Derbyshire v Australia

I don't know about you, but I thought that Australia might have been 70-1 after the first hour today and certainly not 60-3.

To remove three seriously big guns in Katich, Watson and Clarke in that time was extraordinary and full credit should go to Atif Sheikh and Mark Footitt for good opening spells. Yes, Footitt in particular came in for some heavy treatment, but when you mix it with the big boys that's what happens.

We all know that the club have some talented young batsmen coming through, but today's play gave a large crowd the opportunity to see some of our bowlers. Sheikh's bowling was very impressive by all accounts and how thrilled must Matt Higginbottom have been to bowl his first over in senior cricket to Ricky Ponting and manage a maiden? These lads can be very proud of their efforts and they did pretty well.

Of course, in a time of trouble you can usually bank on Ricky Ponting coming to the rescue, in much the same way that Steve Waugh used to do. I'd have put money on the skipper making a good score and I'm sure the crowd enjoyed seeing one of the modern greats of the game in action. It's one of the many things that separate a football and cricket crowd. I remember seeing players like Eusebio and George Best booed at the old Baseball Ground, but have never understood why people do that. You're seeing a giant of the game on your doorstep, so enjoy it while it lasts, as I'm sure today's crowd did.

After that initial hour, the Australians gradually found their range and their timing as the bowlers' early adrenalin rush subsided. Ponting and Hussey restored the natural order of things and the runs mounted at a steady rate. By lunchtime it seemed likely that the mighty Australian batting machine would be setting us a total of at least 450, maybe even 500 tomorrow, as they went in on 143-3 after 27 overs of batting. It was, of course, men against boys, a little like me batting against the local primary school, though the bowlers stuck to their task well in the circumstances.

I'm not sure why Hussey batted on after making his century to be honest, with plenty of men in the dressing room who needed batting practice, but I'm sure everyone enjoyed seeing a world class batsman at work. Apart from the ones who had to bowl to him, of course, with Jake Needham taking some serious stick from the left-hander before dismissing him for 132 as he hit out.

Higginbottom and Sheikh both returned creditable figures, testimony to their accuracy and resilience, while Jake Needham came back quite well later in the day after his Hussey treatment, ending up with three wickets. It was good to see him back in the first team again.

I'm pretty pleased that an attack with very modest first class experience bowled out the full Australian side in less than 90 overs. A lot of sides would be pleased with that.

Of course, the likelihood of Derbyshire chasing down the Australians total tomorrow is roughly similar to that of me playing for Spain in the World Cup Final on Sunday, but I just hope that we make them work and Chris Rogers gets a good knock against his fellow countrymen.

If we can't have him back next year, we'd take Ponting or Hussey, wouldn't we?

Ah well, a man can dream...