief to all concerned. The home side, however, will query how they lost in a narrow finish with six wickets in hand..
One final comment - I thought Guest kept splendidly tonight and his catch/stumping of Ackermann from a wide delivery was neatly done, perhaps a pivotal moment in the match.
I think he will push Harvey Hosein next season and that can only be good news.
Very pleased that we won. More relief than anything that we're not going to register an embarrassing '0' this year.
ReplyDeleteI watched most of our innings and wasn't impressed by much of what I saw to be honest. A limp power play, Godleman plodding and seemingly doing more harm than good and then sawing off the man who as usual looked like being able to mix touch and power appropriately.
At this point I turned it off to watch TV and wouldn't have taken 5/1 on us winning it so can't comment on the bowling. The wicket alerts, although only 4 of them, did tell me that we were at least keeping them in check. Not many sides lose with that many men left to bat chasing 150 so it looks a strange sort of game from the scorecards.
Well done to the bowlers that did their thing.
Happy to get one in the bag.
Pleased to get the win. And an improved performance with the ball though I feel they let us off the hook somewhat.
ReplyDeleteI suspect Leicestershire's fans will be somewhat seething today when they recall Rhodes and Dearden making such a slow and pathetic batting effort whilst Lewis Hill stayed in the pavilion. Were the two playing for their averages or something? Still it worked out well for us though I must say I'm feeling like we were somewhat lucky.
Amazed we won that as Leicester seemed to be cruising and losing only four wickets as well. Thank God for Hughes getting those final twenty plus runs because what went before him was very lame indeed. Billy is way out of form and thirty from thirty four balls in this format isn't good enough, it sums up his T20 campaign poor. At least the bowling functioned for once, so a nice victory but plenty of work to do.
ReplyDeleteA good pull back by us last night with some excellent bowling by Cohen and Melton at the end, although I am sure Leicestershire will be frustrated that two well set batsmen didn't see them over the line.
ReplyDeleteQuite a few teams have used plenty of spin in the powerplay overs this season and I wondered whilst watching as to whether Madsen should open the innings, with Luis dropping down to 3. Wayne is a naturally strong player of spin, happy to sweep/reverse sweep and is very adept at manoeuvring the ball around field with his strong wrist play. This would help us to counter this tactic and would ease some of the pressure off Billy and Luis.
Billy may be out of form with the bat but from what I could see he got the tactics right in the field. I was pleased to see Cohen used as a wicket taking option in the powerplay overs, and noted that occasionally he had a slip in place for him. A lot of sides focus on keeping sides quiet during the powerplay, but the stats suggest that taking wickets is the key factor. Cohen and Melton have potential for this role and then to return to close the innings out, but it takes time and experience to develop these skills. It is a great shame that they have been unable to play alongside but to also work with Ravi Rampaul this summer in this regard.
As you highlighted Peakfan, Guest did some smart work behind the stumps and Critchley and Hughes gave nothing away in the middle overs, Hughes has been excellent in the last two games with bat and ball. He also deserves a pat on the back for becoming our all time leading T20 wicket taker last night.
Finally a win!�� Really good battling performance from the lads in the field. I think we have finally found our strongest bowling unit in this form of the game with a better amount of variation brought by Madson, Hughes and Critchley. Cohen was excellent and Melton held his nerve well at the death.
ReplyDeleteI do feel it was Leicestershire's to lose and that they did! Both batsmen missing out on punishing a few length deliveries in the final few overs and neither seemed to want to take the risk required to get their side over the line, which was bizarre!
The batting however, still left a lot to be desired. Billy is so out of form its painful to watch and ended up putting pressure on the rest. Without sounding like a broken record, still why no Tom Wood?! He could open with Reecey and Billy bat 3? This would lengthen our batting line up and allow Billy to build an innings if we did lose an early one. Madsen and Hughes again both brilliant with the bat to get us up to a competitive total.
Hopefully we can carry these last 2 positive performances in to the final couple of games and finish the season on a high! Well done lads! Steve A (Spondon)