Northamptonshire v Derbyshire preview

Derbyshire have announced a squad of 14 for tomorrow's Championship match against Northamptonshire at Wantage Road.

Graham Wagg misses out, so there are returns for Mark Footitt and Tim Groenewald. The squad in full is:

Chris Rogers
Wayne Madsen
Paul Borrington
Garry Park
Greg Smith
John Sadler
Chesney Hughes
Robin Peterson
Lee Goddard
Jake Needham
Tom Lungley
Tim Groenewald
Steffan Jones
Mark Footitt

Its hard to call the attack for this one, so I'll not try. My guess is that Needham and Hughes will miss out and one of the seamers, but as always, the final line up will depend on how the track looks.

Northamptonshire are an enigmatic side, capable of such batting talent to chase down a target of over 390 against Middlesex with time to spare. Yet they are prone to collapse, with the extravagant strokeplay of Loye, White and Sales sometimes their downfall. Opener Stephen Peters is another player with a liking for our bowling and if we get our lines wrong they are capable of posting 400 in a day quite easily.

Their attack is less threatening, with the aging Andrew Hall and Nick Boje still expected to do their share of the bowling. David Lucas is the spearhead and does well for them, but on paper the bowling does not look like one of the more penetrative on the circuit and they may well miss Van der Wath this season.

Of course, such games are the ones that Derbyshire need to win if we are to remain credible promotion contenders. A draw would be no bad result, but if we can force another positive result from this one, with Sussex and Leicestershire battling it out at Hove, we may have a better idea of the genuine contenders by the end of this encounter.

Northamptonshire squad

S.Peters
M.Loye
A.Wakeley
D.Sales
R.White
A Hall
N Boje
P Harrison (Wk)
J Middlebrook
D Lucas
J Brooks
V Tripathi
D Willey
L Evans