Worcestershire 169-8 (Pollock 67, Brown 4-23)
Derbyshire 170-5 (Madsen 44, Whiteley 41*)
Derbyshire won by 5 wickets
Having restricted the home side to only 169 in their 20 overs, the Derbyshire batting was stifled by a home side that included a young lad at Shrewsbury school and two other Academy products, as well as Ethan Brookes, who had an extended trial with Derbyshire last season.
Nye Donald blazed away at the start but then gave it away with a totally unnecessary shot against Home, who he had already hit for three boundaries. Luis Reece hasn't really looked like scoring in this competition and David Lloyd gave it away after getting in. Samit Patel never looked comfortable either and when Wayne Madsen was bowled attempting to ramp, the writing was on the wall.
Thankfully, in a team that looked a little lopsided to me, Whiteley produced only his second innings of the competition from 22 balls, to edge his side over the line and keep their involvement in the tournament alive. Thomson gave good support and flicked a four to fine leg to win the game off the final ball.
I thought Home and Darley, both on debut, bowled splendidly for the home side, who looked like winning with four overs to go. They bowled six overs and took 3-37 between them, a terrific effort, while Brookes, who had an extended trial with us last year, had a good all-round match. It made for an exciting finish but not one we looked like winning. The home side's experienced bowler, Tom Taylor, was the one to leak runs, however and Derbyshire got home by the skin of their teeth.
Earlier Brown bowled beautifully against his old side, while Amir was also excellent. The ground fielding wasn't of the standard I would hope for, however and became quite sloppy at times.
I didn't understand the side tonight. Guest was left out, Donald kept wicket, Wagstaff played, neither Fletcher (injured) or Dupavillon did. We seemed a batter short, to me and will need to raise our game considerably tomorrow night to have any chance of beating Durham at Derby. Did we need three spinners, when other bowling options included Whiteley and Reece, both unused?
Still, we are alive going into the last game and few of us saw that coming.
I will be back tomorrow morning with a look at the game against Durham.
We won, just, but didn't play well. Watching the stream I hadn't realised Guest didn't play. Wasn't worthy of mention from the excellent and knowledgeable locals commentary team which is understandable. Team still unbalanced and like you say we will need to improve significantly tomorrow to win
ReplyDeleteCome on own up, who else thought we'd made a complete pigs ear of that run chase with five overs left, when it went up to 11 an over? The wickets we lost were appalling shots, all five of them, we have to do so much better. Didn't see our bowling but it sounded positive, buy I don't think the likes of Somerset, Surrey, Essex etc will be losing any sleep at the prospect of facing us
ReplyDeleteThe fallibility and inconsistency of the batting is why I would argue an extra batter is more important than a seventh bowler. We got by - just - tonight but I had concerns when I saw the announced team
DeleteAbsolutely Steve, what goes through Mickey Arthur's mind at times heaven only knows. He has to get it spot on for Durham but can see him playing exactly the same eleven again
DeleteSo we need to win our final game and Leicestershire must lose at Birmingham. Could Yorkshire qualify if they trounced Notts (surely a strong possibility) ?
ReplyDeleteA good win for Northampton against Birmingham tonight means I think that our only route to the Quarters now is to beat Durham, and Birmingham beat Leicester, and Yorkshire not trounce Nottingham.
ReplyDeleteI must say though that I would counsel that we should be careful what we wish for. Do we really want to scrape through only to be humbled against Surrey in the Knockouts? We have been there before and it didn't end well...
Correct David, if we do qualify and play Surrey it could be the quickest t20 game in history. We would get steamrolled!
DeleteAs much as the trouncing against Somerset wasn't fun, yes I'd rather be making the quarter finals and starting to do it with some regularity (3 out of the last 6) than be in our oft position of propping up the table.
DeleteGiving Surrey a game would very much depend on Donald and Whiteley having “one of those innings”. A lot to do before we need to worry about that though.
Well, we just got across the line. Great bowling by Brown. But this is not the T20 team we had expected, given the experience and big hitters. We weren't chasing a hige score. Once again, boundaries dried up in the latter part of the innings.
ReplyDeleteCredit to Whiteley, supported by Thomson, for getting us there, but it was touch and go. We don't look like a brilliant T20 team. So many players are not delivering.
I didn’t fancy our chances with that batting line up but Whiteley’s knock got us home. We appeared to be a batter light and nearly paid the price, Fortunately the bowling was good and ensured we weren’t chasing too many. Credit to Brown and Amir for some excellent bowling figures.
ReplyDeleteDisappointing that a number of batsmen were guilty of getting themselves out with either poor shot selection or poor management of the situation. Very frustrating.
While we may still manage to get to the knock out stages it has been a disappointing display overall when much was expected of the team in this format.
Nudger
Not a bad bowling performance either to be fair.
ReplyDeleteWhen Wayne went to that awful ramp shot (good when it works). Must admit I thought game over. So well played Ross Whiteley. It is indeed what you are here for and overdue.
Look forward to your Durham view Steve. For what it is worth I think we will beat them and quite possibly qualify. Which would be nice!
Went to the game last night.......and tbh Ross and Thommo got us out of jail. Brown and Amir were both spot on with their control and variations........it has to be said thou Donald's keeping left alot to be desired. With Fletcher named in the squad I thought he was fit to play ? Would give him a go with the gloves.....and drop Luis Reece. Open with Donald and Lloyd and Fletcher at 3. Having said all that on a positive note its nice to win a game from the jaws of defeat ! Cheers Gary
ReplyDeleteFletcher was supposed to have the gloves, but dropped out not for at the last minute. Donald looked like someone who hasn't been behind the stumps much.
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