Northamptonshire v Derbyshire day one

Dear Diary,

Mark Footitt and Robin Peterson, both of whom I signed in the close season, took seven wickets between them today, while Tom Lungley, to whom I gave another year's contract, took three himself.
Afterwards, the skipper and Wayne Madsen added 57 without being parted to make it a thoroughly satisfying day.
Excellent!

You could easily forgive John Morris for writing that tonight (if he kept a diary) as Derbyshire did very well to bowl out their hosts for just 220 and make substantial inroads into their total before stumps.

Footitt and Lungley did what strike bowlers are supposed to do, while Peterson again bowled with astonishing control and penetration. 24-8-33-3 are extraordinary figures, but when one considers that fourteen came from one over as Nick Boje tried to hit him from the attack they become all the more remarkable. That's twenty wickets already for the South African, who has given Derbyshire the quality spin option we have lacked for years. His control is also crucial to the success thus far, as batsmen struggling to score from him take risks at the other end.

Very impressive, very impressive indeed. Of course, what we now need is a good full day of batting tomorrow, as Wantage Road is usually responsive to spin on the last day. That was doubtless behind Northamptonshire's decision to bat and to play two spinners in Boje and Middlebrook. I am sure that our game plan will now be to bat until lunch on Thursday and ideally get a lead of at least 200, allowing Peterson (and Greg Smith) to rip it on a dusty track.

Time will tell if we can manage it, but it is nice to be able to report on the first day of four and conclude by saying that Derbyshire hold all of the aces right now.

Over on 606, supposed (I doubt it) Derbyshire fans are moaning that we're not playing English youngsters. Sigh.... yeah, but we're winning. Redfern is temporarily out of the team and Borrington hasn't yet made the weight of runs that will surely come, but we're winning for goodness sake! Clare hasn't had a chance as he is still recovering from shoulder surgery, but if you genuinely are Derbyshire fans, enjoy the current renaissance in our fortunes rather than moan. I ask this - who will you drop, in current form, to accommodate Redfern, even if he was in form - which he isn't? If Bozza doesn't get a score soon then Dan may replace him, but all the others are scoring runs.

Finally tonight, I'd an interesting e mail about my suggestion that Greg Smith may attract the international selectors at some point. The correspondent suggested that the England selectors may not want another ex-South Africa Under 19 cap, to play alongside Trott, Pietersen and Kieswetter. While not specifically a Derbyshire poll question, what do you think? How many foreign reared and age group-capped players is acceptable for the England side? Please vote and let me know. Thanks for the question and please keep your e mails and comments coming.

PS Sorry about the late blog tonight. I had a talk to do this evening, but normal service will be resumed tomorrow.