Emilio Gay and Ben Stokes drop out due to their England commitments for the three-match Test series against New Zealand. That will no doubt see a quizzical eyebrow or two raised in the north east, when Shoaib Bashir is free to play for Derbyshire.
Duanne Olivier is in line to make his Durham first-class debut, having joined the county for the remainder of the season, replacing Kemar Roach. He will hope to do better than in the second team last week, when Yusuf Bin Naeem dished out some serious stick to the former South African seamer.
Ben Raine sits second in the division's wicket-takers with 33 wickets, one behind Northamptonshire’s Ben Sanderson, while David Bedingham (628) is the leading run scorer in Division Two
Their squad:
Colin Ackermann, Kasey Aldridge, David Bedingham, Graham Clark, Alex Lees, Ben McKinney, James Minto, Duanne Olivier, Callum Parkinson, Matthew Potts, Ben Raine, Will Rhodes, Ollie Robinson, Luke Robinson
They have played some excellent red ball cricket this summer and fully lived up to expectations as favourites for promotion.
They are twenty points clear of their nearest rivals in the division, but only ten points separate Northamptonshire in second and Derbyshire in fifth. Indeed, only fourteen points separate second and second bottom, in a very tight division.
The forecast is pretty good for the four days, with only occasional passing showers expected. There is every possibility of a positive result and the home side will start favourites on the back of their league placing.
Much will depend on the toss, but I would like to think that Derbyshire will give a good account of themselves. They have played some good cricket this year and have approached it in a manner that supporters have enjoyed.
If they can do the same over the next four days there will be few complaints.
I do agree with your XI on the whole, Steve. It's hard not to. If you pick the best top 7 (which, if Jewell is to play, picks itself) and the best 4 frontline bowlers, it's a no-brainer.
ReplyDeleteI am slightly worried about the batting depth though. With this XI, we bat down to seven, with Aitchison at eight (he's a nine, a bowler that can bat rather than a true all-rounder) and then what looks like three number 11s (unless Haydon is a better bat than I think he is.)
I wonder whether Dal or even Potts may come into the thinking to lengthen the batting lineup?
That may depend on whether Reece is fit to bowl. If he is, then I'd argue that we might not need the third specialist seamer. Andersson, Dal/Potts and Reece could fill that role between them.
Harsh on Haydon, of course, as it would surely be him that dropped out (unless Aitchison would benefit from the rest?)
Back to the real game after the t20 madness! As you say Steve, no reason to change a winning team. If Reece can bowl that will be a bonus. Let’s hope for a strong performance and, who knows, a third successive win.
ReplyDeleteAllez Derbyshire
Adrian
The commentary accompanying the live feed was as usual bordering on childish at one point they were getting very excited over the fact that Dal was born in Newcastle the pair of ignorant oafs obviously were unaware that there might be another Newcastle in the world
ReplyDeleteDidn't listen tbh (please use a name, Anon). But that's a fairly sizeable error..
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