Leicestershire v Derbyshire day 4

Maybe Anon has it right in his comment to yesterday's piece. Once again Derbyshire weren't at the races today and that has become depressingly familiar for fans this year.

Now I'll accept that the wicket every day was awkward for the first hour or so. We collapsed on day one, they found it a struggle when play started on day two and hardly scored a run on day three. The same happened today, but Derbyshire's linp capitulation after the hard graft of yesterday made pitiful watching, even from a desktop scoreboard 300 miles away.

At the start of the season I wrote that our success would be down to winning sessions and the more we won, the better season we'd have. A simple fact, but the reality is that we're winning precious few of them right now.

I don't doubt, like some do, that the players are trying their hardest, but the way things are going at the moment I don't see much other than a very hard grind over the last few weeks. Leicestershire are an average side who'd not won at home since April. We made them look like Bradman's Invincibles of 1948.

Looking at the individuals in the side, you can't really dispute the quality is there, yet the sm of the parts isn't right and there's much work to do for John Morris over the winter to turn this around.

In the words of an old song, the darkest hour is just before the dawn. That being the case, I'll be looking for a few chinks of light sometime soon, as its more than a little gloomy right now.

Anyway, that's my last blog for a week, unless I find a wifi signal somewhere. I hope to see an hour or two of the Northamptonshire game at Chesterfield, but that will depend on other factors while I'm away.

For now, keep mailing me and I'll answer your mails and comments on my return.

Cheers!