Gloucestershire 333-6 (Price 125*, van Buuren 78, Dent 41, Dal 3-42, Reece 2-31
v Derbyshire
Price made an excellent unbeaten century for the hosts and was well supported by van Buuren in a partnership of 157 for the fifth wicket.
Two late wickets by Anuj Dal brought Derbyshire back into the game, but the home side will be pleased with the score at the end of the first day.
Dal bowled splendidly throughout and ended with three wickets. Two of them came from near perfect deliveries and he is now an excellent all round cricketer. Reece also bowled well, but the spinners were largely ineffective and Brown, on debut, looked a little short on rhythm. He hasn't had too much bowling of late and I wouldn't be unduly harsh on him at this stage.
Price will be there when play resumes tomorrow and with support from the tail he will hope to take the Gloucestershire score to 450. They can then apply pressure on the Derbyshire batters.
I will stick with my pre-match prediction of a draw. While a few deliveries zipped around when Dal and Reece bowled, there wasn't too much in the pitch.
We will find out when it is our turn to bat.
Dal has bowled very well this season but generally been awful with that bat which is hugely disappointing after last season. Will need to be better next season (ideally will start the turnaround in the second innings) though I hope that's with us and not Worcestershire.
ReplyDeleteBitterly disappointed to see Wagstaff dropped, promising knock last week and should be getting these pointless games to get experience. Gloucestershire have 8 academy produced players in their XI.
Totally agree. Wagstaff should be playing here. Du Plooy? what's the point. He's Middlesex, let's move on. 🤷♂️
DeleteI agree about Brown--after all, it is his first red-ball game for five years. That would be a wonderful economy rate in a T20...:-)
ReplyDeleteThomson's economy rate is actually more worrying in my view...other than in that it should show Arthur very clearly that he can't be the main spinner if the team wants to get better next year.
Why does Anuj Dal always find his best form at the end of a season?
ReplyDelete