Under 14s reach County Cup Final!

A superb win by Derbyshire under 14s over Nottinghamshire saw them through to the final of the ECB National County Cup competition at Quarndon.

Ethan Wilde's 64 took them to 223 all out in their 45 overs, with Charlie Hall's 33 lending good support in a crucial stand of 89 for the sixth wicket, after a usually strong batting line up had slipped to 80-5

It proved the highest score of the game, as Nottinghamshire were all out for 191, Abdullah Zahoor taking 3-40.

Well done lads! 

Scorecard here

Finally tonight, Theo Brown top-scored with 70 for the Midlands in the ECB Super Fours as they lost to South and West Under 18s. 

Considering he is still under-15, that is quite something. 

Book Review: Patsy Hendren: A Different Kind of English Hero by Jeremy Lonsdale

Jeremy Lonsdale is one of the finest modern cricket writers and his output, certainly in quality, stands alongside many others. His book on Bill Bowes was a classic and here he turns his attention to another of the great inter-war cricket characters, 'Patsy' Hendren.

I have to admit that this was a book that I eagerly anticipated, the subject being one of my favourite characters in the game from when I first read its literature, somewhat voraciously, from childhood. 

Hendren seemed to be a man of the people, the kind of person that people wanted to know and in whose successes they shared.

There were many such successes for Hendren, both as a footballer and cricketer. I'd never realised quite what a footballer he was, perhaps focusing too much on the somewhat rotund cricketer whose photograph appeared in many magazines and newspapers. He was good enough to make 435 appearances, mainly for Brentford and played once for England. The book gives good detail of his football exploits, although cricket is the main thrust, as it was in his life. 

Nor had I realised how great was the debate on his merits in England colours, yet he finished with a Test average of just under 48 and seven centuries. He was rarely sure of his place and there were those who considered him short of a big match temperament, but the figures suggest a player, who although unorthodox in style, was highly effective.

 There were 170 centuries in the first-class game, second only to Jack Hobbs, over a career that spanned three decades. He finished with an average of 50, extraordinary by any standards. Perhaps not as universally appreciated for his style as Frank Woolley, but maybe the one you would prefer in a tight situation. 

Everyone loved Patsy and he appeared on stage, in film, in print, on radio and was in demand for advertising a range of products. He was a noted wit - although some of his attempts at humour seem less funny at distance - as well as a talented mimic and fine singer. He was also unfailingly generous and was willing to give to good causes and to provide prizes and memorabilia for auctions and raffles. 

This quite superb read is a worthy record of a life well-lived and largely enjoyed. He kept remarkably busy and was a popular speaker in his playing days and in retirement, when he became a much-loved coach and subsequently scorer for Middlesex. 

The author has been short-listed and long-listed for awards before and I have no doubt that this title will achieve similar recognition.

I have enjoyed a lot of books this year, but for the depth of research, as well as its readability, this one currently sits astride them all.

Sincere congratulations to the author and to Pitch Publishing for another outstanding work.

Patsy Hendren: A Different Kind of English Hero is written by Jeremy Lonsdale and published by Pitch Publishing

Thoughts on contracts

I thought it would be worth looking at the current Derbyshire staff and where they are in contractual terms as we get to the business end of the season. 

I last looked at contracts around the country in July last year and to be honest there aren't many who are available this year and would be a huge enhancement on our squad. I will try and find, or put together a list for 2027, which may be a year when squad overhauls look more feasible.

The current Derbyshire situation is as follows:

Expiring 2026            2027                      

Wayne Madsen.          Harry Came.       

Yusuf Bin Naeem       Luis Reece

Caleb Jewell.               Amrit Basra

Mitch Wagstaff.          Shoaib Bashir

Ross Whiteley.            Ben Aitchison

Joe Hawkins.              Harry Moore

Anuj Dal.                      Mo Abbas

Pat Brown                    Brooke Guest

2028

Matthew Montgomery 

Martin Andersson

Zak Chappell

Jack Morley

Nick Potts 

Nye Donald 

Rory Haydon 

Everyone will have different opinions on the retentions for next year. I expect Caleb Jewell to go, while the Cricketer recently reported that Pat Brown has signed a new one--year deal, though yet to be announced by the club. Madsen, Whiteley and Dal will likely have been offered an extra year each, but their being around in 2027 will depend on how realistic their agents are with salary demands and I would be surprised if any were at the club in 2028.

Being honest, I wouldn't retain Ross and only a lack of alternatives may save him. I would also question Nuj, unless he has a good end of season, while 2027 will probably see the end of Wayne Madsen, unless the lure of joining his family in South Africa sees him go sooner.

As for the young players, I would be surprised if Naeem wasn't offered new terms, after a good summer in the second team, but I could see both Hawkins and Wagstaff go either way, based on a more challenging year and lack of opportunity respectively. 

What do you think? 

One thing is for sure - 2027 is a BIG season for a lot of players...

Holiday thoughts

I didn't see too much of the Hampshire game, as we are on holiday. 

Derbyshire won, but it was effectively a game within a game. Hampshire had to win in a limited timescale and we should not ignore the likelihood that the result would have been very different had they not needed to do so. 

Once again the Derbyshire batting was good, Andersson outstanding, Came and Guest impressive. I would like to see Harry convert more of his half centuries into tons, because 28 times he has gone past fifty and failed to do so. 'Drink at the well' as George Gunn liked to say. When the sun is high and the outfield fast, make hay and make the bowlers toil...

I remain staggered that we didn't do more in the One Day Cup to promote the cause of the work going on in our pathway. It was the ideal opportunity to do so and going with our strongest side didn't turn out too well, did it?  We won two matches that we really should have done, given the opposition, then another when the opponents were shackled by the need to score the required runs far more quickly than we had - Duckworth Lewis gone wild, if you will. 

I am also puzzled. I have heard reports from several people that the chairman stood up at the members meeting and said that the club's stance was that the One Day Cup was a development competition and was to be approached accordingly. Yet Mickey Arthur, in his end of tournament interview, said that 'as long as I'm here we will pick our best team' and try to win the silverware. 

If the chairman said what he did - and I have only anecdotal evidence of this that others there might verify - then it suggests a major difference of opinion, which cannot bode well.

As I wrote recently, my concern is that the youngsters coming through the Pathway need to see a route of progression. Their parents certainly do. Is cricket, specifically Derbyshire cricket, a bona fide career path? Or are they just going to be chucked on the 'scrap heap' at 19/20. 

To hear Mickey Arthur talk about 'our young players' is akin to me of someone scraping their nails down a chalkboard. Nick Potts isn't 'young' at 24, Martin Andersson certainly isn't at 29. Matt Stewart is, at 19 but he never got a game. Joe Hawkins is too, but got a call only when the wolves started circling about a lack of opportunity among the club support. That Mitch Wagstaff, at 22, only got a late call up suggests to me that a decision is already made on his future. Meanwhile, yes, Yusuf Bin Naeem had a few games, but why not take pressure off the lad, tell him he was in for the tournament and batting three? Where he normally does, lessening the pressure and giving him a chance to shine? 

There was nothing, absolutely nothing, to learn about Ross Whiteley and Wayne Madsen. It appeared that we could go without an overseas player, but then we needed one, so he 'made himself available'. Seriously, what is going on? 

My honest (and irreversible) opinion, like it or not, is that after coaching at elite level for years, Mickey Arthur doesn't 'get' young players, their pressures and the challenges in coming through. In his interviews he always talks about 'reflecting' but surely he cannot do that and consider many of his calls the correct ones? And shouldn't an 'elite' coach be getting these calls right, first time? 

He talks of not being clear enough with 'death' plans. Lads, chuck it in the block hole, wide or otherwise, still the hardest ball to hit. Mix up your pace and if you are going to bowl short, do so to the long boundary. There you go....

What does Mickey say to Matt Stewart, who has taken wickets in the Derbyshire Premier League and in the second team, when we offer a short term deal to a lad whose only real difference is in taking less wickets bowling with the other arm? Don't get me wrong, I hope Will Rogers does well, but at 23 he is the product of another club's system. At what point do we think about the impact of such a decision on those coming through our own? Any arguments about not having the money to offer a short-term deal to a young player have been blown out of the water. 

Again, is 23 young? For what it is worth, if shooting yourself in the foot were an Olympic sport, Mickey Arthur might just have become undisputed gold medalist...

I played cricket, coached youngsters and selected teams for well over forty years. Not once did I think 'he isn't taking wickets in the twos...I know, I will put him in the first team, instead of the lad who is. 

I know for sure that there would have been disparaging comments had I done so and deservedly so. 

I hope there are big conversations about these things going on at board level. More than almost anything else at the club, this concerns me right now. With as rich a crop of young talent as we have had in years currently coming through our Pathway, we have to make sure that the person at the top - regardless of name or reputation - actually realises the enormity of some of these actions.

If he doesn't, the long term cost and damage to the club, reputationally and otherwise, is far greater than paying him off. 

Derbyshire secure Kiwi as Abbas replacement

Bill Copson took four wickets in four balls against Warwickshire in 1937, while Alan Ward did the same against Sussex in the John Player League in 1970 (as Max Boyce used to say, I was there).

To them we can now add the name of Brett Randell, the 31-year old Kiwi replacement for Mohammad Abbas until the end of the season. Randell took five wickets in five balls for Central Districts against Northern Districts in March of this year, the only time it has happened in first-class cricket.

Other than that I have no idea how good he is. He has only played 40 first-class matches and has picked up 113 wickets at 25 each. He had a couple of games for Somerset in 2024 and picked up three wickets, but we will see how he gets on in division two.

It is a difficult time of year to get players. Australians are generally set to return home soon if they are over here, while others around the globe are resting either before domestic seasons or between franchise competitions, with the Asia Cup removing a lot of options.

Randell will be well known to Ben Smith, who has coached Central Districts in recent winters, so we must wait and see how he goes. 

It doesn't change my assertion that we need to up the overseas standard for next year and of course identify the budget in order to do so. That's for the finance people at the club to sort, but somehow we have to get leaders, players who will set the example and take you to the win when the match situation is tight. I don't think we have many such players at present and identifying them AND securing their services will be key for 2027.

Anyway, welcome to Derbyshire, Brett.

Be assured that we are all rooting for you

You can see his five wickets in five balls here

Hampshire v Derbyshire Metro Bank One Day Cup

Please add your comments on today's game here.

Thank you!

Will Rogers signs on short-term red ball deal

Mickey Arthur has signed 23-year old left arm seamer Will Rogers on a contract to the end of the summer, for the remaining red ball games.

Ostensibly to cover for the long-term absent seamers, one must assume that Luis Reece will do little more bowling this year, as the accompanying press piece cites his 'different angle' as the draw. Surely, if a seamer was needed, Matt Stewart might otherwise have been in the first cab off the ranks?

Fair play to Rogers, who has clearly impressed enough to warrant a deal, but figures of 1-148 in his three most recent spells for the second team don't initially suggest his signature on a contract.

He was previously on the staff at Sussex and has played in other county second teams, so here's hoping the lad proves to be a shrewd pick up and can leave his mark on the remaining fixtures. 

Is he the 'replacement' for Mohammad Abbas, so clearly needed for the remainder of the season? I understand he isn't, more of an addition to the ranks 

It goes without saying that I wish him well, as I am sure others do.

Time for a deep breath..

It has got a little tetchy on the blog today. And I don't like tetchy.

Feelings are running high because Derbyshire are in a very poor trot. Opinions are being expressed and, as is always the case with opinions, there are those who disagree with them. 

That in itself is fine, because it would be a strange world if we all thought the same thing. However, the way that some of these disagreements have been expressed has crossed a line on occasion today. 

Please be nice to each other. Our team has been beaten, but no one has died. You can disagree with someone else, but please don't be abrupt, patronising or unpleasant in doing so. I haven't run this blog for 19 years to allow it to degenerate into the old BBC 606 site. I would pull the plug on it tomorrow, rather than allow that to happen.

Most of you will know that 'Jason' was for many years on the club committee and board, so has greater knowledge of the internal machinations of the club than most. I appreciate his input, like that of everyone else, but the opinions of EVERYONE on here are and will remain valid. I am a big advocate for free speech, as long as it is not hurtful, rude or personal.

If you disagree with someone, that's fine, but take five and couch your reply in a way that you would be OK to read if YOU were on the end of it. It is the approach I have always taken when writing about players, loss of form and their ability - if it was my son I was reading about, could I accept it and not take exception to the wording?

Life is too short for people with a great, common interest to fall out over petty things.

Thank you.

Derbyshire v Middlesex Metro Bank One Day Cup

Middlesex 327-6 (Geddes 1109, Holden 65, Cracknell 44, Morley 2-58, Potts 2-98)

Derbyshire 240 (Jewell 54, Whiteley 37, Dal 36,  Gohar 3-35)

Middlesex won by 87 runs

We had a family get together the other night and the conversation flowed, as usual, eventually turning to films.

My future son in law asked me if I had seen a lot of horror.

'For most of the last sixty years, son' was my reply. My daughter smiled, she knew where her old Dad was coming from.

There isn't a lot of fun in watching Derbyshire right now. I take no pleasure in being able to predict a defeat before the game is played, because nothing in the body language or performances suggests otherwise. I will be quite honest in having switched over to watch the T20 finals day from Belper, where Daryn Smit turned in a virtuoso performance on one leg to help Clifton through to the final. 

Truth be told, it looked like first class county against minor county today and the result was a foregone conclusion before the Middlesex innings had even ended. 

It's hard to say that. It hurts to say it. This is MY team, just the same as it is your team. I'm not about to switch allegiance at this stage, but we look so far off the pace at present it is frightening.

I take nothing away from Middlesex, who put in a professional performance and played some very good cricket. There was a world of difference between the attack that they were able to field and the one that faced them, just as there was nothing in the Derbyshire side to match their top four. With such disparity, it was always going to be a one-sided encounter, but I cannot see any light at the end of the tunnel just now.

Although he took two wickets, Nick Potts had the sort of day that was always likely after he had signed a 2-year contract. The line, length and rhythm wasn't there today and it confirmed that although much improved, he has plenty more to do to become a fixture in the side when everyone is fit. 

Caleb Jewell made a pleasant half century, but rather gave it away in driving without getting over the ball. There was a little innings restoration from Luis Reece, Anuj Dal and Ross Whiteley, but as the required rate climbed, there wasn't a point in the innings when I thought Derbyshire might produce a shock result. Middlesex won by 87 runs and were very good value for it.

Derbyshire travel to Southampton on Tuesday for a game against a Hampshire side that racked up 383 today. I am not optimistic, but we travel to Berwick upon Tweed tomorrow, so I won't see it either. In current form, that's a relief. 

I will create a page for that game and your comments on it in due course. 

Do please add names to your comments. I can sense the anger and frustration out there right now, but as usual will reserve the right not to publish anything personal and unsigned.

Derbyshire v Middlesex Metro Bank One Day Cup preview

No detailed blog tonight on the Middlesex game, as the day has passed me by and there has been no announcement on squads from either side. 

All I can say is that if Yusuf bIn Naeem doesn't get a game tomorrow, especially after scoring a brilliant 132 for Sandiacre today, I don't see any logic in selection at all. He should be told that he is playing and batting three. End of story. 

I don't think we have enough to beat Middlesex, who are deservedly top of the group and have played some very good cricket. Their likely side:

De Caires, Fernandes, Geddes, Cracknell, Hellman, Nelson, Gohar, Roland-Jones, Brookes, Cornwell, Sharma

It looks like another hot day in Derby, but I suspect that will be the highlight for most of the home support. Drink plenty of water and take your sun cream! 

I will be back tomorrow night with an assessment of the game.

Radio interview

My interview with James Sadler of North Derbyshire Radio is now online.

It covers a number of subjects on the current Derbyshire season, as well as some words on Edwin Smith.

I am on at just before 34 minutes and you can listen here

Under 18s showing a way forward?

I want to pull a couple of strands from the past week together in today's piece. 

I was a little concerned to see the post-match interview with Harry Came yesterday, which suggested that Derbyshire will carry on as they have been in the remaining fixtures of the Metro Bank One Day Cup. 

Let's be quite honest here. As Hamez pointed out in the comments to yesterday's piece, the average age of the Derbyshire top seven yesterday, in what is supposed to be a development competition, was just under 33. We lost, of course, both the match and an opportunity that this competition might otherwise provide. 

Why are we batting a specialist bat, Ross Whiteley, at seven? He is nearly 38 and nothing about the summer's cricket has suggested he has much to offer in the future. He is a lovely lad and a terrific fielder, but is that really enough at this level? The same goes with Wayne Madsen. Is there really a point in playing him over Yusuf bin Naeem at 42? Especially in a dead game, in a development competition, I will say again...

At the same time, Somerset fielded a sixteen-year old in their match yesterday. He didn't do much, but as a wily old professional said to me, one of the challenges for an emerging cricketer is playing on a big ground in front of a crowd. It is nothing like club cricket and exposing them to this as early as possible is going to aid their development. 

Somerset is actually a good example. They blood young players early - the Rew brothers as fine examples - and they reap the dividends down the line. 

Derbyshire's best 'young' player is Nick Potts, who is 24. While not suggesting he has yet reached 'old fogey' status, he isn't that young either. Then there's Yusuf bin Naeem, at 19, the same as Matt Stewart. When will they get a proper opportunity? 

I know Naeem played a bit of white ball, but not where he likes to bat. And there's a big difference in batting three and going in at seven, different expectations, different mindset. You wouldn't look at a young lad starring in the academy of your football club as a left back, then tell him he's playing centre forward for the first team on Saturday...

Naeem has done well in the second team this summer, got some scores, taken a few wickets, fielded well. When can he expect the reward, the elevation to the senior ranks? For Naeem, read Stewart, who looks a terrific talent. He can have a wild spell, but that goes with the territory at that age. He can also take wickets, but surely he hasn't to wait five years for an opportunity? It is easy to look at what people CAN'T do - but what about looking at what they CAN do and what they bring to a side? 

This week the Derbyshire under 18s played Leicestershire in a terrific three-day game at Repton School. Batting first they made 337, with George Blount following his double century against Yorkshire with 102. Oscar Edwards made 91, Theo Brown 38 and Umayr Hewitt 36. 

Leicestershire replied with 277-5 declared, before Derbyshire made 248-3 declared. This time Edwards made 71 and Hasnain Akhtar 90, Zak Kelly added a breezy unbeaten 51 in a confident display and Leicestershire needed 309 to win.

They had a good go but were all out for 258, with Hewitt taking 8-92 with his spin and sealing another excellent win for the senior age group side.

The point being that Blount, Edwards, Brown and Hewitt are playing above their age. They are 15/16 and handling it well, as befits young men regularly doing well against burly blokes in the local leagues. 

I am not suggesting we elevate them en masse to the first team, but I would really like to know what plans are in place for that transition. Honestly, I suspect most of the fan base would be understanding of a defeat if, in the process, we had given opportunity to Derbyshire-reared talent. Players who could become special, would justify the work in the Pathway and would nicely quieten the likes of Mike Atherton who has asked, in the past, what is the point of Derbyshire? 

I am actually getting as much pleasure in following the under 18s as I am the senior side in the past couple of seasons. Not just because they are more successful, but I can see how the net is being cast wider for talent, the players are developing and that a strategy is in place.

I don't really see that at a top level, right now. What has happened to Joe Hawkins? Maybe he has levelled out, doesn't spin it enough, hasn't the batting technique or mental toughness to go further? By the same token, I don't know how you really judge that at 19, when we see what Nick Potts has achieved this year. With Shoaib Bashir and Jack Morley both young and performing well, I am not sure how Joe gets into the senior side, despite being a considerably better bat than both.

If they are all fit, the county seam resources are strong. But yesterday Cricinfo reported that Pat Brown has signed a new deal after a cricket-less summer and one has to ask what consequences that might have for the likes of Matt Stewart and Jake Green, when Harry Moore is also theoretically ahead of them.

At some point, a Derbyshire Head of Cricket has to say 'it's time for change' and the Board has to back that person through a transitional period, while young players come in and establish themselves. They won't all make it, life doesn't work like that, but I genuinely feel that the next Head of Cricket at our club has to be given carte blanche to bring through young players and be given five years to make it work. Bring in young talent from elsewhere too, if they are lacking opportunity. Aid their development with a couple of seasoned overseas professionals who will keep them right, on and off the pitch. Let's give it a go with youth, because it isn't really working the other way. The post-Madsen era is coming, whether we like it or not and it offers an opportunity for a roots and branches review.

I just feel that at the moment Derbyshire are drifting and while that could go in either direction, the signs are that it is not the preferred one of travel from the supporters perspective. 

Yes, they still have a chance in red ball cricket, but first up when that returns is a Durham side that is way too strong for Division Two and I think I know how that story ends. 

When I look through the current squad, I see too many players whose best days are behind them and who are not going to take us any further. Lovely blokes, good servants, with occasional performances of note. But no more than that. 

While accepting that a pesky thing called education will get in the way right now for some of our bright young things, the planning for when they have finished their school days simply HAS to start now.

Viva la revolucion!

Scorecard and clips of that under-18 win here

Yorkshire v. Derbyshire Metro Bank one day cup

Derbyshire 278-8 (Andersson 67, Came 58,  Cliff 3-57)

Yorkshire 281-5 (Whiteman 94, Wharton 75, Hill 63* Potts 3-78, Aitchison 2-41)

Yorkshire won by 5 wickets

Derbyshire lost at Scarborough today by five wickets, once again failing to capitalise on an excellent position. 

At 140 for no wicket in the 26th over, they should have been looking at a minimum of 300. Instead, the last 24 overs brought only 138 runs for the loss of eight wickets, which was a mediocre effort. This was why I didn't get excited at the last two wins, because the elevens we were playing bore no relation to the senior sides of the clubs concerned, while ours did. Here, the sides were more evenly matched and after an excellent opening burst by Ben Aitchison, James Wharton and Sam Whiteman were able to work it around on a small ground and ease the home side to within range of a comfortable win.

Hill came in on Wharton's departure and in a situation when they only needed to be sensible, that is what they did. Both he and Whiteman showed eminent good sense and in the end it was a stroll for them, although the latter missed out on a century when brilliantly held down the leg side by Guest, from the bowling of Nick Potts. He took three wickets today, but there was a little too much loose stuff amid the wickets and it wasn't a 3-78 pitch.

Came and Andersson were excellent in that opening stand, but to lose both in the same over was a setback from which Derbyshire never recovered. Only Madsen and Potts, each too briefly, hinted at fluency thereafter on a pitch that seemed to get slower. It was good to see Luis Reece back, but his usual rhythm wasn't there with bat or ball, while Whiteley again struggled to deliver the hoped for late impetus. I don't know why Ross didn't come in before Luis, as the team's nominal finisher and there was a case for Potts to come in before Dal as the innings subsided. Indeed, there were spells when it appeared Derbyshire were fighting for a fourth day draw, rather than building a defendable one-day total.

Derbyshire's interest in this competition ended with the defeat - if it hadn't already - and the sensible thing now would be to give opportunity to younger players, which might bear fruit down the line. Surely Naeem and Stewart should play in the remaining games, if only to give a breather to Madsen and Aitchison before the return of the red ball fixtures.

For now, Derbyshire are a very ordinary white ball side. It hurts to say it, but you can't look at performances this year and say otherwise.

There is much to do to change my mind on that assertion, because there have been too many capitulations with bat and ball this year. 

Yorkshire v Derbyshire Metro Bank One Day Cup preview

I had taken a few days off from blogging after Edwin Smith's funeral on Monday. 

It was a lovely service and recognition not just what a terrific player he was, but what a brilliant Dad, Grandad, husband and man he was too. It was lovely to meet members of his extended family and also those from Grassmoor and beyond who wanted to pay their last respects to a man who was the last of a breed. There will never be another Derbyshire player takes a thousand wickets in the county colours and it should never be forgotten that in order to do so you need to stay on top of your game for close to two decades. 

I was very proud and flattered to be asked to deliver a eulogy and I hope that those attending felt my words were appropriate. The drives in each direction were challenging, but I wouldn't have missed it for the world. 

I had another opportunity to discuss Edwin and his contribution to Derbyshire yesterday, in a far-reaching interview with James Sadler of North Derbyshire Radio. This will be on tomorrow night and I will post a link to it as soon as it is available online. We also discussed Derbyshire's season, high points and low points, Nye Donald, Shoaib Bashir and my thoughts on the rest of the season and how the county can replace Wayne Madsen in T20 next year.

Tomorrow, Derbyshire visit Scarborough, my second favourite ground after Chesterfield. It is needing a little investment, but there is something special about watching cricket at the seaside. Had we not been going on holiday on Monday I would have made the trip to Scarborough for this one. 

I find it quite difficult to make any predictions about this Derbyshire side, because you never know which one is going to turn up. There is talent in this side to beat most other teams on their day, but too often we seem to play reputations and match situations, rather than simply focusing on each ball in turn. 

I think that's why we fall short on occasions. At Old Trafford earlier in the year we played Sir Jimmy Anderson, not a run chase of 138. Against Yorkshire the focus switched from 'we are in control, just keep doing the same things' to 'oh, they *might* do this'. I'm convinced that a lack of positive mentality sees us fall short, as there is no other explanation. If you were good enough to take eight wickets, you can take the last two. 

It's great to see Luis Reece back in the squad and hopefully that is an indicator that his youngster is on the mend. No. Matthew Montgomery, but Yusuf bin Naeem is also in the squad, along with Shoaib Bashir.

Likely side

Came, Reece, Jewell, Madsen, Andersson, Guest, Whiteley, Dal, Potts, Aitchison, Morley

Yorkshire have been going well in this competition, but were beaten by Middlesex last time out. Derbyshire will be wary of Adam Lyth's record at Scarborough, a ground where he played from the age of 13 and the game presents a stronger challenge than the two recent victories.

Indian left arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav offers additional experience to an attack that also features captain Dom Bess, and this Yorkshire side  played against Middlesex

Lyth, Luxton, Bennison, Wharton, Whiteman, Hill, Bean, Bess, Yadav, Cliff, White

Bepey, Chohan, Coad, Duke also in the squad tomorrow but Yadav is unavailable.

Finally today, it's good to see Shoaib Bashir in the England squad for the first two Tests against Pakistan. 

I think he's doing well at Derbyshire and the environment suits him. Both on and off the pitch he has impressed and while he has his detractors, too many people forget that he is a young lad learning a difficult skill set. I would love to see him retain his central contract, not least because it would enable Derbyshire to utilise money in the budget that they're undoubtedly keeping aside in case he isn't centrally contracted next year. 

That the squad needs strengthening is beyond argument, but better luck with injury wouldn't do any harm either...

Let's hope that the boys can deliver by the seaside and three successive wins is a pleasant consequence.

Potts signs on for two years

Excellent news for Derbyshire supporters this morning, as Nick Potts has committed his future to the club until the end of the 2028 season. 

He has improved immeasurably over the course of the summer. I don't think too many people expected him to be on the staff in 2027, when this summer started, but his progress under the watchful eye of Chris Wright has been remarkable. 

I also think, as with Ben Aitchison, that his increased confidence in his body has been a contributory factor. His performances in the Vitality Blast were excellent and he showed growing confidence with varied pace and length. 

He's also a terrific fielder and has shown through the summer that he is more than capable with the bat. It could well be that by the end of this two years he is seen as a genuine all-rounder, like Chappell, Aitchison and Moore. 

To be fair to Derbyshire, without Chappell, Moore, Brown and Reece this year they have done well to remain competitive, especially in the red ball format. If they can get all of them fit for next season, the attack will take on a different dimension. 

Congratulations Nick. Like everyone else, I can only say that this contract is a deserved reward for what has clearly been a lot of hard work.

Onwards and upwards!

Derbyshire v Sussex Metro Bank One Day Cup

Derbyshire 325-7 (Madsen 104*, Came 43, Andersson 39, Montgomery 36, Whiteley 33, Crocombe 3-44)

Sussex 137 (Leaning 25, Morley 5-28, Potts 2-21, Andersson 2-24)

Derbyshire won by 188 runs

Fair play to Derbyshire today, in another fine example in the occasional series of 'beating what is in front of you in fine style'.

As expected, they disposed of Sussex by 188 runs at the Our Co-op County Ground, doing wonders for their Net Run Rate in the process. It wasn't that much of a contest, despite the presence in the Sussex ranks of Messrs Leaning, Robinson and Crocombe, because the inexperience of their team mates was too great a counterbalance.

I didn't see much of the Derbyshire innings, but there was a more balanced look to the lineup with the return of Matthew Montgomery and they duly racked up 325-7. I reached my hotel room in time to see Wayne Madsen make his latest century in county colours and each time he does so I wonder how many more the old maestro has in his locker. I will leave you to fill in any individual blanks, including Ross Whiteley's 30 from an over of the unfortunate Troy Henry.

The visitors reply was something of a procession and they never threatened to get close to the required total. Harry Came kept changing position in the field and they kept finding him and after Nick Potts again reinforced his growing value to the side, Jack Morley took five wickets for 28 runs, the best figures in One-Day cricket by a Derbyshire spinner against another county (courtesy David Griffin).

It was all over with 19 overs to spare, early enough to give the visitors an early start on their way home and, for the younger players, a good chance of being home before their curfew..

Afterwards I watched a little of a match in the other competition, between a team in red and another in blue. I could have looked up who they were, but it didn't mean enough to warrant doing so. There was plenty of swishing, smearing, gratuitous crowd shots and as little finesse as both teams could muster. Before long I had switched over to Celebrity Escape to the Country.

I didn't know who they were, either.

Ah well, Scarborough on Friday and what should be a better test for Derbyshire. Yorkshire were soundly beaten by Middlesex today and those two sides, with Durham, still look the strongest in the group.

Derbyshire will take the win and hope to build momentum and confidence as a consequence.

We will see.

Postscript: meanwhile in Port of Spain, Mohammad Abbas was left out of the Pakistan side against the West Indies 'because of the conditions'. This despite taking eight wickets in the first Test match.

I don't think I will ever understand the rationale of Pakistan selection. I'm not even sure there is one...

Derbyshire v Sussex Metro Bank One Day Cup preview

Derbyshire entertain Sussex at Derby tomorrow and will hope to get on a roll in the Metro Bank One Day Cup.

It was good to report on a win yesterday and there was some good cricket played. It is important to record, however, that the Glamorgan side had four 19-year olds, as well as a 21 and 23 year old. To hear Mickey Arthur talk about our 'young guys' doing so well and realising that Nick Potts and Rory Haydon, our youngest, are 24 and 23 requires that qualification.

I would have been happier had Yusuf bin Naeem played, to be honest, rather than either 42-year old Wayne Madsen or 38-year old Ross Whiteley. We know what they can do and surely there has to be a development aspect to this competition? Either that or you go full on, in which case you contract an overseas player? 

The same applies tomorrow against a 'very good' Sussex side that is bottom of the table and missing seven players to the fast snack competition. They beat Essex in their last match, with seven players of 22 or younger in the ranks, two of them teenagers. It isn't a level playing field so I do find it difficult to be overly euphoric over victories in such circumstances, not to mention our 'young guys' being singled out.

Anyway, I don't expect much, if any change to the side tomorrow. If Rory Haydon isn't fit then Shoaib Bashir may return, because there aren't too many options. As I write there is no news on either side but last time out Sussex fielded the following side against Essex:

Tear, Thomas, Johnson, Ibrahim, Leaning, Carson, Hudson-Prentice, Robinson, Price, Henry, Munt

Given their greater experience  (notwithstanding some well-known names in the visiting ranks) this is a game that Derbyshire should win. It would keep alive their marginal interest in the competition, although with Yorkshire, Middlesex and Hampshire to come, they will regret losing to earlier lesser lights.

I will add a page for your comments afterwards and add my own observations from the limited cricket I see when I get down to Chesterfield.

As always, your comments are welcome.

Postscript: Matthew Montgomery is back so will likely come straight into the side and strengthen both the batting and bowling

Sussex squad: Carson (c), Crocombe, Henry, Ibrahim, Johnson, Kirtley, Leaning, Munt, Oosthuizen, F Price, Robinson, Tear, Thomas

With six players at the other competition, they are also missing Tom Haines,  Oli Carter, Tom Clark,, Danny Lamb, John Simpson, Dom Goodman,  Tom Price and Fynn Hudson-Prentice - 14 players absent in all

Derbyshire v Glamorgan Metro Bank One Day Cup

Derbyshire 315-5 (Guest 108*, Jewell 84, Madsen 39, Douthwaite 3-66)

Glamorgan 271 (Horton 81, Hassan 61, Hope-Bell 48, Potts 4-39

Derbyshire won by 44 runs

Derbyshire finally got their One-Day Cup campaign up and running today, with a 44-run win over Glamorgan in the scenic splendour of Repton Public School. 

It wasn't always plain sailing against a young and fairly inexperienced visiting eleven and the game perhaps produced as many questions as answers. Only during a fourth wicket stand of 117 in eighteen overs between Caleb Jewell and Brooke Guest did Derbyshire really kick into gear and their final total of 315-5 was not huge on a small ground. It was tribute to some tight bowling and fine fielding by the visitors and largely to two good individual innings.

Jewell batted well on his return to the side and his 84 was a well-compiled knock, if not in his very best form. While we know he wasn't contracted for the competition, the question remains as to why not, when it represented a chance of silverware? And if, as the story went, he 'made himself available' for the game, why didn't that happen earlier? I get it to some extent if the money saved from him not playing is going towards a replacement for Mohammad Abbas in red ball cricket, but a side missing several players with injury, as well as two to the other competition, really needed strengthening.

Brooke Guest was the best bat on show and the most fluent. His unbeaten 108 from just 82 balls steered Derbyshire to a defendable total and contained 5 sixes. The irony in his not being in our Vitality Blast side, supposedly because he can't hit, was not lost on me. He also clearly illustrated the importance of having someone who runs like a gazelle between the wickets, he and Dal putting on 34 in the last three overs with mainly good running, as the death bowlers found the block hole cleverly.

Glamorgan battled hard and Hassan followed a canny spell with a good knock, before being caught on the reverse sweep. Jack Hope-Bell, just 19, played a nice hand of 48 before becoming one of Nick Potts' four victims, while Alex Horton played brilliantly with 81 in 57 balls, before Guest held an edge, again from the bowling of Potts.

I thought Potts was again excellent today and he has become a very handy cricketer in the white ball formats. Andersson also mixed it up well and it will have been a relief for the players to get one in the win column.

It needs to be said, of course, that this was a much-weakened Glamorgan side, but any side can only beat what is in front of them on a given day. The Welsh side can return home with heads high and with pride in the performances of some talented young players. 

As for Derbyshire, there will be a weight off their chests tonight and they return to the Our Co-op County Ground on Sunday,  for the game against Sussex, having got off the mark.

I won't see that one, as I will be driving down for Edwin Smith's funeral on Monday. I will create a page for your comments, as usual, and add my own thoughts when I am able.

Under 18s draw at Leeds

Hard as they tried, Derbyshire's under 18s couldn't quite force the win against their Yorkshire counterparts today, at Leeds. The homeside finished their second innings on 297-8, leading by 37, when stumps were drawn and the match ended in a draw 

The wickets were shared around, with Wood returning the remarkable figures of 17-11-18-2

A draw, but another excellent performance by the young Derbyshire side

Derbyshire v Glamorgan Metro Bank One Day Cup preview

Caleb Jewell is back in Derbyshire's squad for tomorrow's game against Glamorgan at Repton,  playing in a tournament for which he was not contracted, according to the club site.

It is a selection that raises more questions than it answers. Did the club intend to sign another overseas player and it fell through? Or did they plan to use the tournament to give opportunities to young players? If the latter, why change at this stage, when Derbyshire realistically need to win all of their last five games handsomely to have a chance of qualification.

And why go without an overseas player when the T20 was such a letdown? It is all a little messy. I'm not pretending that Caleb will be as influential as Dean Jones or Chris Rogers, but this format is probably his best chance of success this summer and realistically (in my book) the best opportunity for the club, too. 

There is still a chance in red ball cricket, but realistically promotion looks set to be two from Durham (almost assured), Kent and Northamptonshire. Derbyshire's chances would appear dependent on bringing in a quality replacement for Mohammad Abbas and him being as effective as Michael Holding...

Anyway, Jewell is added to the squad from the last two games and I assume he will replace Yusuf bin Naeem in the eleven. My confusion would be off the scale if he didn't make the final eleven...

Glamorgan 'did a Derbyshire' in their last game, losing to Durham after making 326-6 and having them 97-6. A terrific century by Will Rhodes (148*) saw Durham over the line with three balls to spare. Tomorrow's visitors have a few absentees and have named the following squad 

Gorvin (captain), Hurle, O'Riordan, Nicholas, Morris, Hope-Bell, Edwards, Hassan, Smale, Horton, Franco, Wallace, Byrom, Douthwaite

Carlson, Kellaway, Tribe, Dickson and Crane are at the other tournament 

Glamorgan has had a good season and despite their absentees will start slight favourites tomorrow, against a Derbyshire side that is the only one yet to win a game in this competition. The visitors have only won one in four, so the game is there to be won 

If Derbyshire can deliver an approximation of their best game they can get off the mark here. They haven't done so yet, but surely a good result is possible? 

We must all hope that happens in a stunning setting and with a fine weather forecast.

What do you think?