Weekend preview

Derbyshire head into a weekend double header with a squad of 14. Nye Donald drops out of the the 15-man squad for the game at Northampton last night under concussion protocols. 

He will be assessed by medical staff after the weekend to see when he is fit to return to action. His health, however, is far more important and he is obviously suffering from sustained effects of a blow on the head in the last second team fixture. 

Tomorrow will see us play Leicestershire at Edgbaston in The Blast Off. This might have been more blast-worthy had it been the tournament opener, but coming on the third day of the competition it seems something of an oversight. Mind you, when the ECB schedule a showcase tournament at the same time as an international T20 series and concurrent with the World Cup T20, it is hardly a surprise...

As I write this, Lancashire are playing Worcestershire, having demolished Durham last night, bowling them out for just 75. Leicestershire have still to play although they open their account tonight against Yorkshire. They look a decent side to me, with two very good overseas players. They have also taken Lewis Goldsworthy on loan from Somerset for the duration of this tournament. He is a good player and will undoubtedly fit in well with an exciting group, led by Australian bat Peter Handscomb.

Both will be difficult games though I would deem them winnable. For all the disappointment of last night's game and the mistakes that were made, it was good to see a Derbyshire side battle and from a position of adversity get a defendable total on the board. The fielding was then as good as any I have seen from a Derbyshire side in this format and the bowling was generally very good. 

If the batting can improve and they both stay the same, we will win matches in this competition. The form of other teams will ebb and flow just like ours and it comes down to who learns from mistakes and who rises to the challenge of the pressure points within the game. 

Let's be honest, this is an experienced Derbyshire squad, with plenty of players who are used to winning and being a part of winning teams. Such experience will be invaluable and I am treating the season as having started last night. Four day  cricket is a different beast and regardless of his comments to the contrary, white ball cricket has been the focus for recruitment for Mickey Arthur.

Let's see how we go over these two games. I will do a match report at the end of both of them, but please consider this the preview for both. 

I may be retired, but there are still not enough hours in the day! 

Fingers crossed for better weekend performances.

Further thoughts on last night

Contrary to some of the knee-jerk comments on social media, Derbyshire didn't get knocked out of the Vitality Blast last night. Nor did they relinquish any chance of progression, as this is a long haul competition. 

But they did throw away a very good chance to win the game, that had been earned by a tigerish fielding display, backing up some very good bowling. 

With the games coming thick and fast from here, we really need to have a strong idea of our best team, best batting order and best attack. It didn't seem that had been sorted last night, which is a shame, as well as disappointing. 

The sides that do best at T20 generally blast it from the outset. With the field largely in by necessity, there is the opportunity for powerful players to take the game away from opponents. Look at the England game last night, with Salt and Buttler against Pakistan's Rizwan and Babar. Or Nottinghamshire with Hales and either Duckett or Clarke in recent years, Lancashire with Jennings and Wells. I could go on..

You have 36 balls to inflict serious damage, score 70-80 runs and build a platform. The right players will do that. Last night there were THIRTEEN dot balls in our Powerplay, more than two maiden overs. You can't do that and expect to win many matches.

Were I selecting the Derbyshire side, I would go with Donald and Lloyd to open. Quick scorers both, from the outset, with the added bonus that it would allow Wayne Madsen to bat three. Since the format started, the understanding has always been that you want your better players facing as many balls as possible. Luis Reece is a very good cricketer, but he does take a few balls to get going and to not make full use of those first 36 deliveries is to give yourself a mountain to climb. 

Likewise, the position of Ross Whiteley needs to be fluid. The most powerful player in the side surely needs time to inflict maximum damage?  I do understand his role as a finisher, but you can finish from ten overs out just as easily - in fact, more so - than from five overs out. 

I understand that the left and right hand combination is preferred at the top of the order, but does that really bother bowlers at this level as much as those below? Again, my comment would be why not sign someone who batted left-handed who could play that role, if required? 

I was really frustrated by our only playing one overseas player last night. Not that I am saying Daryn Dupavillon is better than those who played, because on evidence so far he isn't, certainly at this format. But to put ourselves, through choice, in a situation where we play either a second spinner or the second overseas player is crazy. 

We all know that Zak Chappell is a very good bowler in T20. Last night we saw him mix up the pace and give a master class. So too did Pat Brown, whose variations are really quite something to behold. You are surely not going to omit either of those two from your first choice side, which then means you leave out Tickner or Dupavillon, if two spinners are required. 

There is not another side in the country who will voluntarily omit one of their overseas players from this competition...

If Dupavillon was injured or ill, it was a mistake in communications, because this was not announced. Otherwise a major error in recruitment has been made, because the balance of the side is wrong.

I thought Samit Patel handled things well in the field and he certainly had the support of his teammates. But he made a mistake in leaving the final over to Luis Reece. 

Luis hasn't even been a regular bowler for Derbyshire in this competition, so to entrust him with the final over was unnecessary pressure. He only has around 120 CAREER overs in the format. I could have understood it more had Northamptonshire been nine wickets down and we were hoping to bowl them out before the last over. But in the modern game, going into it with only 14 runs to defend is a tough gig. Luis did well to take it to the last ball after his first was a long hop that went for six, but he should never have been put in that position.

I read someone on social media say that 'all he needed to do was bowl six yorkers.' ALL... Obviously written by someone who has never had to do such a thing at any point, let alone in a pressure situation, because it ain't easy, especially when someone is trying to hit you a very long way.

Perhaps last night he was the best bowling option, but not for the last over. If Alex Thomson wasn't right for four overs, maybe he was the wrong selection, because as well as he did at the end of our innings, batting with Zak Chappell I don't see this as his format. Someone like Matt Carter could have done it, but they are very different bowlers.

So my team for Saturday, assuming everyone is fit, would be:

Donald

Lloyd

Madsen

Reece

Guest

Whiteley (fluid role)

Patel

Chappell

Tickner

Brown

Dupavillon

I would retain Reece, but better utilise the early overs. He could then rebuild, if things didn't go to plan.

But you see my point. After that we go to Old Trafford, where two spinners are usually required and we once again have to leave out an overseas player. 

Either that, or shoot ourselves in the foot by omitting one of our two best T20 bowlers. 

If we had signed an overseas batter who bowled a bit of spin, or a spinner who could handle a bat, the balance of the side would have been considerably better.

I will die on this particular hill.

Northamptonshire v Derbyshire Vitality Blast

Derbyshire 162-7 (Lloyd 41, Madsen 37)

Northamptonshire 163-5 (Bopara 56, Vasconcelos 42, Raza 38 Brown 3-33, Chappell 2-29)

Northamptonshire won by 5 wickets

Derbyshire lost their opening game of the Vitality Blast in a last ball thriller at Northampton. There was a battling display in the field that augured well, with Ross Whiteley and Pat Brown outstanding, while Brown and Zak Chappell were excellent with the ball.

But in the words of the old Johnny Nash song, after watching tonight's game there are more questions than answers. 

My opinion is that an opening partnership of Luis Reece and Harry Came is too slow. The former used to be a real dasher in this format, but was less so last year, scoring at 118 per hundred balls. 22 from 23 balls at the start of the innings is way too slow, especially if you don't bat on and accelerate. I feared the worst tonight when I saw that Nye Donald was missing, but hoped that we might mix it up at the top, Lloyd opening, because Madsen is too low at four, for me. He is the best T20 bat and needs as much time at the crease as possible.

Then again, Whiteley at seven is plain daft. What is he supposed to do in the last five overs? Surely you want a bloke who can hit the ball into a neighbouring county at the crease with ten overs in which to do it? 

Shouldn't Ross have been above the skipper? It might be early days, but having watched Samit in a couple of games, there is a suggestion that his hand/eye coordination is perhaps not what it was. I suspect a few opponents might bring on the quicks when he comes to the crease..

I suggested in the winter and early Spring that an overseas spinner who bats was our greater need for T20. Such a player would have been a greater asset tonight than a second overseas player who didn't make the team and wasn't announced as injured. Again, I said before the season that with Brown and Chappell good at the format, two overseas quicks was one too many. If the master plan is to rotate them, why are we playing one overseas player in a competition that allows two? Why do we have a third seamer coming in, regardless of his reputation?

Patel martialled his troops well and the ground fielding was excellent. He also bowled a canny spell, but he got the bowling wrong by entrusting the last over to Luis Reece, who to my knowledge has never bowled a death over before. Then again, would Luis have had to bowl it were there a second overseas bowler in the mix? One might also question why Alex Thomson was selected but didn't bowl his full allocation.

Earlier David Lloyd batted brilliantly, Wayne Madsen played very well but we cannot lose so many early deliveries to dot balls. Better sides than Northamptonshire lie ahead and we will be more severely punished. As it was, Raza and Bopara proved the difference between the two sides, the latter excellent with bat and ball.

In conclusion? There are reasons to be cheerful, but we must hope that Madsen isn't too badly injured having not fielded, and we badly need Donald back for the next game for early impetus.

We nearly pulled a rabbit from the hat tonight. But that particular trick won't work very often if we don't sort the batting inadequacies. 

As for the mystery of the missing overseas...Agatha Christie alone may have the answer to that one.

In closing, a mention for the excellent camera work tonight, though the home commentators left a lot to be desired in the bit I listened to. 

Confusing Reece and Lloyd isn't overly impressive when they are left and right-handed respectively, while Alex Thomson apparently scored a double hundred for us in the last game...

More questions than answers indeed, like some of my old exam papers. 

Six out of ten. Must do better.

County under 18s beat Yorkshire

Derbyshire's under 18s pulled off an excellent 4 wicket win over their Yorkshire counterparts at York tonight.

They restricted the home side to 133-5 in 20 overs, Harris Ajaz taking 2-21 in his four overs 

In reply Will Tarrant's unbeaten 59 from 35 balls steered Derbyshire to a win with five balls to spare

Excellent news!

Northamptonshire v Derbyshire preview

Mickey Arthur has named a squad of 15 to travel to Northampton for the first game of 2024 Vitality Blast tomorrow evening. Which is also my first game as a gentleman of leisure, after my retirement yesterday..

Derbyshire warmed up with a win over Leicestershire at the County Ground today. It was easier than the final scores suggested, despite a rollicking century from Foxes all rounder Ben Mike, whose hundred came off just 45 balls. He was batting too low and I suspect they will better utilise that hitting power when the serious stuff starts. 

Earlier David Lloyd batted well for Derbyshire and Ross Whiteley targeted the middle distance with 74 from 36 balls. Ross can win games for Derbyshire in this competition , as his timing is excellent and he is a powerfully built lad. 

The squad of 15 - and I suspect the first eleven will be the team:

Donald

Reece

Madsen

Lloyd

Guest

Whiteley

Patel

Chappell

Thomson/Brown

Tickner 

Dupavillon 

Plus Came, Wagstaff, Dal

The pitch will dictate whether Pat Brown or Alex Thomson plays but I would be surprised if there was much change to that team 

Northamptonshire has recruited well for this competition. Aggressive South African bat Matthew Breetzke joins Zimbabwe all rounder Sikander Raza in a side that features former England men David Willey and Ravi Bopara. John Sadler also has former Derbyshire quick George Scrimshaw in his 14-man squad:

Willey, Vasconcelos, Keogh, Breetzke, Raza, Bopara, Bartlett, Broad, McManus, Heldreich, Miller, Weatherall, Scrimshaw, Zaib

That looks a strong batting side, perhaps a little weaker on the bowling front, but there are some canny operators in that squad. It will be a good test for Derbyshire and a very interesting game to watch. 

I am curious to see how our overseas bowlers go in this format. We know what the batters are capable of and the expectation will be that Patel and Chappell will do their usual thing. If they can be backed up by Tickner and Dupavillon, the fifth bowler's overs will be the crucial factor. 

I am wary of calling anything with Derbyshire this season, but I am prepared to err on the side of optimism and potentially a win in this first game. 

If we set our stall out early and build momentum, it promises to be very interesting campaign.

Do us proud, lads! 

Gloucestershire v Derbyshire day 4

It was good to see Zak Chappell bowling with the rhythm to which we have become accustomed over the last two days. 

I mentioned last night that he seemed to be back to his best and today he took 5-58 in 19 overs, which in the context of a total of 530 is very good going. The home side managed to take a small lead on first innings by lunch time, which rather rendered the rest of proceedings academic.

There were runs in the afternoon for David Lloyd and for Brooke Guest, but the game clearly illustrated what I referred to in my post yesterday, when there is no real interest in the final day. How can there be, when two innings haven't been concluded by the end of the third day? 

I thought van Buuren looked the class act he is for Gloucestershire, while Beau Webster looked to be the perfect overseas player - a good seam bowler who can hit the ball hard and contribute good runs. Looking at his career, he averages 36 with the bat and just under 40 with the ball. What's not to like about a genuine all-rounder like that?

I switched over to the stream from the County Ground and what turned out to be a very good T20 game between Derbyshire and Lancashire Second Elevens.

The visitors won by scrambling a single from the last ball of the game. Batting first, Derbyshire didn't manage enough runs, only reaching 152-6. Former England under-19 wicket keeper Jack Carney top scored with an unbeaten 36 and there were nice twenties from Bin Naeem and Whiteley, while Moore and Tickner hit well towards the end.

It didn't look close to enough against a Lancashire side including Luke Wood, Steven Croft and Jack Blatherwick, but Samit Patel shuffled his bowlers well. I was especially impressed by Nick Potts, who took three wickets and bowled with good pace. 

A no ball in the final over was costly, costing four runs and a free hit, but he bowled well and with good rhythm. So too did Tickner and Pat Brown and they came close to defending a low total, but half centuries from George Lavelle and Cian Dickinson saw Lancashire home by five wickets.

Scorecard here

Blog comments

Again, in the past few days, I have declined to publish two or three comments that I felt were getting a little too personal. Certainly for my taste, most definitely for those who the comments were about. 

We must all try to remember that these players go out everyday to try and do their best for our club. Success and failure comes for them, just as it does for you and I at our work. But when we do something wrong, no one jumps into print to criticise. 

The start to the season has been disappointing, but these have not suddenly become bad players. Some of them are very good indeed and the records they have amassed over their careers confirms that. 

There needs to be a collective deep breath and we wait to see how fortune changes with the advent of the Vitality Blast. I suspect we will win our fair share of games, though I am yet unsure as to how many.

But please remember - everyone - that players, board members, partners, mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers, friends and team mates read this blog. I have done it for all these years and no one has taken exception about anything that I have printed or published. 

That cannot and must not change and I will reserve the right to decline publication of any comment that I feel is hurtful, personal, rude or unnecessary.

Keep comments to the point too, and it is easier for everyone to follow. And please remember either to create a Google account or to append a name when you send. I will never publish a critical, unsigned comment.

Thank you all, for your continued involvement!

Vitality Blast prospects

Regular readers will know that I too often err on the side of optimism in my pre-tournament forecasts.

I am struggling to do so this year, for the Vitality Blast.

Don't get me wrong, I don't doubt for a moment that there is talent within this Derbyshire squad and plenty of it. But as I write this piece, I have concerns over the batting, bowling and fielding that make it impossible for me to suggest, with any degree of confidence, that we will get anywhere near the knockout stages.

The batting first of all: there is the ability in this side for Derbyshire to post 200 against some attacks. Yet the frustration is that we could just as easily be bowled out, too often, for under 140. The consistency isn't there and while the hope is that there is a collective finding of form, nothing so far this season has given me hope that will happen. Having said that, new format, new captain, new attitude and different results? Maybe..

Aneurin Donald, Ross Whiteley and Samit Patel bring nous for the format, together with an ability to hit long, but they will need to be at their best for Derbyshire to both set and chase targets on a regular basis. Madsen will need again to be the bedrock, but can we expect that at 40? 

The bowling? I don't see a Zaman Khan in the ranks and I fear our attack could be too one-dimensional to unduly concern opponents. I'm not sure that either overseas could be regarded as a format specialist and neither of them having any pretentions to batting could come back to bite us. The records of Tickner and Dupavillon in this format do not suggest they are new models of Rampaul, Langeveldt, Ferguson or Zaman, but I am willing to be convinced.

Patel will doubtless remain parsimonious, but I struggle to see what would be our best side. Pat Brown has been recruited as a one-day specialist, Zak Chappell took a lot of wickets last year, but playing both alongside the two overseas leaves a long tail, regardless of the latter's occasional big hitting.

The bottom five below is the attack, but if one/two from Lloyd/Reece/Whiteley/Madsen could become the fifth bowler, an extra batter - Lamb or Came perhaps - could be played. Or perhaps Mitch Wagstaff? Leg spin is often an asset in T20 and with his batting and fielding ability, the youngster could slot into the side quite nicely. Maybe Alex Thomson will have opportunity too and the twin spin of McKiernan and Watt in recent years proved effective.

The fielding? This is not a young squad and the likely side doesn't contain many 'whippets'. There are some excellent fielders and safe pairs of hands, but getting to the ball could be a problem. 

If Samit Patel can use his vast experience to pull the side together and if they respond to the unknown quantity of his leadership, then maybe they might surprise me. 

But at this stage I wouldn't put the weekly housekeeping money on getting to the knockout stage. Based on the season so far, how could you? 

Yet I would love it if they proved me wrong and no one would be happier if they did so.

Likely side:

Reece

Donald

Madsen

Lloyd

Guest

Whiteley

Patel

Chappell

Tickner

Brown

Dupavillon

I would be inclined to rotate Chappell and Brown, perhaps including Wagstaff for his all round game or Thomson if the wicket looks conducive to spin.

Thoughts? 

Gloucestershire v Derbyshire day 3

Derbyshire 526

Gloucestershire 399-4 (van Buuren 156*, Bracey 137*)

Gloucestershire trail by 127 runs

Last night Anuj Dal said on the club site that we had to make good use of the new ball this morning. 

When it disappeared for 80 runs from seven overs today, it is fair to say we didn't manage that.

I accept that pitches are good, often too good. This one appears to be a belter. But some of the bowling this season makes me wonder if we have a bowling coach, or if tactics against each batter are being discussed before play starts. Surely being able to bowl a consistent line and length is a prerequisite at this level?

A look at our bowling averages after six matches is like a Hammer House of Horror presentation:

Thomson 13 wickets at 34

Lloyd 4 wickets at 51

Chappell 7 wickets at 57

Conners 5 wickets at 58

Dupavillon 5 wickets at 59

Tickner 8 wickets at 62

Reece 4 wickets at 73

Dal 5 wickets at 83

Given Thomson was omitted for two games and Lloyd is only bowling occasionally, the issue is clear. Following on from Suranga Lakmal (15 wickets at 40 and 8 at 55 in his two seasons) Mickey Arthur hasn't covered himself in glory with his overseas bowling choices.

I feel a certain sympathy for Tickner, who would have had more wickets had we not had Teflon-handed slip fielders in early season. Nor do I know how he is able to carry on, with what is going on in the background. But the fact remains that the overseas professional gig, whether at local club or county level,  carries pressure to perform which few of ours recruited by Mickey Arthur have managed to do.

Such players set the standard and collectively, as a bowling unit, we have been pretty shocking so far. 

Fair play to Bracey and van Buuren, who put together the highest fifth-wicket partnership for Gloucestershire against Derbyshire. But the bowling didn't ask too many questions and only Chappell emerged with any credit here.

When the highlight of the day from a Derbyshire perspective was the covers coming on, you know you have problems. 

I just hope we can sort ours before the Vitality Blast. 

The problem with four-day cricket

I decided to write this post midway through a game because my feelings at this point are quite pertinent. 

Quite frankly, I am struggling to stay in love with county cricket.

I say this as someone whose love affair with the game goes back well over fifty years, but so far this season I have found myself switching off a time or two, deciding that gardening, cleaning my car or going on a lengthy dog walk was preferable to watching another long runfest on a moribund pitch.

I had an email from The Cricketer on Friday, asking if I planned to renew my subscription. I replied today to say that I wouldn't, because the direction of the game is increasingly unpalatable for me. 

As regular readers of the blog will know, I live 283 miles from the County Ground and, since the passing of my parents, I am unsure when I will next visit it. The length of the journey is one thing, the cost of hotels for the duration another. Factor in meals, fuel and a desire to be near my family and you can see the problem. I know there are people who would do that, who follow their side around the country and I applaud their commitment, but everyone's circumstances are different and I would never criticise anyone for personal choice.

The game itself is another matter. 

It is really only worthwhile travelling for a four-day game, but such is the arrangement of fixtures that I can only do so at the extremes of the season, when the weather is least likely to be favourable. There is little on this earth more depressing than a cricket ground in the rain, except leaving that ground to go back to a soulless hotel room when there is no chance of play. You will appreciate, I hope, that a 600-mile round trip to sit in a hotel room watching the rain fall is not high on my list of things to do in my retirement...

Regardless of Derbyshire's fortunes in it (and this summer has been a challenge) four-day cricket is often very dull. The powers that be want it to replicate Test cricket and for the pitches to be similar to those on which that elite level is played. 

Which is fine, but there has to be an understanding that a lot of those playing on the pitches, while obviously good players, are not of true 'elite' standard. They will have their days in the sun, they will score runs, they will take wickets. But so good are those pitches that the game has been rendered almost formulaic.

Unless the players turn up on the first day to find a track greener than Robin Hood's tunic, the aim on winning the toss will be to bat... for a day and a half. Let's rack up 600 and put them under pressure, is the tactic, but it often doesn't work, because team B goes in and also bats for a day and a half, scoring 550. Which takes you to the fourth day, even if the rain stays out of it and somehow they have to contrive a result. 

Except, with eight points for a draw, neither side is especially inclined to risk losing those points and the game. Thus, the final day is rendered academic and at the end of it all the most likely result at the start is the one that happens. 

I know there can be positive results, teams can collapse, victories CAN be achieved. But generally speaking, it doesn't happen often enough. Just look at the current round of matches. Granted there has been rain interference, but to still be in the second innings of games as we come towards the end of the third day isn't a lot of fun. If you look at the crowds on the various streams, I would suggest a lot of people are coming to the same conclusion.

At a time when the number of fixtures and congestion are constantly under discussion, the time to return to three-day cricket is rapidly approaching. As I have written before, limit first innings to 100 overs each, make this the new daily maximum and allow the side batting second to bat to a maximum of 200 per combined first innings, if they wish. 

Then drop the draw points to zero, meaning that teams have to take a risk on the last day to secure more than batting and bowling bonus points. You might lose, but you might win and if you played games Friday to Sunday, there is a fair chance that the Sunday crowd could be quite impressive, in the knowledge that there will be a game worth watching. 

Test cricket is now played faster, more aggressively. Bazball if you will, though I'm not a fan of such monikers. Use the word 'maximum' or 'seed' in my presence and I will likely walk away..

The Vitality Blast is coming and it may just save Derbyshire's season (though I am not hopeful, at this stage.) The fifty-over competition may do similarly and when batters need to really go for it we may see more even-handed cricket.

Regardless of whether the game returns to one division or stays as two, three-day cricket is badly needed to make the longer form of the game worth  watching again. 

In a fourteen-game season, players would have fourteen less days of playing.

But when they go out there, the cricket would be more entertaining and meaningful than much that I have watched this summer.

While we're at it, let's return to uncovered wickets, or only allow a light roller between innings, or none at all when the match has started. 

A better balance between bat and ball would restore my interest. Between bigger bats, flatter pitches, shorter boundaries and incentives for mediocrity, you might as well plonk a bowling machine at one end to save time and effort..

Gloucestershire v Derbyshire day 2

Derbyshire 526 (Lamb 207, Guest 95, Donald 67, Dal 62 Webster 6-100)

Gloucestershire 243-4 (Bracey 87*, van Buuren 61*, Chappell 2-23

Gloucestershire trail by 283 runs

After a good day and session with the bat, the challenge too far that I feel will prevent Derbyshire winning a 4-day game this season became obvious in the final two sessions of the day. 

There just isn't enough in this county attack to bowl opponents out twice. 

After racking up 526 runs in being bowled out before lunch, Derbyshire had Gloucestershire in trouble with four wickets down for only 136 runs. Thereafter Bracey, with an unbeaten 87 and van Buuren with an unbeaten 61 saw Gloucestershire to 243-4 by the close.

In the sixth four-day game of the season, only one player, Alex Thomson, has reached double figures in wickets. Twelve of the thirteen he has taken came in one game and of the other bowlers no one currently averages under fifty per wicket, with Tickner having the most with eight. But they have cost him 61 runs each, while Daryn Dupavillon has five at 52 each. When your overseas imports aren't taking wickets, the challenge is clear and I stand by my assertion on radio yesterday, that sadly we won't win a county championship match this summer.

It might be that the attack we have will be perfectly fine and effective in one day cricket. Yet I cannot see how we will bowl sides out in the longer form of the game. Zak Chappell had better rhythm today, but I never felt we were going to run through the home side.

The forecast for tomorrow is fairly grim, with overnight rain and then more expected between 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. That may well make any play tomorrow impossible, which either sets up a final day declaration and run chase, or merely renders the day academic. 

It is a shame, because we batted much better in this game. Matt Lamb went on to an excellent double century this morning, with Anuj Dal showing signs of his best form in making his highest score of the summer. 

Again though, we find it hard to put together both aspects of the game into a complete performance. 

At this stage it is hard to see anything other than a draw in this one.

Gloucestershire v Derbyshire day one

Derbyshire 434-5 (Lamb 186*, Guest 95, Donald 67, Webster 3-82, de Lange 2-80)

v Gloucestershire

Like a 10,000 metre champion lapping the rest of the field, Derbyshire's performance on day one at Bristol outstripped every other day of cricket that they have produced this season. By a country mile.

Interviewed by North Derbyshire Radio's Matt Rhodes this morning, I said that I didn't think we would win a 4-day game this season. Despite a terrific effort today, I still don't think we will win this one, as Sunday looks a fairly unpleasant affair and form up until today has hardly been a strong indicator of success.

Yet we could not have done more to turn things around and at the very least go into the Vitality Blast in better fettle.

We won the toss and decided to bat, but lost three wickets in the first session. To be fair, they at least tried to get us onto the front foot in the game. We were scoring at four runs an over from the outset and once Brooke Guest and Matt Lamb got going, the scoring rate climbed. 

I would regard Guest as having the best technique in the side and I always feel greater reassurance when he gets going than anyone else. Both he and Lamb led charmed lives early in their innings, but they got through the morning session and then past tea with some glorious stroke play. 

While Guest is by nature more orthodox, Lamb survived drops and began to unfurl a wide range of shots. He is particularly strong through the offside and the power of some of those strokes was quite remarkable. His celebration on reaching a century was touching and good to see, the only shame being that Guest just missed out on his after a partnership of over 227 for the fourth wicket. 

It was a career-best for Lamb and his first century for Derbyshire. After a difficult first season with injury, this was clear evidence that he can be a magnificent bat when he gets going. 

Lamb was then joined by Donald, who like everyone else led a charmed existence early, but raced to a run a ball fifty. Four boundaries in an over from Dale Singh suggested he might be on for a century himself before the close, but he frustratingly gave it away, chipping a catch to mid-wicket from a leading edge. Like Guest, I suspect he was kicking himself in the pavilion, because a century was there for the taking, having done all the hard work of 'getting in' . 

Gloucestershire did themselves no favours with catching of variable quality. There have been times this season when the first time a ball went off the floor from a Derbyshire player it was caught, but today they enjoyed the rub of the green and to give them every credit, they made the most of the opportunity. 

I thought Marchant de Lange bowled admirably for the home side, giving everything and on several occasions ending up on his knees with the strain. His final figures bore no relationship to the way in which he went about his work today and it was an excellent effort by the tall South African.

Lamb saw it through to the close, accompanied by a once again circumspect Dal. With 186 to his name, he was seeing it like the proverbial football by that stage and it was a very special innings to watch today. 

More of the same tomorrow, would do just dandy.

Well done Derbyshire. Credit where it's due, I have been quick to criticise this year, but that was a very good effort today. From 69-3 to 434-5 was quite a remarkable effort.

Gloucestershire v Derbyshire preview

Harry Came is back in the Derbyshire squad for the game at Bristol tomorrow, which is good to see. He has scored consistent runs in the second team and certainly deserves a return to the side, let alone the squad. 

Blair Tickner is missing for well-documented personal reasons and is replaced in the squad by Sam Conners. I hope that Sam returns to the side, as he needs to be playing cricket and I am much happier when Derbyshire-reared cricketers are involved in the lineup. 

The squad of thirteen leaves a difficult to call final eleven, but I just hope we find a place for Alex Thomson. To go into a game without a 'proper' spinner - with no disrespect intended to David Lloyd - is silly, especially when we have so many seam options. 

Squad: 

Came, Reece, Lloyd, Madsen, Guest, Donald, Lamb, Whiteley, Dal, Thomson, Chappell, Conners, Dupavillon

Gloucestershire are doing well this season, could go top with a win and will present a stiff test for Derbyshire. How nice would it be if we could go into the T20 after this game with a good performance, at least, under our belt?

Their squad: Van Buuren, Bancroft, Taylor, Shaw, Charlesworth, Bracey, Webster, Taylor, Dale, Middleton, Charlesworth, Price, Hammond, de Lange

De Lange has been in fine form for them and crucially they are playing as a team. Bancroft has given stability to the batting and although Gohar is missing, they will have a solid line up.

I will be on North Derbyshire Radio tomorrow night after 6.30pm, talking about recent news and about the forthcoming T20.

Finally, speaking of news, Jack Morley has gone back to Lancashire after being recalled from his loan, as I predicted in my last blog. I have to admit I struggled with the logic of the signing then and even more now, after he played just one game in his time with us. 

It would have made some sense to play him and Alex Thomson in rotation, but to play neither on some of these pitches was just odd. 

Matt Carter released by Nottinghamshire

I don't know if you all saw it, but yesterday Matt Carter was released by Nottinghamshire by mutual agreement. He had not played for the county since last September. 

Now I don't know if he has something going on in his life, but if I answered the question honestly as to would he enhance the Derbyshire side in white ball cricket, my answer would be 'yes'.

He has been a canny operator for a number of seasons and is skilled enough to bowl a fair number of his overs in the Powerplay. Not the fastest of movers in the field, but at 6'6 that is perhaps a given. But he can also hit a ball a long way.

In the absence of the overseas spinner that I have advocated since this time last year, Carter could do the job for Derbyshire in white ball cricket that Alex Thomson can do with the red ball, if he is selected. I know that we have Jack Morley, but I  suspect he will head back to Lancashire shortly, with Tom Hartley on England duty and Nathan Lyon coming to the end of his stint there.

He and Samit Patel were a major reason for Nottinghamshire success in white ball cricket and at 27 he has a lot more to give. It may be that he is lined up by someone else, but I would have seen him as a huge asset in moving along Brian Clough Way.

It will be a transitional season for Nottinghamshire too. Having lost both spinners, as well as Steven Mullaney and Jake Ball, their white ball attack will look very different this year.

One to keep an eye on, perhaps...

Derbyshire v. Northamptonshire day 4

Northamptonshire 422 and 310-3 (Gay 153*)

Derbyshire 362 and 261-9 (Chappell 72, Reece 44, Guest 33, Dal 31*,  Keogh 5-62, Patterson-White 3-58)

Match drawn

A terrific rearguard action by Anuj Dal and Zak Chappell helped Derbyshire to secure a draw by the narrowest of margins this afternoon. 

With the assistance of gutsy displays by Blair Tickner and Daryn Dupavillon they finished 261-9, having been set 371 to win. Dal scored an unbeaten 31 from 139 balls and saw it through to the close, after Chappell made a more aggressive 72 in a century stand for the eighth wicket, this  after their side had limply subsided from 127-2 to 149-7. It was the second time in the match that the middle order had shown all the resilience of balsa wood and it was again hugely disappointing to watch.

It is hard to get away from the opinion that we are really not very good at 4-day cricket. The visitors deserved to win this match as they showed far greater skills and discipline as a team. They batted well and their two spinners and opening bowler Ben Sanderson were excellent. 

The irony on Derbyshire almost being bowled out on the last afternoon by those two spinners, having not selected any themselves, is not lost on me. Once again, not for the first time,  team selection was wrong for this game and I cannot think I am the only person thinking that. 

There is one more game to go, at Bristol next week, before we go into the Vitality Blast, the competition for which our winter recruitment appears specifically to have been done. 

If we don't do better than this, there really needs to be a discussion about the way forward, because the four-day cricket this year has been little short of a shambles. Let's hope we can get behind Samit's Soldiers and have the chance to remember what a win feels like.

Maybe we will see a new Derbyshire. We can only hope so, because the long-suffering fans deserve something to get excited about.

There has been little of that so far.

Fine win for Second XI

There was a heartening and convincing win for the second team against Leicestershire today, as they started their defence of the T20 trophy.

Led by Samit Patel, they won by 108 runs at Kibworth. Harry Came led off with 62 from 37 balls, before Patel scored 53 from 24 balls, with four sixes and five fours. Mitch Wagstaff made 43, while there were breezy unbeaten twenties from Alex Thomson and 20 year old Curtis Heaphy, a wicket keeper bat from Central Districts in New Zealand. He is over on the recommendation of batting coach, Ben Smith.

Derbyshire amassed an imposing 223-3 in their twenty overs and with Pat Brown, Sam Conners and Nick Potts leading the attack they took early wickets. 

Swindells and Evans launched a recovery, but the damage was done by leg spin, as Wagstaff took 3-18 and fellow leggie, Harris Ajaz took 4-19. Ajaz is part of the Academy and plays his cricket for Coventry North Warwick.

Leicestershire were all out for 115 and the scorecard and video clips can be seen here

Book Review: Sticky Dogs and Stardust : When the Legends Played in the Leagues by Scott Oliver

Most of us who have played cricket at a level where professionals are allowed have tales of their experiences with them. 

I played for a number of years at that level and have a few. Most notably a former county professional of modest reputation who improved my game considerably and put a lot into the club. He was then followed by an Australian of genuine talent, who scored a century pretty much every week but had no idea how he did it and couldn't show other people how to try to do so. You will appreciate which of those professionals is held in the greater esteem these days..

Scott Oliver's book is simply magnificent, gathering together tales from over the years as professionals from all over the world came to England to gain experience and hopefully help their less talented teammates win something. 

It didn't always work out like that and this book highlights that for every good professional who goes on to hit the big time, there are plenty of others who simply could not cut the mustard, for various reasons.

The thrill of facing such players is considerable and I am sure that many pints have been bought on the back of encounters with cricket legends on the pitch. There were plenty of trips to A & E too, as weekend cricketers faced the likes of Michael Holding, Andy Roberts, Shane Bond  and Joel Garner. 

Scott Oliver's book is rightly Wisden's book of the year. It certainly is for me, because it highlights the aspect of cricket that all of us enjoy - encounters with our heroes. Sometimes one finds that those heroes have feet of clay, though I can say in my case that has only happened on a couple of occasions. 

What comes through from this book is that most of these professionals came with the right attitude and used their experiences to improve their game. Adam Gilchrist, Shane Bond, Imran Tahir AB de Villiers and many more come over as good blokes who pitched in, did their stuff more often than not and went home with reputations enhanced.

Then there were the others. I won't ruin the surprises by telling who didn't, because this is a book that should be on every birthday and special occasion list. 

Given the proliferation of cricket around the world today, it seems unlikely that the English leagues will ever again see the depth of talent that once shone like a beacon, the great West Indians, Australians, South Africans and more more plying their trade among part-timers of varying levels of ability. 

Reading this book, you just wish you had been there to see it. 

I could not recommend this more highly. 

Sticky Dogs and Stardust: When the Legends Played in the Leagues is written by Scott Oliver and published by Fairfield Books

Derbyshire v. Northamptonshire day 3

Northamptonshire 422 and 195-2

Derbyshire 362 (Guest 76, Madsen 62, Whiteley 54, Lamb 52)

Northamptonshire lead by 255 runs

I don't very often listen to the commentary when I am watching the cricket. It's a different matter if I don't have visibility of the game, but I like to watch it in the company of my own thoughts, or talking with those around me. 

I made an exception for a few minutes this morning and as Derbyshire approached 250, with only three wickets down, there were discussions regarding our potentially declaring just before lunch tomorrow, leaving Northamptonshire a tricky couple of sessions to negotiate. 

It made me sit up. I have watched Derbyshire for long enough to know that positions of control can very easily be surrendered, even on a pitch that has been good for batting throughout. 

And so it came to pass that Derbyshire slipped from 253-3 to 288-8 in eight overs of madness. There was the second new ball, but some of the shots played left much to be desired. Were it not for a common sense half century by Ross Whiteley, where he cleverly farmed the strike in partnership with Daryn Dupavillon, we could easily have been facing a deficit of comfortably over a hundred.

Ross batted well, as did Guest, Lamb and Madsen, but no one is going on to the big innings that so often defines a match. Maybe what they are doing will be great in the forthcoming T20, but it doesn't work in this format. 

Northamptonshire extended their lead in the second innings, Gay approaching a century and Nair looking a player of class. With a lead of 255 overnight, they will likely set us 350 plus tomorrow, which will show just what aggressive brand of cricket we are supposed to be playing...

Watching the final session tonight, two thoughts crossed my mind. One, probably shared with a few of you, was why we went into this game, on this sort of pitch, in this kind of weather, without a specialist spinner.

The other was giving the benefit of the doubt and wondering whether David Lloyd might be used as a fifth bowler in the forthcoming T20. His off spin is fairly tidy and if utilised, even for a couple of overs, might allow Derbyshire to play an extra batter in that competition. 

More on that soon, but I really hope we make a better fist of a potential run chase tomorrow than we did after the second new ball today.

Derbyshire v. Northamptonshire Day 2

Northamptonshire 422 

Derbyshire 170-2 (Guest 76*, Madsen 28*)

Derbyshire trail by 252 runs

Today saw a decent fight back by Derbyshire, admittedly after Rob Keogh added a century to an already healthy total to see the visitors all out for 422.  Bartlett (who Derbyshire were themselves chasing in the winter) and Broad added excellent '70s and it ensured a sizable, if not out of sight first innings score. 

Yet after that Derbyshire batted with relative ease on a pitch that seemed to offer little to the visiting bowlers. Lloyd was superbly caught at fourth slip, which he would have got away with nine times in ten. Reece batted steadily before rather giving it away, but Guest, after keeping wicket for 133 overs in the heat, batted very well for the remainder of the day to remain unbeaten on 76, with Madsen on 28.

From what I have seen so far, a positive result will depend on a last day run chase, which Derbyshire are at least set up for. I have seen no reason for them to collapse and I just hope that we declare our innings in due course to allow the visitors the opportunity to set something for us on the last day.

Hopefully tomorrow brings more sunshine, as well as some good Derbyshire batting.

Derbyshire v Northamptonshire day 1

I didn't see a great deal of today's play, but it would appear that Northamptonshire got the better of it by the time it ended. 

I have spoken to a couple of people whose opinion I respect and the feeling was that our bowlers, while beating the bat on a regular basis, didn't bowl the correct length -  or line - to take wickets. If, as Anuj Dal said, we beat the bat 80 -odd times, the only conclusion can really be that we should have adjusted the line to be taking an edge more frequently. The old Brian Statham adage 'they miss, I hit' was perhaps never more apposite.

I also feel the selection was odd. No issue in playing Ross Whiteley, but to play either him or Anuj Dal at eight seems overly defensive. To not play either spinner, in a side awash with seam, appears an oversight...I always feel our left arm variant, whether Luis Reece or today Ross Whiteley, gets overlooked amid the many options.

Anyway, that's enough from me. I will watch a lot more tomorrow and we will see how it goes.

We wouldn't want Northamptonshire to get much ahead of 350, that's for sure.

Derbyshire v. Northamptonshire preview

Mickey Arthur has announced a 13-man squad for the game against Northamptonshire that starts at the County Ground tomorrow.

The game sees a first call-up to the long format squad for Ross Whiteley, who has done very well so far in charge of the second team. 

Our two overseas players look certain to play, so for me the final selections would appear to be between Whiteley and Matt Lamb for a batting place and Sam Conners and Zak Chappell for a bowling slot. 

Likely team:

Reece

Lloyd

Guest

Madsen

Donald

Lamb/Whiteley

Dal

Thomson

Conners/Chappell

Tickner

Dupavillon

After scoring 150 for the seconds at Belper this week, Anuj Dal has likely done enough to seal his place in the side, which might otherwise have seen Whiteley take his place. With most of the batters needing runs and the bowlers short of wickets, there is every reason for people to do well in this one. After scoring a century himself at Belper, Harry Came is unlucky to miss out. 

Like Derbyshire, Northamptonshire are still looking for their first championship win of the summer. They unusually have two Indian overseas players in Siddharth Kaul and Karun Nair, with George Scrimshaw returning to Derby for the first time since last winter's move. Ben Sanderson is always a handful and Derbyshire will need to be at their best.

Their squad:

Procter, Vasconcelos, Nair, Kaul, Bartlett, Broad, Finan, Gay, Keogh, Patterson-White, White, Zaib, Sanderson

Whisper it quietly but the forecast for the 4 days is dry. So whichever way it goes, there is every chance of at least a positive result. 

I am hoping to see a Derbyshire side revitalised after their break and with confidence after good runs in the second team. 

Hopefully I can report on just that tomorrow night. 

I won't see all of the play tomorrow, because I am in Manchester meeting up with some friends. But I will watch what I can when I can and will be able to see the rest of this one from Saturday onwards.

Excellent day for second eleven

Another excellent day for the second team at Belper, as they racked up an impressive 398-3 against Leicestershire.

Harry Came top-scored with 150, before being dismissed in the closing overs, while Anuj Dal made an unbeaten 137. Matt Lamb earlier made a run-a-ball 76, after Mitch Wagstaff went earlier. 

The visiting attack was of a decent standard, with both Josh Hull and Matt Salisbury in it, as well as Roman Walker, but Derbyshire scored at a steady four an over throughout the day. 

I wouldn't read too much into the team, in so far as the Northamptonshire might be. Chappell, Brown and Conners were in the side, as well as the returning Nick Potts and Alex Thomson, but the eleven that finishes this game will likely be very different to that which started it. 

It is good that those who needed it got good time in the middle today. Hopefully those bowlers can get into a nice rhythm over the next day or so. 

Northamptonshire were beaten today, so this weekend's game will see two sides struggling for wins competing. Hopefully the weather allows a good game to take place. Although Derbyshire sit bottom of the table after this round of matches concluded, we could easily move up with a win. 

The main difference between us and the rest is that we have so far only accumulated four batting bonus points in five matches. 

Room for improvement and hopefully we see that this weekend.

The Peakfan County Championship!

Steve Jr, below the previous post, asked what I would do were I the supremo of English cricket. It goes without saying I would get rid of The Hundred at the earliest opportunity, but I would also trying to make long-form cricket more appealing.

The way that the game is now being played largely negates the need for the county championship to be played over four days. My preference would be to see a return to one division, everyone playing everyone and matches played over three days, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. People could then realistically watch a full game of cricket by taking one day off work. That would be 51 days of first class cricket per summer, a reduction of five days on the current situation. Over the course of two years you would host every side in the country, fixtures reversing each season.

There are 27 weekends between the end of March and the end of September. That would leave ten more to play other competitions, a T20 on a Friday evening and Sunday afternoon, a fifty-over competition in the gaps or in midweek in high summer.

In the long-form I would limit the first innings to a hundred overs per side (that being the overs required per day) but if the side batting first was bowled out inside that time, the one batting second could bat to a maximum of 200 first innings overs across the two sides.

Bonus points would be awarded for 200, 250, 300, 350 and 400 runs - a maximum of five

And for 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 wickets - a maximum of five.

There would  be fifteen points for a win and NO points for a draw. 

Sides would have every incentive to go for a win and be creative with declarations to facilitate this. They would also be more willing to chase a target, rather than taking a 'second prize' of decent draw points. If it is a draw, so be it, but you only get the points that your batting and bowling earned you. 

I have lost count over the years of the number of people who are puzzled by cricket and cannot understand how a game can be a draw after playing for three, four or five days. I would like to think this would encourage greater positivity. 

My preference would be three days, but if it was decided to stick with four and two divisions, the same principle would apply. After two days the game has moved on and the last two innings would be played on a worn pitch, with more variable bounce and ideally spin. It would make for a greater level of entertainment than is currently on offer, with too many high scoring draws. 

There you have it, always happy to hear your thoughts! 

Weekend thoughts

There is a certain irony in the fact that the first real weekend of summer weather has seen Derbyshire without a fixture. Five rounds of nigh-winter weather and then glorious weather all weekend, while our players had to content themselves with league cricket yesterday.

The star turn was Tom Wood, playing relegated Ticknall. Skippering the side, he made an unbeaten 152 as they won easily. There will still be those who could have seen a T20 contract for Tom and I am one of them, but I suspect that boat has sailed.

Samit Patel turned out for Cutthorpe against Dunstall and made 36 opening the innings, before taking 3-14 in 12 overs, a level of parsimony we would gladly take in the fast-approaching Blast. Meanwhile Barbadian fast bowler Chemar Holder continues to cut a swathe through batting line ups for Ockbrook and Borrowash, taking 6-32 in an attack that also features Sam Conners and Dustin Melton. Josh Lacey's spin must seem like a pleasant relief after that!  Holder looks quick and very useful...

I have dipped in and out of the county matches, but I have to say I find some of the 4-day cricket on offer increasingly dull. Glamorgan have done well, trouncing Sussex who beat us last time out, of course. It is no surprise to me, they have a very good coach and they will be there or thereabouts at season end. 

But again, there are matches where at the end of day three they have still to complete two innings. For me, there are too many games where one result has been eliminated after the first day and a half. With the number of points for a draw too high, teams are banking on scoring 500 then bowling out their opponents twice. 

When that doesn't happen, the remaining days of the game become little more than a glorified net.

Anyway, we will see what happens when Derbyshire return to action this week.

Second Team cricket

An interesting question from Essex fan last night, asking my opinion of second team cricket at county level, whether it was worthwhile and if the standard was especially good. 

I think that the answer is yes. It gives a natural conduit to senior county cricket and gives players an opportunity to get an idea of the demands of the game at that level. To go straight from league cricket to county first eleven would be a big jump, the biggest of all. 

I won't pretend that it is a very close replication of first team cricket. Quite often you will find senior bowlers looking for rhythm at that level but not necessarily bowling flat out. To risk injury in doing so would be silly, unless of course the county fitness staff want to test an injury under an appropriate workload. 

Much will depend on the size of staff that the county carries. With the current discussions on the workload of professionals, you aren't going to see players in contention for the senior team playing in the seconds too often. If you consider a staff of twenty, with perhaps three people injured, 12 or 13 might be involved in the senior squad and the balance will play in the second team to keep their eye in, or maintain rhythm. 

A look at the Derbyshire side that played and beat Durham yesterday is interesting. There were four who you would consider established senior players, a couple of trialists and the rest academy players. But in the previous game, against Nottinghamshire, the side was primarily made up of trialists. It was a massive mismatch against a fairly strong Nottinghamshire side, most of them players on the staff at the county. 

It depends who is on trial, of course. I am old enough to remember when Derbyshire fielded Peter Kirsten, Allan Lamb and Garth Le Roux in their second eleven. Eventual international players all and they would have represented a challenge for those tasked in bowling to them or batting against them!

So the standard can vary. Yet it offers an early glimpse of real talent and it is possible to see the wheat that will rise from the chaff. Two of the most memorable centuries I have seen were in second team games. I remember seeing Ian Blackwell at Chesterfield score an incredible century against Yorkshire that marked him as a serious talent. Likewise an innings by Aneurin Donald at Belper, when he hit the Derbyshire attack to distant lands. 

The second question was whether it should be regionalised to save on money. In the case of Derbyshire, it is. The furthest they go this summer are away games in Sussex and Gloucestershire, but most of them are fixtures against other northern counties. T20s are often played at two a day to save costs and it is unrealistic if the side is likely to feature a number of trialists to do otherwise. 

In short? I like county second team fixtures and I love the grounds that they are normally played on. I have met some lovely people wandering around the boundary and had an opportunity to chat to others where that might not ordinarily be possible.

They are an important and necessary stepping stone on the way to first class cricket. Some will fall by the wayside at that hurdle, but others will take it in their stride, perhaps after a period of transition. 

Long may it continue!

Second team win thriller!

What a fabulous game of cricket at Repton over the past three days, which ended with Derbyshire completing an excellent chase in pursuit of a target of 293 and winning the game by two wickets.

Seventeen year old Harry Moore showed he is more than just a very talented opening bowler by making an impressive 64* from 68 balls, with nine fours and two sixes.

Earlier Mitch Wagstaff made 63 and Alex Thomson 44, while there were thirties for Ross Whiteley and wicket-keeper Jack Carney.

At 230-7 the game seemed to be slipping away from Derbyshire but Sam Conners (18) helped Moore add 58 for the eighth wicket, before being dismissed just before the target was reached.

Earlier Sam Conners took 3-18 and Alex Thomson 3-50.

It was a terrific effort by a young team and welcome good news.

Scorecard and video highlights can be seen here

Second Eleven update

An enterprising declaration by captain Ross Whiteley set up what looks to be an enthralling final day against Durham Seconds at Repton.

Replying to durham's 300, Derbyshire declared on 226-5, with Harry Came top-scoring with 67 and Wagstaff, Bin Naeem and Whiteley all making 30s, the skipper unbeaten.

They then reduced the visitors to 98-6 in their second innings, with Harry Moore and Manraj Johal taking two wickets each. The giant Moore is limited in the overs he bowls, as he returns to fitness after a back injury, but looks a terrific talent whenever I see him. He just seems to have a rhythm, an ability to find the line and length required and by all accounts a shrewd head on his shoulders. He won't want for sage advice either, his Dad having been a very good club bowler for many years.

I will be keeping an eye on that one tomorrow.

Book Review: From Azeem to Ashes - English Cricket's Struggle With Race and Class

Having read them back to back, there is a certain similarity between this book and Ben Bloom's Batting For Time that I reviewed a few weeks ago. Having said that, the authors approach the subject of the modern game of cricket from different angles and both are very much worth reading. 

Jon Berry has an engaging style of writing and way with words and there were several points in the book where I either smiled or laughed out loud. It is a book where the author's love of his subject shines through, very much for a cricket lover, by one.

The title might give the impression that it is only a look at the recent racism controversies that have enveloped the game, specifically that at Yorkshire, were in-fighting is hardly a new phenomenon. Yet had the book focused solely on that it would have been to its detriment. The forthcoming biography of Azeem Rafiq by George Dobell will cover that story in all of its (very gory) detail.

Berry looks at the modern game of cricket and questions participation at all levels, including the women's game. Access to the game is looked at too, with the best facilities and coaches very much the preserve of those with the wherewithal to access private education. There is also a look at the global game of cricket and the numerous franchises that make it a 365-day a year business, or global circus, if you will.

I especially enjoyed the chapter on the Strauss review. The author makes some very good points and what I found telling was the reference to the modern game as opposed to that after the Second World War, compared again  to the grainy footage of WG Grace. Were one to watch these in chronological sequence, back to back, they would appear very different games. 

But then the game that I grew up with, loved and cherished is in danger of disappearing altogether. For all of its supposed advances, cricket today, for this writer, isn't as enjoyable as what I watched thirty, forty years ago. But it wouldn't have got here without those players and their earlier counterparts.

As I said after reading Ben Bloom's book, it is a shame that such books need to be written, as it highlights a game that is failing to learn from past mistakes and is advancing like a juggernaut towards an out of order stop light. 

But Jon Berry has written a book that is at times uncomfortable, yet entertaining and thoroughly readable.

Highly recommended.

From Azeem to Ashes: English Cricket's Struggle With Race and Class is written by Jon Berry and published by Pitch Publishing

Second XI update

Ross Whiteley took 4-16 as Derbyshire bowled out Durham for 300 at Repton today.

Haydon Mustard (son of Phil, should have been called Dijon, really) made his second score of 99 for the visitors, before being caught at slip by Harry Came.  Manraj Johal, formerly on the Warwickshire staff, took two wickets, as did Pat Brown.

Three of Ross' wickets were caught in the deep, but four are in the scorebook, so no complaints there. 

Derbyshire had reached 13-0 at the close, with Came and Wagstaff at the crease.

Further thoughts on Derbyshire and Arthur

There have been a lot of comments, understandably, after the debacle of the Derbyshire defeat against Sussex yesterday. 

In the years that I have been doing this blog, comments have always been greater in number after a poor performance than after a good one. Perhaps it is human nature, but it is certainly an observation substantiated by checking back in this instance. 

One thing I would like to say is in response to assertions that Mickey Arthur 'doesnt care'. 

I disagree with that, entirely. 

He is an international coach of high pedigree. He has been in charge of the national cricketing fortunes of Australia, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, with varying degrees of success. 

Like a number of you. I had my concerns last year, when the club agreed that he could do our job as well as that of the Pakistan national side. I was quite clear in my assertions at that point that it was unsustainable and unfair on both the club and the country. It is impossible to serve two masters and to give equal time and focus to two jobs of such high profile. 

However, at no point have I felt that Arthur didn't care about Derbyshire, nor that he knew nothing about the club. On his arrival, he told of his long- time interest in county cricket and ever since has been one of its strongest advocates, when others have been quick to drag it down. Equally, he spoke with passion about Eddie Barlow and Fred Swarbrook, the tales they had told him and his long-time interest in the county for which they played. 

His arrival was much heralded and rightly so. His first season offered a glimpse of what might be, with players galvanised by his reputation, perhaps by his approach. But we see that all the time in sport, a new coach with fresh ideas brings a previously lacking impetus to a side. 

Last season was different. There was a clear and obvious decline, heightened by the absence of Shan Masood, a talisman of the highest order in that first summer. His Sri Lankan overseas pick, Suranga Lakmal, was an abject failure, seldom fit to take the field and underwhelming when he did so. Haider Ali was easy on the eye, but his loose technique and his being told to open the batting early season was always going to fail. There was a decent run in the T20, partly because of Zaman Khan and his toe-crushing yorkers, but the Head of Cricket was consistent in claiming that next year he would have HIS team.

Perhaps his plans for that team took a hit when the Pakistan role disappeared before the season, his services no longer required in the latest of many power shifts in that country. We don't know if he had people lined up, but it seems a strong possibility that his early knowledge of who would NOT be going to the T20 World Cup might well be to Derbyshire's advantage.

It is too early to know if Blair Tickner and Daryn Dupavillon will have the requisite skill set to inspire a fine one-day summer. But the sad news about Tickner's wife yesterday suggests that his availability may be limited, depending on her treatment and the needs of the family, which obviously come first. 

I will admit to having several concerns. One is that recruitment appears to have been lop-sided. The batting, while individually not short of talent, tends to misfire without a consistent someone to bat around. There are players capable of individual brilliance, but not necessarily used to being the focal point of that side. Perhaps a gritty batsman at the top of the order would have been beneficial,  someone like Marcus Harris, Dean Elgar or others. A di Venuto or Rogers in this side would be gold dust...

The seam bowling now has plenty of options, but if he plays both overseas then domestic talent is squeezed out. If he doesn't, then it rather ignores the point of having two overseas players, when everyone else is fielding them. An overseas player should be better than what you have and should fill a gap. I'm not yet convinced we have done that, but I will maintain optimism. 

Spin? Alex Thomson was given a 2-year contract and grounds for optimism that he realised with a 12-wicket haul in the first game. But then he is omitted, despite being the leading wicket taker and a player who offers balance, in favour of a loan player who, talented as he is, isn't as far on in his cricketing development. 

For me, the greater need was for a spinner who could bat, or a batter who could offer a spin option. It would have given the team balance, as at present it isn't. Yesterday's eleven offered little prospect of runs after number seven, Zak Chappell's cheerful occasional clumping not yet warranting my regarding him as a genuine all-rounder. 

It will be the same for T20. To accommodate two non-batting overseas quick bowlers, as well as Pat Brown who is a T20 specialist, Chappell will need to bat at eight. Unless Thomson plays as a second spinner to Samit Patel, in which case Brown or Chappell would miss out.

Maybe the hand will be forced. Another overseas may need to be engaged to allow Tickner down time with his family, but I am sure the imbalance isn't only obvious to me. He cannot really play Jack Morley either, because you have another bowler with few pretensions to batting. You could argue that if the top seven fail, there should be no expectations of the rest changing the game, but it would be nice to have that option and with the greatest respect to those concerned, I don't see it. We have all seen enough T20 to know that we are as likely to be 60 for five off 10 overs as we are 100 for one...

It hasn't been an easy year for overseas recruitment. With the World Cup on and so many other counter attractions around the globe, the challenge is clear. But I can't see how all of our domestic bowlers will get the game time they require to maintain rhythm, especially when Ben Aitchison is fit and I have no idea how Nick Potts gets near this side. Which is a shame, because a Derbyshire side without any home-reared talent in it yesterday is at odds with the investment in and heightened profile of the Pathway. 

Yet for all that I feel that he has made mistakes, I do not doubt for a minute that Arthur wants success at Derbyshire. His pained, stressed expression in the post-match interview yesterday told its own story. I don't know his plans for the future, but if they included a return to international cricket those plans would only be improved by a strong showing by his domestic side. 

Perhaps his approach needs to be considered. You cannot treat good quality first class cricketers in the same way that the elite, the creme de la creme are treated. Any more than you could use those methods on club cricketers or on a school side. The approach needs to be measured, needs to be appropriate to the needs of the individuals concerned. I speak not as an international cricket coach of standing, but as someone who has managed dozens, hundreds of people over many years. 'One size fits all' doesn't work well in management and an inflexible approach to that is seldom the way to consistent success. Nor indeed a happy and productive environment. 

I wish Mickey the very best for the remainder of the season. I hope that he can turn it around, just as I hope that individuals within the team who seem to be suffering from a crisis of confidence at the moment can return to their best days. 

Only by working together, learning from the bad days and celebrating the good ones will they do so.

We must only hope that they return to action after this fixture-enforced break with appetite renewed, bodies restored to full vigour and a desire to succeed foremost in their minds.

Derbyshire v Sussex day 3

Derbyshire 246 and 109 (Seales 5-29)

Sussex 479 (Pujara 113, Dupavillon 3-89, Morley 3-117)

Sussex won by an innings and 124 runs

I predicted a draw in this game on the radio on Friday night, my caveat being that one team had to make a real mess of things, given the weather forecast at the time.

Step forward Derbyshire 

That was pretty awful to watch. On a pitch where the Sussex tail scored runs largely at will in the morning, the Derbyshire batting offered all the resistance of a balsa wood bat in the afternoon, producing another anaemic display that has to make one question the coaching set up.

I don't think these are bad players. In some cases they are very good, but the bottom line is that the level of performance this summer hasn't been close to acceptable from a supporter's perspective. In any sport, that's where you question the input of the coaching staff and there's currently one fundamental question to answer.

Has the current set up improved any player at the club? I am not convinced that they have and after the bright new dawn of the first season under Mickey Arthur, the good ship Derbyshire is in danger of running aground on the rocks. I hope that Samit Patel and Ross Whiteley have got their Superman outfits ready for T20, because we will otherwise struggle desperately at this rate.

One has to question the apparently authoritarian manner of the Head of Cricket and ask if it is working and the answer appears to be no. Harsh questions need to be asked, because this is as bad as I have seen, with a squad that is not the worst we have had by a long chalk. I was critical of Dave Houghton when performances dipped to unacceptable levels and this was every bit as bad. 

One would also question a Derbyshire side that features no player from the county's own set up. I'm not saying they would do better, I'm not claiming the players in the side aren't trying. But if we are going to capitulate in such a fashion, then we could hardly do worse with Conners, Wagstaff, Whiteley and Potts in the eleven.

Wagstaff scored 82 and took 4-29 for Alvaston and Boulton yesterday. Whiteley scored a hundred last time out for the second team. Conners was left out for this one when he is unlikely to play any T20, so I see no logic in the omission from a 'rest' perspective  Instead he took 4-36 for Ockbrook and Borrowash at Belper. I'm not claiming the standard is the same, but these are performances that should justify consideration, at the very least.

After Dupavillon and Morley bowled pretty well in the morning, Derbyshire were blown away in the afternoon by a Sussex side a country mile ahead of them in performance. Jayden Seales bowled fast and straight and the batting did the rest. We bowled short at tail enders, they used the pitch and their heads in equal measure.

Last week I suggested that a first innings limitation of a hundred overs might move four day cricket along. We batted 89 overs across two innings here.

Woeful is an opposite word. 

There are plenty of others.

Blair Tickner

I came across this sad news on a New Zealand news hub overnight.

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/sport/2024/05/cricket-blackcaps-bowler-blair-tickner-wife-sarah-dealt-bad-hand-with-leukemia-diagnosis.html

As it is in the public domain I feel others should be aware , if you haven't already picked it up.

I have massive respect for Blair and his efforts in this match and would like to wish he and his wife the very best in the weeks and months ahead.

There are things in life much more important than cricket and all of us need to be sensitive to what is going on just now, which is bound to affect everyone in the dressing room.

Derbyshire v Sussex Day 2

Derbyshire 246

Sussex 357-5 (Pujara 103*, Coles 72, Alsop 64, Haines 58, Reece 2-32)

Sussex lead by 111 runs

Watching Derbyshire this season, I feel that I am stuck in an endless loop. Whether we bat or field first, we are under the cosh and behind the game from the start. The rest of it is then spent playing catch up and trying to save it. 

The weather has helped so far and only the most optimistic could say we have been robbed of victory by the elements. Maybe in that first, washed out game, eh?

It just seems that when we bat we are struggling, with the exception of a couple of players. Then the opposition go in and score pretty much at will. We have three players (Madsen, Donald and Chappell) averaging over 40 with the bat, but only one (Alex Thomson, just) averaging under 50 with the ball, three currently over a hundred. Poor catching hasn't helped, but nor too has an inability to bowl consistent line and length. 

Today was a case in point. Tickner, Morley and Dupavillon battled well to take us near to a batting point, but thereafter Sussex looked in very little trouble as they amassed 357-5 by the close.

Chappell's opening spell was poor and I have no idea why you wouldn't give the new ball to Tickner, who has so far done best with it. He was also on a high after a career-best 47, so it made sense for him to open while still loose. 

Dupavillon took an early wicket, ran in hard but was milked afterwards like the rest on a chastening debut. Yet he wasn't helped by Lamb putting down a routine catch at first slip, the thirteenth we have dropped in the slip cordon this summer. It is quite ridiculous, the sight of Madsen and Lloyd, who would be there but for hand injuries, at mid off and mid on more than a little frustrating.

Pujara looked in little trouble and I wish we had someone like the Indian for the others to bat around. He is a batter of consummate class and grace and Sussex are lucky to have him. 

They look a good team and with the weather forecast largely set fair for the next two days, it will need need a superhuman effort by the batters in the second innings to save the game. 

But sadly, that looks like all we're capable of in four-day cricket, making up the numbers. They are trying hard but at this stage I can see nothing other than the wooden spoon this summer. 

In closing, I am unsure why Luis Reece seems to be overlooked as a bowler, as his angle alone seems to be worthy of greater opportunity. Nor am I sure what the late in the day spat with umpire Tom Lungley was about. It was unnecessary and certainly untypical of a normally genial bloke, but it was disappointing to watch.

A bit like Derbyshire at present, to be fair.

Derbyshire v Sussex day one

Derbyshire 189-8 (Reece 50, Donald 44)

v Sussex

Another home game, another largely disappointing performance by Derbyshire today. 

To be fair, the Sussex attack is a good one. England man Robinson, West Indian Seales, the excellent Danny Lamb (who I wish we had gone for) and Fynn Hudson-Prentice, who we know all about. One of the better attacks in the division, especially when they are all available. 

They bowled steadily today, but Derbyshire didn't bat very well. David Lloyd looked good but made an error of judgement and played no stroke. Brooke Guest got a good one, but Lamb and Dal did themselves no favours by playing across the line at the start of their innings. Lamb played three poor shots in four balls and looked out of nick, to be honest, while Dal is yet to find his 'engine room' mojo this year.

Madsen was caught down the legside and although Reece and Donald batted well,  Donald looking especially good, both fell without going on to an innings-changing score. Nice forties and fifties are fine and dandy in T20, but you won't win many four-day games if that is the best you can offer collectively.

Before bad light and rain took the players off, Tickner struck some lusty blows, but the innings so far looks woefully inadequate, the tail far too long. It wasn't helped by Chappell calling for a single that might have tested a pad-free Usain Bolt, the fielder running him out at the bowler's end when he could have had Tickner even more easily at the other.

Maybe Tickner and Dupavillon (spelt incorrectly on the club scorecard all day) will run through Sussex tomorrow. I really hope so. But I can't help but think that in going for two non-batting quicks as overseas picks we have heaped additional pressure on a batting line up that is far from reliable.

If you look back over county overseas players since the game opened up for them, I can't recall many times when a side went for two out and out bowlers, neither with no real pretensions to batting. There was Greenidge and Roberts, Procter and Zaheer, McEwan and Boyce, Turner and Holder, Mushtaq and Sarfraz. Sussex had two serious quicks in Imran and Le Roux, but Imran batted four and Le Roux was a pretty decent bat too!

Even this year, our opponents have Pujara and Seales, Gloucestershire have Bancroft and Zafar, Leicestershire have Harris and Handscomb but will also have Mulder shortly. OK, Hampshire have Abbott and Abbas, but they are proven performers over many seasons, while they have a pretty solid batting side too. Our two are relative unknowns, which can be an asset but can also be a challenge.

It means that those overseas picks have to take wickets as there's no back up plan. I remember when we had Venkat as our overseas, a lovely bowler who would have been devastating in a good batting side with runs to play with, but we were far from that and seldom gave him much to work with. 

In a side where the batting is erratic, only one bowler averages under 50 with the ball (and he isn't playing here) and we aren't catching very well, it is easy to see why we have struggled to fire this summer. It has to improve, no doubt about it.

Food for thought and just my opinion. But the one-day form has to be much better than this or September won't see an especially happy fan base.

For what it is worth I think it will be, but there are a lot of people need convincing right now.

Self included...

Derbyshire v Sussex preview

After receiving eight stitches in his right hand, following the injury sustained while fielding in the slips against Yorkshire, Wayne Madsen scored a magnificent century and is probably an early contender for the Eddie Barlow Inspirational Performance Award at Derbyshire this season. 

He has also been passed fit to take his place in the 12 against Sussex, starting at the Incora County Ground tomorrow. Quite the warrior, is our Wayne..

Harry Came is omitted after a tough start to the summer and will benefit from a second team game to get the ball in the middle of the bat again. Skipper, David Lloyd will likely move up to open alongside Luis Reece, with Matt Lamb coming into the middle order. Logically that will mean Brooke Guest moves up to number three, where he batted last season.

Daryn Dupavillon is in the twelve for the first time, as is Blair Tickner and it would be good to see Derbyshire unleash both of their overseas bowlers for the first time. Most other counties are fielding two  in every game, so this would be an ideal opportunity for them to work together. 

Alex Thomson is also rested and Jack Morley is the sole spinner in the twelve, suggesting that he will play. The other place I would assume to be between the fit again Sam Conners and Zak Chappell, although the omission of the latter would see the tail worryingly long.  It may be that we go with an all seam attack, but I would think a variation is needed from what would otherwise be seven seamers. 

Ten days off after this game, so no real need to rest anyone, for me

Derbyshire twelve:

Reece, Lloyd, Guest, Madsen, Lamb, Donald, Dal, Chappell, Conners, Tickner, Dupavillon, Morley

Sussex have made a solid start to the season, or a solid as the weather has allowed any side to make. Cheteshwar Pujara returns to his old county, as does Fynn Hudson-Prentice. With John Simpson scoring runs for fun after moving from Middlesex - and with the bowling led by West Indian Jayden Seales and England man Ollie Robinson - this will be a stern test for the home side. Former Lancashire man Danny Lamb returns up north, another very good cricketer for who I have considerable time.

Squad: Simpson, Haines, Pujara, Robinson, Seales, Carter, Hudson-Prentice, Alsop, Carson, Clark, Coles, Karvelas, Lamb

However, yet again the weather looks set to interfere with proceedings. Tomorrow's forecast is not very promising and much will depend on the volume of rain that falls as to how much cricket takes place over the rest of the weekend. It is quite extraordinary how much rain continues to fall around the country and is desperately disappointing. 

That being the case, I am happy to call this as yet another draw. 

For those who would like to hear my thoughts on the last two matches, against Leicestershire and Yorkshire, as well as a look ahead to this one, I will again be on North Derbyshire radio tomorrow evening from 6:30 p.m. 

I hope that you tune in and have a listen - I will put a link up tomorrow night when the show has aired and it is possible to hear it on catch up.

Fingers crossed for the lads tomorrow!