Northamptonshire v Derbyshire day 3

The likelihood is that Derbyshire quest for victory in this match will be thwarted by the weather tomorrow. By this stage, the grand plan will probably been to have had two sessions of bowling and five or six batsmen back in the pavilion. Instead, there seems little chance of enough play tomorrow to get ten wickets, so the game will be a draw.

It is a pity as the game has again produced a lot of positives. As John Morris said today, our two opening batsmen have five centuries between them already, while those below have all scored runs. Paul Borrington became the latest to find form in this match, an innings that was both welcome and encouraging for the future. It is good to see a young batsman who can get his head down and graft, rather than give it away or just play casual strokes. Borrington, Redfern and a few others are key to our long term future, just as Smith, Park and Madsen are key to the short to medium term.

There is reassurance in someone of the calibre of Robin Peterson coming in at number seven and he continues to impress in both batting and bowling. With Tom Lungley and Mark Footitt doing well with the new ball, a win would have been well merited in this fixture.

Anyway, we'll see how the weather goes tomorrow but I'll not be getting my hopes up of a win.

A promotion challenge in this form? That's a different matter.