Monday musings

Well, yesterday was a bit of a downer for all of us, but at least no one died, eh?

I found last night's blog a difficult one to write and decided to go and have a long leisurely bath before I did so. It is very easy to write a knee jerk reaction piece in the light of a poor result, something that a few contributors to 606 in all sports might consider. Once it is up on the system, there's not too much that you can do about it.

We have now played two, lost two in the CB40. Realistically, in both games we have been beaten by a special innings, where one batsman in prime form took the game away from us. While it is hard to criticise a batting line up that makes 299 in 40 overs, several got out when they were well set with 40, 50 and 60 to their name. While there were excellent cameos down the order, any new batsman needs time to acclimatise and we possibly finished 25-50 runs short of what might have been had one of our guys batted through.

Chesney Hughes again showed himself a remarkable prospect with a brisk 50, two catches and a run out. He has not yet been used as a bowler in these matches, which following his steady performances last year is surprising. It may be that he has a slight injury and I can understand perhaps shielding him from yesterday's onslaught, but he is a genuine talent for the future at 19. Given that most other people were going for nine or ten an over and more, he could scarcely have done worse.

I have few concerns over our batting and feel that we are capable of posting decent totals in all forms of the game. While we didn't get going at Bristol, we should rarely struggle for runs this season with the depth of talent down the order, though the bowling gave cause for concern yesterday.

Even Mr Reliable, Robin Peterson, took some hammer, though this can happen to anybody on their day. One of the greatest slow left armers in the history of the game, Hedley Verity of Yorkshire, once disappeared for 32 in one over against South African wicket keeper batsman Jock Cameron, something that prompted the now legendary comment from Yorkshire stumper Arthur Wood "You've got him in two minds, he doesn't know whether to hit thee for six or four."

To be fair, Tom Lungley and Tim Groenewald both did well with the new ball and Steffan Jones bowled a good first spell. There was a short boundary to one side and a fair sprinkling of edges from the batsmen that you cannot legislate for. Look at Botham's onslaughts in 1981 against a pretty good attack as an example of what I mean. I'm prepared to accept that we have been beaten by two special innings, but there's no doubt that we need to start winning one day matches - and fast. The televised game at Northampton on Friday would be a good place to start.

One thing that I find refreshing is John Morris' unfailing honesty in dealing with the media. His comments about yesterday on the Derby Telegraph site are probably what everyone else was thinking, so fair play for that.

Morris and Andy Brown have done a good job with the Derbyshire batting line up, but it has taken time. We now have a side that often bats down to number eleven (Stef Jones must be the best we've ever had) and has some fine stroke players. What we now need is for Jones to do a similar job with the bowlers, which will again take some time.

The right line and length for four day cricket and getting people out isn't necessarily the same as for the one day game and keeping them quiet. Twenty over cricket has shown that when someone is teeing off against length bowling, short balls and yorkers are required. Our genial Welshman may need time, though there may come a point where there's an acceptance that some of the personnel simply aren't up to the job. As Morris says, you can work on things in practice sessions, but you can't do it for them in a match situation. That is when players need to stand up and be counted. The old Derbyshire coach Dennis Smith was very hard on the players, because, as he said "you can't mollycoddle them in the middle."

At the same time, we have to be realistic and accept that the bowlers who could make a difference in such situations as yesterday command serious salaries that are outside our compass. In between times, scant consolation that it is, we have to put a big enough score on the board to make the opposition overreach.

I've said before that I don't expect us to become world beaters in one day cricket this season, possibly not even next. I will settle for competitive and few will dispute that posting 299 in 40 overs ensures that. Mind you, it also heightens the sense of frustration when it all goes pear-shaped...

Onto other matters, I'm in total agreement with Paul Collingwood that a review of Duckworth-Lewis is required for twenty over cricket. England's score yesterday was very impressive and would have won a normal length game, yet the West Indies only required success in a mini slog to take the points. In such conditions, it makes more sense for the team batting second to have to face at least ten overs before a positive result can be reached. With good wickets in hand, fifty-sixty from five overs is gettable (boy, don't we know it…) especially with short boundaries.

The good thing about Duckworth Lewis, for all the fact that it is nigh impenetrable for the novice (and I include myself in that category), is that it at least takes account of a team's acceleration in the latter part of an innings, something that the previous calculations never did. Such a calculation suggested Essex's run chase yesterday would be a tall order and I still can't believe that I smiled when I heard their revised target…

Anyway, that's it for tonight. I'm away to write a letter to the ECB, suggesting that they either revise the qualification regulations for people from Holland or ban them from playing within God's own county.

I'm guessing that Ryan ten Doeschate has Derbyshire's attack as a very personal fantasy…