Well, the defeat I expected came to pass and Nottinghamshire won in the end by some distance, but Derbyshire were far from disgraced tonight.
That this was the case was thanks to a superb century from Wes Durston, an inspired choice as opening batsman, who matched Loots Bosman run for run and then forged ahead in a magnificent display of hitting. 111 for Durston before being run out off just 59 balls, setting a new club record in the process for an individual T20 innings.
Sadly, that was as good as it got, and I think we messed up at the end of the innings, only 13 coming from the last fifteen balls. Nannes is a very good bowler, to be fair, but we should have reached 200 if only for the psychological value. There were unnecessary big shots when working it around may have been more productive.
Nottinghamshire got off to the flyer we feared in reply, taking 20 from the first over as Steff Jones had the game from hell. His three overs went for 53 runs tonight and we never recovered. For my money, Greg Smith missed a trick in the field by leaving the seamers on for too long. Only when seven overs had gone for a hundred did he and Peterson come on, while Durston strangely didn't bowl at all. Whether he was tired or injured after his hundred I can't say, but when the seamers are disappearing to all parts there was a strong argument for him to at least turn his arm over, having done well in other matches.
While Peterson and Smith shared five wickets, the damage had been done and Samit Patel steered Nottinghamshire to a win that Durston's earlier heroics didn't deserve.
The good news is that Charl Langeveldt should now be in Derby in time for the game on Sunday against Durham, who won tonight and will welcome back Paul Collingwood for one of his two allowed T20 games. Langers arrives at just the right time and I suspect that we might not see the run fest that there was tonight.
Wes Durston went for 10 runs in the one over he bowled against Warwickshire the other night, but still might have been worth a turn when Steffan was unusually getting carted all over the place tonight. Have you heard anything as to whether we are likely to, or indeed able to sign him for the rest of the season?
ReplyDeleteOne other thing - although there may not have been many balls remaining, I would certainly have promoted Steffan up the order tonight, for me he should have come in before either Madsen or Goddard.
Not heard anything Alan, though John Morris isn't daft and will know there's likely to be other interest after Durston's recent heroics. He's signed for T20 but other cricket will depend on club finances.
ReplyDeleteAs for Jones - yes, moving him up the order might have worked, though against Nannes its hard for any batsman.
Its worth remembering we only played one overseas player against two tonight.