Derbyshire v Yorkshire

Breathe....

And again....

Right, after the widespread anger and disappointment over Derbyshire's "performance" last night, it is back to business tomorrow. We need to beat Yorkshire at Derby, while Durham do us a favour and beat Northamptonshire at the Riverside.

The best bet on last night's form is for a Durham win and then for us all to hope it buckets down at the County Ground so we get a point for the draw. Pessimistic maybe, but they'll have to up the performance considerably to beat even a Yorkshire side that are not especially good themselves. The collapse of our middle order last night was reminiscent of so many bad Derbyshire sides of the past, dropping like a pack of cards.

For me, there needs to be a little rethink before tomorrow as Greg Smith is not in the greatest of touch at three. He's a good player and I respect the way that he likes to lead from the front, but sometimes it is what is best for the team. I would prefer to see Chesney Hughes back in the side with Smith dropping to number four. We need to pick a side to win a game, so my side would be

Bosman
Durston
Hughes
Smith
Park
Madsen
Peterson
Goddard
Jones
Groenewald
Langeveldt

I also think that Steffan Jones could be punted up the order if we need quick runs. Irrespective of what it says about batsmen, he is both top of the averages and has the best strike rate in the side. His cameo last night, which marginally improved both Derbyshire's total and net run rate, could yet prove crucial as at present ours is still ahead of Northamptonshire.

No news of the other sides playing tomorrow. I expect Yorkshire to bring a decent side, but I just hope that our campaign doesn't end on another downer.

We'll see.

One final point. Someone on IMWT today says that we had a stronger team under Dave Houghton. Eh? I know things are gloomy after last night, but they're nowhere near THAT bad.