Derbyshire v Gloucestershire day 2

Gloucestershire 222 and 128-3 (Charlesworth 77*)

Derbyshire 391 (Madsen 118, Came 83, Chappell 61 de Lange 3-31)

Derbyshire lead by 41 runs 

Derbyshire ended up with pretty much the total I expected today, although the way that they did so was considerably different. 

A magnificent stand in the morning, between Wayne Madsen, who progressed to a wonderful century and Harry Came, who batted with considerable charm, took them almost to lunch, before the latter seemed to misjudge the length and was leg before to Ollie Price 

It signalled a post-lunch collapse of true Derbyshire proportions, as 271-2 became 290-7. Guest seemed unhappy to be adjudged caught behind, but others fell to a combination of insipid strokeplay and better bowling. de Lange bowled especially well and quite quickly, several times ending prone on delivery with the effort. 

Truth be told, Gloucestershire were unlucky in the morning, edges falling short or evading the slips or stumps, while on the occasions the ball carried, the catches were put down. Yet Madsen and Came batted in resolute fashion to add 177 for the third wicket, a stand that should have allowed their side to push on to a winning situation.

They still took a first innings lead of 169 thanks to some fine later order hitting by Zak Chappell, who made an excellent 61 and, in company with Madsen and Morley, ensured that one hundred runs were added for the eighth and ninth wickets. But there will be disappointment when considerably more was on the cards at lunch. 

When the visitors batted again, Charlesworth, who interested Derbyshire last season, anchored the innings but played some fine strokes. There was less help in the pitch  but three wickets fell by the close, with the visitors still 41 runs behind.

While Derbyshire hold the advantage, they require early wickets tomorrow, as well as more astute captaincy from the incomparable Madsen. Price flicked one to leg gulley two balls after he had set one and he couldn't have done more on his return to the 'throne'. It is still hard to imagine a Derbyshire side without this remarkable cricketer.

Finally, I must commend the quality of the stream over these two days. The angles, editing and replays are really something and those concerned deserve all the plaudits.

Nice job guys! 

Now let's see if our lads on the pitch can finish it off tomorrow.

Early cloud cover would be nice, wouldn't it? 

Derbyshire v Gloucestershire day one

Gloucestershire 222 (van Buuren 67, Bracey 48, Reece 6-52, Dal 4-43)

Derbyshire 127-2 (Jewell 61, Came 29*)

Derbyshire trail by 95 runs

Hail the all rounders!

Derbyshire bowled out Gloucestershire for 222 at the County Ground today, a score that would have had the visitors' old middle order bat and later first class umpire, David Shepherd, hopping around on one leg. 

Missing three seamers who would have been in contention to play here (Tickner, Moore, Aitchison) the side bowled well as a unit but the ten wickets were shared by Luis Reece with six, the other four going to Anuj Dal 

It was superb bowling. Reece neatly topped and tailed the innings, with Dal ripping out the middle order. The greatest praise I could give Nuj is that it was like watching prime time Tony Palladino from the City End, few loose balls and testing the techniques of the opposition batters to the full

Meanwhile Reece, shorn of the responsibility of opening the batting, took the new ball and got movement both ways. He was running in more freely and bowling more quickly than I have seen for the past couple of seasons and it was great to see.

Others bowled well, yet without luck. Brown was lively, Andersson probing and although Chappell was a little out of sorts it didn't really matter.  The bowlers were backed up well in the field, especially in the slips. Jewell held two good catches, as did Madsen and we look a little more secure there at this early stage. 

I thought Wayne Madsen handled his bowlers well, after doing what all the best skippers do and winning the toss. It is clear the players are all behind him and that there is a good spirit in the camp. Long may that continue! 

The pitch is a good one. Good players can score runs, but there is something there for the seamers. That's my kind of pitch. I think Blair Tickner, wherever he is, will enjoy such pitches if they are to be the new standard.

For the visitors, Charlesworth set off with some sumptuous drives before becoming a little bogged down and getting out. Bracey and van Buuren mounted a steady rescue act, as they so often do, before Bracey was deceived by a full ball from Dal that dipped late. van Buuren threatened a big score, but top edged the first ball after tea into the safe hands of Chappell at long leg.

Derbyshire set off at a merry rate, reaching fifty in the eighth over before Lloyd was bowled by a fine ball from Price. Both he and Jewell had dished out punishment to Singh Dale and Taylor and the Australian progressed to a beautiful half century, full of fine strokes through the covers. 

His end was disappointing, as the whole-hearted de Lange, steaming in from the Racecourse End, had him hurrying against a bouncer which was sure to be repeated. Jewell took him on again and holed out to long leg, an unnecessary dismissal more in keeping with twenty-over than four day cricket. He will learn from it, I am sure, but the assertive start was reminiscent of Martin Guptill's assault on Northamptonshire in 2012, which turned out quite nicely. He will doubtless entertain this summer and his timing was quite exquisite today.

Throughout, the bowling seemed trickier from the City End and Price bowled a steady spell for the visitors before the close. But Came looked very good again, playing three sumptuous on side drives that Peter May would have been proud of. Meanwhile Madsen was circumspect, probably aware that a big innings from him could put his side into a very strong position. 

It could all go pear-shaped of course, but I liked the look of this Derbyshire side today.

Had Mickey Arthur asked Quentin Tarantino to script the opening day, it could scarce have gone better.

They have now set a standard for the summer and they must endeavour to meet it on a regular basis. 

That was an impressive day's work.

Derbyshire v Gloucestershire preview

After a long winter and two useful pre-season matches, county cricket resumes once more tomorrow. 

Reading season previews from various writers,  you could be forgiven for thinking that Derbyshire might as well not bother. One well-known writer said that Division Two is very open and 'anyone apart from Derbyshire and Glamorgan' can be promoted..that's an incentive right there..

I think the division is open. Logic suggests that Lancashire should get one of the promotion places, but both Kent and Middlesex will be pushing hard. There's a lot of bravado around other shires, but for all of the bigger names playing in the division, I don't see the likes of Northamptonshire, Leicestershire nor Gloucestershire being much better than us. I would like to think we can do better in this format than last year, but as I have written and said before, injuries will play a part, as will luck.

Harry Moore misses out in the squad for this first game with a back injury. Hopefully that isn't anything more than a niggle, but as I suggested earlier in the week, the final place tomorrow looks set to be between Nick Potts and Pat Brown. Logically, the England Lions tourist should get the nod, while Nye Donald is likely to miss out if Mickey Arthur's 'the only currency is performance' mantra is adhered to. It hasn't yet clicked for him pre-season, so Nye will probably have to wait his turn. I expect to see this side:

Lloyd, Jewell, Came, Madsen, Guest, Reece, Dal, Andersson, Chappell, Morley, Brown

Visitors Gloucestershire are without Cameron Bancroft and Cameron Green, but have a lively seam attack, spearheaded by Marchant de Lange, Zaman Akhtar and Ajeet Singh Dale. James Bracey will skipper the side that battled with Derbyshire for the wooden spoon last season. Their fourteen-man squad is as follows:

Bracey, Shaw, van Buuren, Dent, Akhtar, Phillips, Taylor, Singh Dale, Price, Middleton, Charlesworth, Price, Hammond, de Lange. 

The forecast is good and we look likely to get four days more cricket than we did in last season's opening fixture. I would like to think that six days playing on the square will have been beneficial and that Derbyshire will be quickly out of the traps tomorrow. There is batting depth and plenty of bowling options, never a bad thing.

I hope that they acquit themselves well. Looking down that side, the talent is clearly there and it is simply the case that it needs to be produced on a regular basis throughout a long - hopefully hot and successful - summer.

I will again be with you throughout and look forward to your involvement with plenty of comments as the season progresses.

Book Review: Sticky Dogs and Stardust: When The Legends Played The Leagues - Second Innings by Scott Oliver

Many years ago, when I first came to Scotland, I played for a few years in the then Scottish Counties cricket competition.

I played alongside a couple of professional cricketers. One of them had been a peripheral player at county level but was an excellent coach and improved my game considerably. The other was an Australian of some reputation, a wonderful player who seemed to score heavily every week, but had no idea how to explain to others what they needed to do to improve. Both were very good professionals, but experiences of other sides were varied, with their recruits lacking in one way or another, on or off the pitch.

Scott Oliver has followed his original book of the same title with another of similar quality. It is a rollicking read, choc-full of wonderful stories, players who left a lasting impression with their feats on the pitch and their 'talents' off it. Opening with Jesse Ryder, you get a very early idea of how the book is going to go and it is  hugely entertaining from cover to cover. I especially enjoyed the recounting of the Adrian Shankar tale, a player who was signed by Worcestershire on the back of his self-penned Walter Mitty-style press pieces, suggesting a player 'in the mould of Virat Kohli'..

As was the case with the first book, I was left in awe at the depth of research undertaken by the author, the number of people he has spoken to and the tales that he has unearthed. While it cannot be denied that any volume one will always contain the best subjects, this 'second innings' loses little in comparison. How could it, with the likes of Rohan Kanhai, Steve Smith, Chris Cairns, Abdul Qadir, Dennis Lillee and Joel Garner within its pages? 

I have no idea how blokes who worked in offices and factories all week prepared to face Michael Holding and Andy Roberts, or figured out the variations of Muttiah Muralidaran (as spelled here). But the stories of how they did so make this a book that should be in the bag of everyone heading to cricket matches this summer.

There will be lunch intervals and of course periods of rain. This book and its predecessor will be your best friends at that point. 

Every cricket fan needs these on their bookshelf. It is as simple as that. 

Sticky Dogs and Stardust: When The Legends Played The Leagues - Second Innings is written by Scott Oliver  and published by Fairfield Books

Derbyshire v SACA day 3

Derbyshire 406-5 and 226-5 (Andersson 67 retired, Dal 47 retired)

SACA 350 and 106-1 (Perera 56 not)

Drawn

Today's final warm-up game for the 2025 season ended in a predictable draw. However, the game was very useful - like the previous fixture - for getting people into form.

Before looking at what we learned, I think a round of applause is due for Derbyshire. Some counties declined to have a stream for their preseason. friendlies, which seemed a little lacking in forethought. You could see as the games progressed that the quality of the edits and replays improved and it was a good warmup for the excellent team behind the stream, as well as the players.

On the pitch, it was a good game of cricket and SACA are laudably showcasing some good players. Savin Perera, the opening bat, made another fifty against us, to follow the one last season and looks a very organised player. I do think it's a shame that talented young men are discarded at 20/21 when they maybe just need a little time. Like Dhariwal yesterday, I am sure Perera could do a job for someone and at 26 probably knows his game well, better than when he was on the Middlesex staff.

You could probably name nine of the side to play Gloucestershire on Friday, as I don't think the team for this game will be far away. The batting order looked in good fettle and they look likely to bat down to nine in the order with this lineup: 

Lloyd, Jewell, Came, Madsen, Guest, Reece, Dal, Andersson, Chappell...

Nye Donald is the only one who has looked to struggle pre season and today was dismissed for an unfortunate duck, playing on and dislodging a bail as he tried to knock the ball clear. He will come again, but needs to get some runs on the board to dislodge what looks a solid lineup.

Those last two places? I would assume Jack Morley will play, which means that the final place will be between Pat Brown and Nick Potts. It is too early for Ben Aitchison and Blair Tickner and I assume Harry Moore will have school. I couldn't call it, as the two available bowlers had fairly similar figures today.

Whoever gets the nod, we will go into the game with seven bowling options, including two spin bowlers and a left arm seamer. Good variety, so the trick now is to get the right men on at the right end at the right time. That's one for Wayne Madsen to handle!

Finally tonight, just an observation about the recording of scores in preseason games. In Derbyshire's first innings we were 406-5, despite only two men being dismissed. The previous day, Warwickshire used seven batters yet were 414-0 against Northamptonshire. I assume it is whether they retire 'out' or 'not out' and it doesn't really matter, at the end of the day. 

If it was me, I would retire not out, thank you very much...

I will be back soon. Let me know your teams for the first game when you can!