Leicestershire 574
Derbyshire 167 {Lloyd 54, Donald 45) and 224-6 (Madsen 59*, Thomson 46*)
Derbyshire trail by 183 runs
Given the weather forecast for tomorrow, Derbyshire may escape from this game with a draw. Yet even the most partisan supporter would struggle to say that they deserved it.
After chasing leather for five sessions, they lost four wickets last night and a further twelve today. Let us not forget that this is against Leicestershire, more specifically a largely second choice attack in the absence, through injury, of their first choice bowlers. On the same pitch, lest we forget.
The visitors bowled better lines and waited for Derbyshire's batters to make mistakes, which many of them did, some bizarrely. The second innings dismissal of David Lloyd was a standout, ducking under what he must have thought a beamer. Yet after an innings of fine stroke play, the dismissal of Nye Donald in the first innings was a shocker, a shot from the village coaching manual. So too, after batting well in the first innings, Nuj Dal being strangled down the leg side.
These are not bad players and we must remember that to be playing at this level you have to be very talented. Yet whether the performance of the last two days is down to coaching or a lack of application, it is very disappointing for supporters.
I am not ready to give up on the season and for me the crux of the matter is how Mickey Arthur handles this, publicly and privately and how the players respond. There have been decent individual performances, but a lack of game awareness - it doesn't look like there will be much play tomorrow - is worrying.
It looked like the game could indeed conclude today, when Derbyshire slipped to 144-6 in their second innings, but a battling partnership between Wayne Madsen and Alex Thomson took us through to the close without further loss. Both batted well and showed, again, there are no demons in this pitch.
A draw from this game doesn't really reflect the way in which we have been completely outplayed by a side that one would struggle to call outstanding.
This has to become the nadir of the season and we use the 'display' as a catalyst for improvement. Even as someone frequently seen as a beacon of positivity, I struggle to see anything more than bottom of the table on the basis of the past three days.
I maintain that one-day cricket will be our strength this year, but we have to put on a better display than this in the longer form of the game.
I hope they can show me the other side of their collective games in the weeks ahead.
Postscript - Daryn Dupavillon took 5-20 in the South African T20 today. Hopefully he brings that form with him...
I do hope that you are right about our strength being in one day cricket Steve because after this dismal performance avoiding the wooden spoon again looks a very remote possibility. We must have a chance in the 50 over competition with only Wayne selected for The Hundred but this in itself is depressing because it means that not a single other player in our squad is deemed worthy of participating in the crash bang wallop competition. As you say Steve, if the weather denies Leicestershire tomorrow it will be a travesty of justice - unless the weather relents allowing our 7th wicket pair to bat all day!
ReplyDeleteLeics quite simply bowled a fuller, straighter line than we did and reaped the rewards. We have been on the back foot from the start of this game, which is hard to pull back. You look at the Yorks 11 that lost today and realise nobody is exempt from bad performances. Kris
ReplyDeleteMickey talks a good game, he's coached four international teams, and he believed he could turn an under achieving county side in England into winners. Perhaps he can. But, so far this season, it feels like last season, the season before, and the tenure of Dave Houghton. We get bowled out easily, we give away runs when we bowl, and then our batsmen in the second innings are trying to stave off defeat, not win a game. It all seems so predictable. Hopefully, in the T20 we will make our mark. But in the CC, so far, we have been lamentable.
ReplyDeleteThis comment perfectly sums up our performances in the CC for the past how many seasons. The season has just begun and we're already in familiar territory. Lets hope they can turn things around and at least be competitive.
DeleteIan. South Africa.
I agree, but only the second game and early days. We need to bounce back this week
DeleteRaining in Chesterfield 😂 here’s hoping
ReplyDeleteJohn Chesterfield
Glorious in Glasgow just now but it looks gloomy in the local forecast there..
DeleteWell it looks like the weather will save us today in what has been another dismal performance, where we've been thoroughly outplayed by a Leicester second eleven. Looks like all the eggs have been put in the basket for a good T20 campaign, but if we don't start well in that then I think Mickey Arthur will find himself in a very sticky situation
ReplyDeleteI can't believe how disappointing his tenure has been, had such high hopes but they've faded to nothing as usual
A disappointing performance but early days. Only our second game and they will realise after this that standards need to be much higher
DeleteJust a thought, not wishing to excuse the poor performance in this game, but we were denied a certain victory last season, after a poor Leicester performance, when Saturday was lost due to rain.
ReplyDeleteYes, no team is immune to poor performance in any sport. It is the reaction to that performance that matters and how we can hopefully put it right at Headingley this week
DeleteSummarised perfectly, Steve.
ReplyDeleteLeicestershire have put in the sort of performance we would wish to see from ourselves. Sadly, none of us can see it happening in the foreseeable. I actually hope the weather relents long enough for them to force a well deserved victory. 1 point is all we deserve.
Although it's clear to see we have geared our squad towards the one day competitions, MA has gone on record as saying this isn't the case, which doesn't make sense, or do himself any favours. Any sort of success in these is far from certain. I don't particularly mind the concept of focusing on the white ball, but we MUST at least remain competitive in the CC.
The cricket landscape is changing, fast. Performances like this do nothing to dispel the notion of Derbyshire CCC becoming a 'second tier' county. Sadly, it's looking inevitable that us and others, including Leicestershire, are heading towards this. Maybe this will happen with or without displays such as this.
When the move to two divisions was made, I was adamant that for a number of years there was not much difference in quality between the two. Now, I ask myself, how would we fare against the likes of Surrey, Essex and Hampshire.....
There was a leaked story in one of the Sunday broad sheets a few years ago claiming the long-term plan of the ECB is to merge several of the first class counties in this leaked report Derbyshire are to be merged with Yorkshire and Durham while Leicestershire and Northamptonshire to merge with Nottinghamshire how much truth there was in the article who knows? perhaps it was another one of Tom Harrison's crazy ideas
DeleteTom Harrison was one big crazy idea. Glad that he is out of office, totally unsuited for the role and quite embarrassed by his Derbyshire background tbh...
DeleteSky have also been keen on the idea in the past ripping up County cricket and replacing it with around six franchises (what does that remind you of) in a way I understand where the likes of Atherton and Hussein are coming from their argument is that the likes of Derbyshire have received tens of millions from the ECB over the last twenty years or so but how many test cricketers have they produced? The answer is none Dominic Cork was the last Derbyshire cricketer to play for England v India 2002 Derbyshire's saving grace IMO is that the club is being run properly and is not making eye watering losses unlike some of the so called bigger clubs
DeleteI think it's a question of whether we remain as a 'first class' county, being run properly, as we are, unfortunately might not make much difference.
DeleteThings are changing, discussions are happening. The Hundred will be sold, which will have further, as yet, unknown
ramifications. We are vulnerable, so this is not a good time to be putting in inept displays.
Well we've got out of jail because looking out my window at 8.45 am the rain has well and truly set in. Being as I consistently talk positive about us for this season, I don't care how we've managed to secure the draw.Go on then I'll tell you the last two nights around midnight, I've done a naked rain dance in the back garden.The things I do for this club. And I'm off to Headingly but I'm keeping my clothes firmly on.
ReplyDeleteSteve jr.
🤣🤣 Keep those skills honed, Steve. We may have need of them again...
DeleteThat's commitment for you!
DeleteAndy
Looking back to 2022 the presence in our side of Shan Masood lifted the whole team and there were outstanding performances by many other players, many of whom are still with us now.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me that after his departure there has been a collective malaise. How can we turn this around? I guess that Mickey Arthur is the one who needs to tell us.
Trying to see a positive in all of this, perhaps it's good that our weaknesses have been exposed at the start of the season. If Mickey thought everything was in place to launch the CC campaign, he now knows it isn't. So, he can, hopefully, fix the problems, whatever they are. What worries me especially is the batting collapses we are prone to. It's become a trademark of Derbyshire over the years. Yet, on paper, a top six of Reece, Came, Lloyd, Madsen, Guest, and Donald is more than decent. It seems there's something in the collective mindset. Plenty of work here for the sports psychologist at the club.
ReplyDeleteI'm not worried about Derbyshire being sidelined because it won't happen. I would expect all County's to support Derbyshires right to exist.Because who's next Northampton, Leicestershire or Worcestershire. ? Iwont be doing a rain dance it'll be a war dance. It it legal for anyone inc the ECB to just say your out Derbyshire. I'm not so sure it is.
ReplyDeleteSteve jr.
Of course we will exist, but in what capacity? Uncertain times ahead for sure.
DeleteI've quite liked the look of Donald in this game. Once he gets used to red ball cricket again, I think he could be an asset in all formats. The bowling does concern me a bit, but we are starting off depleted, without Atchison and du pavillon. Kris
ReplyDeleteIts easy to say its early days, but the fact is that 20% of the red ball season has already come and gone. We have certainly ben saved by the weather in 2 games and quite possibly in 3.
ReplyDeleteThe worrying thing for me is that in truth few of the individual performances have been really bad. Reece and Guest have both hit a fifty, with Madsen and Lloyd hitting 50 twice. Guest has also been his usual efficient self behind the stumps.
Tickner has hit the ground running, Connors seems to have largely eliminated the 1 loose ball per over. Chappell did well in his one match. Thomson has had one outstanding match.
Only Came, Dal and to a lesser extent Donald are well below par to date. ( I didn't see any of Browns bowling in this game so can't comment on that).
Despite all that, which should be encouraging, we have been comprehensively outbowled and outbatted in both games. Does this mean that the simple fact is that on an individual to individual basis, the players in most other teams are simply better than the Derbyshire players? I hope not, but I increasingly think that is probably the case.
In his interview today on the DCCC web site, Mickey noted that none of our batsmen have hit a century, so far. In fact, we are the only county in division two without a century. Northants lead the way with five, followed by Sussex, Middlesex and Yorkshire with four each. Hopefully fortunes will change at Headingley. It gave me a lift to see that we are above Yorkshire in the table.
ReplyDeleteThere's are couple of comments which say our top six is decent. When you look at the stats, only Madsen averages over 40 in FC (and he's only just over, and it's not unreasonable to imagine he may decline at some point). I think that the top 7 having such lower averages is a big part of the problem, it suggests we don't score big runs and/or consistent runs. The season we did well, we had a big run scorer, last year and this year we don't have one.
ReplyDeleteI think people can be a bit harsh. Root and Brook will probably be on more wages than our squad combined, yet we face them next week. All we can do is bring our best game and hope for the best. Kris
ReplyDeleteIn reference to an earlier comment about averages with which I totally agree they arnt high enough. Only four England qualified players have averaged the classic bench mark of a top player which is considered to be over 40 by better qualified people than me such as the late great Rixhie Benaud. These players along with scoring over 5000 runs ( it's no good averaging over forty in a small amount of matches. ) are Barnett Morris Bowler and Madsen. That's in over a 130 years of County Championship cricket if you take the accepted start of 1890.Of course if you want to be among the elite and all time great batsmen then we're talking in general between 45 and 55 as your career average. Their are good County Pros that average 35 or less but they simple arnt great players. ( don't anyone dare mention Stokes or Botham as Stokes is a batting all rounder and Botham was a bowling all rounder.And anyway these two are exceptions to the rule.
ReplyDeleteSteve jr.
Early Days , will be interesting to see how we fare at Yorkshire . Potential international batting line up versus an attack that’s just gone for 570 odd .. Plenty for the coaching staff and players to work on ..
ReplyDeleteRain has been our twelfth man so far this season as we remain undefeated in three! But seriously, the weather has saved us from one if not two defeats in yet another underwhelming start to the season. After watching the Spireites heading back to the EFL, l was looking forward to a summer with Derbyshire on the front foot. Maybe the squad is better suited to the shorter formats but we should at least be competitive in the Championship. The wash out against Gloucestershire didn’t help but we certainly need a collective response at Headingley to kick start the season.
ReplyDeleteNudger
Rixie Benaud I want locking up, and the key thrown away. What a wally I am.
ReplyDeleteSteve jr.
I think it's worth remembering that in 2016 Aneurin Donald, playing for Glamorgan against us, scored a double century in a world record equalling number of deliveries. He hit 15 sixes, scoring his first 127 runs between lunch and tea, and a further 107 after tea before being dismissed for 234. Although he hasn't repeated this remarkable feat since then, he obviously has the talent to do it. I hope he doesn't keep us waiting too long.
ReplyDeleteI think the fact that he scored that double century against us says it all Chapel, lol
DeleteGuess you're right CB!
DeletePerhaps I also should have mentioned David Lloyd's 311 against us a few seasons ago!
DeleteI always like to keep a watching brief on how former Derbyshire players are faring playing for other counties.
ReplyDeleteSo far this season we have:
Matt Critchley - a 50; a 150 and a 5 fer
Leus Du Plooy - a 196no and another 50
Finn Hudson Prentice - a 50 and a 5fer
Shan Masood - a 140 and a couple of other decent scores
Only Ben Slater is yet to do something significant this year, and George Scrimshaw yet to play.
What a team we would have if we had managed to keep all those talents.
Perhaps that is the message - with the exception of Wayne Madsen, all of our major talents use Derbyshire as a stepping stone. No criticism of any of the players for that. Professional cricket is a short career and players have to do what is best for them.
It seems that Derbyshire have to make a squad from people either:
At the start of their careers
or who don't quite have that star quality
or are approaching the end of their career
or fall out of favour elsewhere
The same applies to overseas players - the days of being able to attract someone like Michael Holding or Peter Kirsten went a long time ago.
Given all that, do we just have to accept that victories will be few and very far between, and we ought to just hope for being competitive occasionally?
I think your assessment of the type of players who come to Derbyshire is generally correct David but sadly poor recruitment has imo been a common problem at the Club. An inspirational Captain/figurhead is also absolutely essential and we have not had a successfull one for quite some time. Also acceptance of mediocrity is another factor. I've said before that there are players int the current side who are just not enough or consistent enough and would only be in 2nd elevens at best with other Counties. Once the present Management comes to an end, it may be worth thinking about a dual Management team of Patel and Madsen , as I believe the former does have the necessay qualities for potential success.
ReplyDeleteAs usual loads of positive words from the coach about the upcoming season but as usual as soon as we enter the playing field it all comes tumbling down.We have some good players here but not enough to worry opposition.I think the days of competing with the top counties are over for us.
ReplyDeleteYet again on here theirs negativity when the season hasn't really begun.While to some degree I understand it given our history, but the defeatist attitude before anything has been mathematically decided is galling in the extreme. Am I saying we're going to win anything, no I'm
ReplyDeletenot because as of yet theirs no evidence that we can. A defeat against Yorkshire and two poor home games in May then yes promotion will possibly be gone.but even then theirs 8 games left. It ain't over
till the FAT LADY SINGS. I've been supporting Derbyshire just 3 years less than the man who rightly and proudly oranganises this blog ( 1970 ) so I can't be accused of being a new kid on the block
because I'm anything but. I've witnessed some of the extremely mediocre and worse, standard of cricket produced by past and present Derbyshire teams.But in life in general I firmly believe negativity is self perpetrating if that's the way you think
then that's exactly what you'll get.The white ball team looks genuinely exciting.
When am I going to moan ? Definitely not
untill that FAT LADY SINGS. Then I'll Slaughter the players, the kit man, the car park attendant, the groundman, the stewards, and the rain gods.Unless of course I continue my naked rain dances.
That last comment is from steve jr.
ReplyDeleteI nearly forgot to own up.
Those of a nervous disposition should not look at how the 2nds are doing against Notts. Martin
ReplyDelete