Northamptonshire v Derbyshire day 2

Northamptonshire 219 and 178-5 (Keogh 46*, Miller 42, Sales 40, Moore 2-6)

Derbyshire 165 (Reece 50, Madsen 47, Chahal 5-45, Keogh 3-65)

Northamptonshire lead by 232 runs

The frustrations of being a Derbyshire supporter were laid bare at Northampton today, as the county collapsed from a promising position of 

81-1, to be all out for 165, a first innings deficit of 54 runs. That had been extended to a lead of 232 by the home side when rain brought a premature close.

I can't really blame anyone, because, just as we did against Glamorgan, Northamptonshire prepared a pitch to suit their attack and gambled on winning the toss, which they did. There was considerably more help for Rob Keogh and Yuzi Chahal today and with a few deliveries that turned and lifted, they sowed seeds in the minds of Derbyshire batters. Few of them overstayed their welcome.

Luis Reece completed a dogged half century and Wayne Madsen played some nice shots and looked more comfortable than most, but once the latter was dismissed by a beauty from Chahal, the writing was on the wall. Sanderson had earlier dismissed Guest with an equally good delivery and Keogh got one to turn and find the edge of Reece's bat, but Lloyd played an unwise shot before he had settled and Donald again never suggested permanence. The rest struggled to read Chahal's variations and it was a procession from there 

Moore again bowled beautifully when the home side went in again, taking two good scalps in Shaw and Procter, but our spinners were less effective and there are already enough runs in the bank for Northamptonshire to easily win this one.

Once again, the overseas player made the difference. While Shaw had a poor game, Chahal looked like he was bowling hand grenades, as the ball bit and turned. Meanwhile our remaining overseas player was in action for the second eleven at Barnt Green, which says it all, really. 

One other point - might there not have been greater merit in playing Mitch Wagstaff here as the second spinner? He is after all, as the marketing department tell us frequently, 'one of our own' and his opportunities and development would have potential longer term benefits than a lad from Lancashire. 

Likewise Yousaf Bin Naeem. We need to find a way to offer opportunity to a lad of obvious talent and, when we lose this one to the bottom side in the country, he should be brought in for the remaining fixtures.

While it is unfair to be overly critical of performance on a wicket that isn't ideal for batting, David Lloyd has a season-highest score of just 60 in four-day cricket and Nye Donald seems to see 25 as the summit of his aspirations in this form of the game. Looking ahead to next year, we simply cannot afford to carry two players in the batting lineup. An overseas batter and Nuj Dal would likely replace both on current form, but that would also need a rethink on the captaincy. 

I was surprised that Moore got taken off after only six overs - workload limitation or not - and felt we might have done better today with pace at one end, spin at the other. 

I fully expect Northamptonshire to come at us hard when we bat again, with Sanderson and Chahal bowling in tandem. But the stark reality is that our spinners today took 2-121 in thirty overs, while theirs took 8-110 in thirty-seven.

In a nutshell, that is where we will lose the game.

In an even smaller nutshell, that is where we need an overseas player to step up to the plate next year.