I didn't see any of the second and third days, bar for the highlights on Twitter. I don't doubt the players are giving it their all, but there is a gap in class, together with obvious signs that the coaches are not getting the best out of them.
I just don't get why we went into the match with seven bowlers, including two spinners, when one spinner bowled four overs and one seamer five. Leaving out a batsman on such a wicket seems a ludicrous decision, in a season full of them.
Yes, I know they are a better, more affluent side. Yes, I know we have players missing. But were it not for the rain that could have been over in two days.
The excitement of last season's win is well and truly gone. Surely there has to be a discussion and review at board level? Or is the board simply happy to roll along with a quiet life?
Fair play to Fynn Hudson-Prentice, with his first five-wicket haul, but aside from that and a couple of fine catches in the field, this was a dispiriting display.
I will let you append your thoughts and will catch you again on my return home at the weekend.
Another gutless and spineless Derbyshire performance, par for the course though so no real surprise we were thrashed by an innings. This batting is just chronic, we have zero quality players who look like they're going to go on and score runs in a single game let alone on a consistent basis.
ReplyDeleteTime for management change now, not in a couple of months when the season ends, now. Houghton and Cork both need to be on their way, we can't carry on with this set up we're sinking fast. Change now!
An examination of the margin of the recent 4 day defeats suggests we have a serious problem. For the first time I'll thank our PM for extending the restrictions meaning no cricket at Queens Park.
ReplyDeleteAm amazed we haven’t looked at signings to strengthen the batting as it’s gone on far too long now. Maybe there isn’t any money in the pit but we seem to get bowlers in no problem. Genuinely think our bowling has been alright this season. Probably missing a seasoned pro to guide them or a decent overseas but I can see the long term strategy in that area. The batting I can only guess was dependent on Godleman, Reece, Madsen and Du Plooy and none have played anywhere near their potential through a combination of injuries and abysmal form which has simply resulted in a disaster.
ReplyDeleteWoeful. Absolutely woeful.
ReplyDeleteHow on earth did we lose the last six wickets for 12 runs? And this after an awful first innings, where we got bogged down and ended up with a pitiful score.
ReplyDeleteDo we have a batting coach? If so, what is he actually doing? What did he say or do between the first and second innings? Were the players in the nets?
If we had of put out a Derbyshire Premier League team, say Breadsall or Ticknall, against Notts, when it comes to batting, they couldn't have done any worse. This was dreadful stuff today.
And our season, in both CC and T20, has been dreadful. Our performances remind me of the early to mid 1970s, before Eddie Barlow arrived. We need another Eddie Barlow.
I have to say I feel for this team. It’s clear we have talent but very little experience to fall back on. With the exception of Reece and Husain the rest are all finding their way in this standard. Even Deploy with all his ability struggles on these type of wickets. The wicket was custom made for their bowlers and should have been the same for us. However their bowlers have either international pedigree or are hardened experienced pros. We have young lads with a handful of games between them. That was never a 300 wicket although it played better as it went on. On Sunday morning it was obvious it was going to be a battle against their attack. On a whole I thought we tried hard in bowler friendly conditions. Talk of gutless and spineless are not warranted in my book. 200 would have been a good effort on that pitch but we fell again short if that. It happens. You can’t really blame players with very little experience against that attack on that wicket. When it was our turn to bowl we did ok but again we have a very inexperienced attack. Scrimshaw was inafective bowling too short and too wide. The others all bowled too many bad bowls not allowing them to build any degree of pressure. God only knows why we went with an extra spinner on that deck when we had another batter in the squad. It was clear to all from the onset that it was a seamers wicket. Once they got the lead the game was only going one way. Yes we capitulation at the end which is always disappointing but not a surprise. To put it into football terms if decent premier football team had a game against their reserves, gave them 2 or 3 of the first team and they took a few of the youngsters the first team would win 9 out of 10 times. Does that make the younger less experienced team useless? Or does it mean that they are further behind in their development path due to their lack of experience and skills. That unfortunately is we’re we are as a club at the moment. Not enough good seasoned pros and too many inexperienced players having to learn on the job with no clear guidance or support . I don’t believe this crop of players are bad cricketers. All have shown potential at points in the season, its just too big an ask at the moment against teams such as Notts, Essex , Durham Warwicks etc.
ReplyDeleteWe really need a few big players to carry these youngsters along until they reach their potential. I good strike bowler and a couple of gun openers for me. I’ve never really seen Reece as an opener, especially with his bowling workload. Wood as shown in 3 of his last 4 white ball outings that he has the game to attack and can score good runs at this level. Red ball is a different animal. For me he can open white ball but in red ball is game is more suited to a 4 or 5. The performances have to fall on the shoulders of the coaching and management . Why have all our seasoned batters played so poorly this year? Let’s be honest, our recruitment as been shambolic. We can call it unlucky if we like but Stanlake for the season? Injury prone and no real red ball experience. McDermott was unfortunate to be fair but he was only here for white ball anyway .
Still not sure why we let Dinno go when our attack was crying out for experience. He would have been a handful on that wicket. Maybe it will come out in the court case. I’m not expecting much against Essex. They again are a class above us. I do think we have a chance in the 50 over comp. not to win it but think we can be competitive with some of the counties losing their better players. It does appear to level the playing field some what.
So to put it bluntly John, recruitment was all wrong last Winter?
DeleteI think we can agree on that Blue. Madsen ain’t getting any younger. Billy is showing signs of getting past his best also. I have no major problem with the new signings although 2 and a half years for Came and 2 for Thompson seems generous considering their first team performances. In short we need a new management/ coaching team and a few players. DH has had long enough now. Don’t actually think we are a million miles away with the young lads we have. It’s like all sport. Fans want jam today not tommorrow. Tommorrows been coming for several years now with no sign of Dawn breaking at present
DeleteFor all of those now saying that we should have recruited batters last year to replace the one or more of the established top 4 that it's obvious to us now (but we forgot to mention at the time) needed replacing, which of these who were released or moved last year should we have brought in, disregarding whether we could afford them or whether they could have been persuaded to come to Derby?
DeleteRob Newton, Gareth Roderick, Sean Dickson, Laurie Evans, Tom Lace, Scott Borthwick, Chris Nash, Luke Wells, Harry Finch, Scott Steel, Mark Cosgrove, Rishi Patel
To help decide who would have strengthened our batting if it hadn't been for our shocking failure to recruit them, the averages of those who've played for new counties this year are Wells (27.6), Patel (24.2), Borthwick (21.8), Lace (21.8), Roderick (6.8), Evans (6.0) and Dickson (5.0). Just for comparison, Brook Guest averages 26 and has scored more runs than anyone but Tom Lace.
Of course we could have gone down the overseas route instead. Looking at the newly-recruited overseas batter, we might have got Harris (57.8), Young (39.7) or Bancroft (32.2). Labuschagne would have had us jumping out of our seats with excitement but is averaging 25.2. Or we might have got Handscomb (17.5), Malan (15.1) or Head (13.5).
We can all pluck names out of the air, say we should go and get them, and imagine what an impact they'd have on Derbyshire, but these names and performances are the harsh reality. If they were on our radar last winter and we decided to pass on them, in the vast majority of cases it was a good decision. Perhaps some will come good this year or in the future, but be assured that if any of them had been signed (with a couple of exceptions) we'd now have been saying it was more evidence of how useless Houghton's recruitment policy is.
I don't think Derbyshire's selection was an issue here. Notts also picked 7 bowlers with a spinner and a medium-pacer who didn't bowl at all. Scrimshaw only bowled a handful of overs because he was so expensive and this probably resulted in the others being over-bowled which allowed Notts to recover from 183-6. And if Came had played as an extra batter, either he or Hosein would have been batting at 7 and people would have been criticising that. And do we rally believe that an aggressively-inclined debutant batter would have made a difference against bowling of the quality of Fletcher and Paterson on this pitch?
DeleteI don't think he would have made much difference. But on a wicket that was always going to help seamers, selecting a side that gave us the better chance would have made sense, in and out of the dressing room.
DeleteThat's the frustration. On a green wicket you shouldn't need five seamers and you don't need two spinners.
I don't have major gripes about Houghton's recruitment of players, as he has brought in some good ones.
DeleteBut he got the overseas roles wrong this year.
My major grouse is the handling of them and their development, as well as creating a positive atmosphere in which they can flourish.
There are too many confused messages and selections, too many assertions that he doesn't know what's wrong. Too many bland statements that 'we are batting badly', while his comments on a player at the member forum last week should have been kept within the dressing room
A terrible selection policy in this game. Why did we leave a batsman out? We need someone like Du Plessis, the ex South Africa captain, to come in next year and do an Eddie Barlow job. Is Chris Adams still available to take over as coach? Some drastic measures are needed.
ReplyDeleteDid anyone follow Surrey's success today? They batted for 102 overs to save the match. The desire and application shown was outstanding from almost every batsman, not just Amla who brilliantly anchored the innings.
ReplyDeleteAt least DCCC aren’t the biggest sporting shambles in the city the future looks very bleak for DCFC
ReplyDelete