Derbyshire 137-9 (Reece 51, Critchley 27*)
Match Tied
Well, they escaped with a point after a fumbled boundary catch off the last ball went for four, Sol Budinger dropping one he must hold fifty times a day in training. It was also a great match for the cricketing neutral. But you would have to say that Derbyshire re-defined brainless cricket tonight.
They bowled and fielded really well, Scrimshaw again fast and dangerous, Critchley and McKiernan cunning. When Joe Clarke took five boundaries from Van Beek's opening over it looked like being a long night, but Nottinghamshire's batsmen adopted a 'boundary or bust' mentality that saw them limp to a total of 137-9, largely due to a last wicket stand of 27 from the last four overs.
Luis Reece led off in fine style and reached another brilliant half century, before playing an unnecessary reverse sweep and being bowled. It was a fine innings, but then the wheels fell off, rolled down a hill and were melted down. It was that bad.
68-1 in the eighth when he was out, 70 to win off twelve, with nine wickets in hand. All they needed to do was play cricket shots and knock it around, but checked drives, reverse sweeps, unnecessary hoiks and panic setting in meant it came down to six off the last ball.
Critch hit it straight down long on's throat but he not only dropped it, but let it roll over the line for four and the tie. A point that we scarce deserved.
A point won or lost? Definitely lost for me. With the exception of Reece, Guest and Critchley, the rest batted as if they had left their cricket brains in their kit bag.
Disappointing. And not to put too fine a point on it, pathetic really.
You can't sugar coat a batting display so inept. Fair play to Nottinghamshire for making us work, tightening the screws and applying pressure.
But a semi-decent batting side would take 70 from 12 overs with nine wickets in hand 999 times in a thousand.
We didn't. You couldn't make it up..
I'm actually still scratching my head as to how we've failed to reach 138 runs to win this match. Make no mistake about it this feels like a defeat and I take no positivity from a tied match. We'll never have a better chance at beating this lot in our remaining years, the batting was a pure disaster class.
ReplyDeleteThere was no need for any reckless shots as we only needed to progress at just under seven an over, but we got them in abundance. You'd see better stuff in junior local leagues and I'm not lying, some of our shots were just criminal. You couldn't fault the bowling bar Van de Beek who was awful again, another shocking overseas signing, we certainly can find them, the rest very good though.
Can't say anything else, just so so annoyed tonight
12 required off 18 balls, 5 wickets in hand.
ReplyDeleteEven We....
Could someone please explain how McKiernan with figures of 3 for 9 didn’t complete his overs?
ReplyDeleteI see a lot of potential in Came, Guest and Scrimshaw. Sure, we are in transition and have lost many games we should have won, but Madsen and Co aren't going on forever. Who knows, they may even learn from this next year. Kris.
ReplyDeleteIn many ways, I find games like this, Trent Bridge last week and the first game against Birmingham more disappointing and frustrating than the games in which we are overwhelmed, because you can see so clearly the path to winning. Still, I think it's harsh to describe a performance in which we dominated the group leaders for 90% of the match as pathetic. Short phases of a lack of composure in the batting and lack of ruthlessness in the bowling has cost us three wins with which we would have been on 12 points and leading the group. It might as well be a million miles in terms of our chances of qualification, but those points were well within our grasp.
ReplyDeleteAs for the game, I don't think Reece and Critchley escape blame. Reece was so commanding and imperious that Notts were on the brink of humiliation and almost resigned to it. For the fourth time, Reece passed 50 and threw his wicket away, not with a mistiming or misjudgment, but with a wholly unnecessary shot. This has probably been a large part of losing 3 points against Notts. and harsh though it is to criticise our best batsman, he's had match-defining innings in his grasp, and throwing them away is a much greater sin in my eyes than not getting a start at all. From his anguished expression as he walked off tonight, I'm sure he knew that.
Critchley, meanwhile, never got out of the blocks. He faced only 8 balls to the busy Guest's 15 in their partnership but it was the last 4 overs that really caught my eye. He faced only 7 balls in the last 24, 1 ball in each of the 17th (fair enough since FHP hit 11 off the rest), 18th and 19th (taking a single off the first ball to expose van Beek and refusing a second run off the last ball that would have put him on strike for the last over), and 4 in the last over when he refused two singles before taking one that left Scrimshaw facing the penultimate ball rather than giving himself two balls to try to hit boundaries. It was scrambled thinking that might be due to the burden of captaincy but more likely his inexperience of batting with tailenders. He did something similar in the championship match against Worcs where he failed to manage the strike that would have avoided the follow-on. It's not often you'd choose Hosein over Critchley to see out a one day finish, but this was one of those times.
The other key point for me was not bowling McKiernan in the penultimate over against two tailenders who have hardly batted in the competition. If ever an occasion called for a leg-spinner (especially one riding high on 3 wickets in 2 overs) this was it. I'm not much inclined to saying that X should or shouldn't have bowled, as it's always a matter of "damned if you do, damned if you don't" for a captain, but this seemed like an obvious one, and those 19 runs could (although they shouldn't) have been crucial.
As it is, in a congested table we still have a faint chance of qualification if enough of the inconsistent teams above us lose 3 or more of their remaining 6 games. It may well be out of reach by the next time we play, but if isn't, we need to finally marry good performance with professional closing in a consistent run.
There is potential in this side and the presence of two quality overseas would make a difference.
DeleteWe did dominate for much of the game, but if you cannot close out from that position, I would defend using the word 'pathetic'
Because as a team they blew it. You correctly highlight Critch's poor game management in not bowling out McKiernan. I would add to the batting taking a single and not being on strike to start the last over. He HAD to be.
It is a congested table, but throwing a win away like this doesn't inspire any confidence that we can make top cut.
No blaming of coaches tonight, but someone, anyone, should have said at 68-1, 'Hey lads, just knock it around, 70 to win off 72 balls'
Had they all approached it like Guest, it would have been a breeze..
We were cruising after six overs, largely thanks to Reece once again. But something happened to the batting. We only found the boundary four times after Reece's departure. With the foundation Reece provided, we should have knocked off the runs with two or three overs to spare: pushing singles and twos and hitting a boundary an over.
ReplyDeleteBased on similar scenarios Derbyshire have been in, fear was that we would slow down and end up frantically trying to hit the target under pressure. And this is what happened, but in a manner I found hard to believe, as players threw their wickets away.
When we got to the last four overs you would have put your money on Critch to bring us home, especially as he's now captain. I was waiting for him to put one into the pavilion for six and drive a few four four. However, he couldn't play the captain's innings we needed. He hit just one boundary in twenty-eight balls. I'm not blaming him, just pointing out the facts.
A entertaining game, but from our point of view disappointing.
Do we have a fear factor over Notts or something, did the pressure get to them knowing they only had a relatively small total to chase, to beat them for the first time in ages? So much wrong from last night nobody has actually mentioned how poor Van Beek's bowling was, infact he's been really expensive in every game he's played so far, time to look elsewhere for next season again. Let's get this overseas signing right, and it has to be a top batsman or a good all rounder
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure that Critchley is actually a good t20 batsman to be honest.
ReplyDeleteFrom 70 games he averages 19 at a s/r of just under 120 with just 2 fifties.
He's been much improved in the Championship and his 80 in the Blast early on perhaps had us thinking he'd show a similar improvement here but maybe not?
A real shame Reece was once again unable to push on past 50. If he goes on to hit even 60 or 70 that probably would have been enough. Harsh to criticise the one guy who did score runs though.
Came has looked like he has potential and I think will benefit massively from this run in terms of learnings but when Reece went he didn't look up to the job of taking over, in fact the pressure almost instantly told on him.
This is a side that other than Reece and Du Plooy really, really lacks experience within the batting unit and it showed tonight. We have experience in Critchley but his record shows he's not a big scorer in this format. We have power in Wood and Came but they haven't played in many of these situations. We do miss Madsen or someone of his stature.
But the bowling was very good indeed. VB is too expensive though.
I have to say, that was a batting shambles. No body needs to tell the players. They will know and be hurting. What we must not lose sight of however is that this is still a very young and inexperienced team and we have to show patience . Sure we let ourselves down badly tonight and it feels like a loss no question. However we played well on Thursday and should have beaten one of the strongest teams in the division, let’s not go off the deep end. If someone had offered us 3 points from these two fixtures at 6pm Thursday we’d all have taken that happily. Cork was furious at the end and rightly so, and he must have said something to one of their players because something broke out at the end with several of the Notts players remonstrating with him furiously . Wasn’t pretty to see. This campaign is gone, no question. So as far as I’m concerned it’s now about opportunity and gaining experience. All the players involved will learn from this I’ve no doubt. We have the makings of a decent little side here and that’s without Yozz, Mads and a gun overseas. Who’d have given us a chance to compete in these last 2 games if we’d been told we’d go the whole campaign with these key players missing. I for one am happy with last nights selection an 3/4 of the performance. 10 overs of madness ruined a memorable night but in general I’m encouraged by what I’ve seen from the last 2 games. We have the right players in the team based on who’s available. Let’s hope we can finish strong in the remaining games . I feel far happier with the team and structure than I did a week ago at least.
ReplyDeleteWell I seem to be the last man standing. Lies damn lies and statistics. Make of them what you will.
ReplyDeleteLet's have a small look at the make up of lasts night team
Reece, released by Lancs
Came, released by Hamps
Chritchley released by lancs
FHP released by Sussex
Guest 27th in line to the gloves at lancs
Scrimshaw released by Works
Bit of a common theme here
None of our team have been signed at the height of their powers and therein lies the problem.
Most of these guys are young lads finding their way in professional cricket every ball live for the v unforgiving to comment upon
T20 by its very nature is error strewn, Ben Stokes v WI 2016 anyone
Stories of sides needing 4 and 5 in the last over and failing abound and yet it would seem that this Derbyshire team are not allowed to make the same mistakes as others.
It is far to easy to state 70 odds off 10 is easy and the Golden lion 3rds would do it with 6 overs to spare.
We are not out in the middle.
At the expense of sounding boring and like a broken record.
Hales is out, in walks Clarke
Clarke is out, in walks Duckett
Duckett is out, in walks Patel
We have also faced Livingstone, Buttler and the little known England test Captain and competed. And yet all of this is seemingly not good enough and if I'm honest I'm left scratching my head and words such as pathetic, hopeless and dreadful are now appearing. That will do wonders for a young teams morale and help a captain of 2 games no end.
It is not David v Goliath the odds are far worse than that. Port Vale do not play Liverpool's first team very often and if they did well I leave the answer to your imagination.
The clue for me is in the title Supporters. I'm v proud to be one even if sometimes I think I'm the only one
Up the Shire
Rob in Essex
Sorry Rob, but I think it was a pathetic and rubbish run chase as do the other 99.99% of Derbyshire supporters. We're not some local league side, we're a professional county and that meagre total set by Notts should've been swatted off with considerable ease.
DeleteSuch a pity that we missed a real opportunity to defeat Notts.
ReplyDeleteTheir last pair were allowed to find thirty more runs than maybe we should've allowed.
At 68/0 off 7.4 overs, that we would go on to match not only their score but wickets lost.
I found it increasingly arduous to watch, and the naivety of it, at times, left me struggling to believe my eyes.
It was a demonstration of how not manage a run-chase. Really unintelligent batting. The last seven balls exhibit this perfectly.
As I am probably the oldest contributor to this blog, I'd just like to add a quote from a cricket reporter called Henry Bevington who wrote this about a 3 day match in the 1970s in the Daily Telegraph: "Connoisseurs of Derbyshire batting collapses will today have witnessed a vintage specimen." Supporting Derbyshire has never been easy!
ReplyDeleteI don't know how old 'unknown' is but I am 72 and have been witnessing batting collapses since the 1950s. Even with players of the calibre of Carr, Lee, Hamer, Willatt, Kelly , Morgan etc a collapse was always a possibility. I suspect most county supporters feel there team always has a collapse in them, no more so than the England national team. Given the injury list this season I don't think we should be too critical of the T20 performances. The lack of Madsen as our best player of spin has left teams free to tie down our inexperienced players with more spin than they would normally confidently use. Also the absence of Hughes and Madsen's bowling with pace taken off has left us with little option but to use pace bowlers
ReplyDelete