Down but a long way from out

John Morris was exactly right last night when he said that Derbyshire were 10-15 runs short of what would have won the game.

Even to the armchair spectator - perhaps that should be especially, given the excellent view afforded of everything - last night never looked a game where a batsman would really get going. The TV experts showed that there were green patches where the unevenness of the surface had left areas more grassed than might have been preferred. It was the first time that one of the new wickets had been used and inevitable that they will take time to settle.

Such wickets, if they are to be the norm for our campaign, will be a dream for Charl Langeveldt, but we are unlikely to see the best of Loots Bosman because playing extravagant shots is unlikely to prove productive. On a true surface where he can go through with his shots, Bosman could get us off to a flyer, but we were guilty of too many "boom or bust" strokes in the early innings last night. As the TV experts picked up, Chesney Hughes' tactic of throwing the bat at everything enabled the fielders in the ring to go back to the edge and cut off the frequently mistimed strokes. A far better tactic would have been to work it around a little, nudge and nurdle a few here and there. It is constructive criticism of a young man who is undoubtedly a fine talent and part of the learning curve.

It was a murky night for cricket and the crowd was disappointing. The "floating" fans will want a better night's weather and those who want to see the ball disappearing over their heads would have been, on the whole, disappointed. I was more than a little bemused by the frequent, Seven Dwarfs-style "Hiiii- hooooo" that came over the PA on a regular basis. If there's a reason for this I'd appreciate someone telling me, but if the idea was for the crowd to reply it failed - miserably. Maybe it's a localised attempt at the "mad trumpeter" of the IPL, but met with a reception that was so luke-warm as to have ice forming on it...

As John Morris also pointed out, we failed to keep the board ticking over. Even when the conditions are not ripe for extravagant shots, nudging one a ball gets you 120 before you do anything else. That made Warwickshire's reply all the more surprising, as the toss in such games is a big factor. Playing all the big shots with only six an over required struck me as a little odd and they soon found themselves in trouble against the excellent Jones and Groenewald. While Ian Bell looked the best batsman on display, he rode his luck and survived a difficult bottom edge chance to Lee Goddard in the early 40's. There were also a couple that dropped between fielders and on another night - who knows? Yet Bell played some superb shots and on such a surface a batsman needs luck.

Having praised Bell, credit is also due to Greg Smith, Wes Durston and Robin Peterson for the way they got us up to a passable total. Smith played some of the best cricket shots of the night and looks a player of class when he gets going, while Peterson, despite frustrating with several failed reverse sweeps, unveiled a couple of astonishing strokes in the last over. Durston must have found conditions a long way removed from Taunton, but applied himself well and again looks a player worth signing on a permanent basis.

Smith as skipper? I thought he did a good job, again backing himself at the death and bowling steadily. He changed his attack around and his only mistake was in "losing" one over of the excellent Tim Groenewald on a seamers track. For what it's worth, I thought Park might have caused more problems than he did last night with the ball, but c'est la vie.

At the start of the T20, if you'd told me we'd have won two from the first three I'd have laughed. With Langeveldt hopefully here before tomorrow's game against Slytherin…sorry, Nottinghamshire, a similar attitude could see us kick on from here. Whether we can make the quarter finals it is way too premature to say, but we're undoubtedly playing this game better.

One final point - very impressed by the control in these matches - we're conceding very few extras and bowling wicket to wicket. It is good to see and long may it last.