As I suggested last night, today was largely one of leather-chasing for Derbyshire and Leicestershire declared with a lead of 200. I should have picked my lottery numbers while I was in such a vein of form...
Apart from two quick wickets in the afternoon for Mark Turner, both to catches by Usman Khawaja, the cricket suggested that the perils of the first two days were a thing of the past.
That being the case, there should be no reason why we cannot bat out tomorrow and get a draw from this game. I accept that in Matthew Hoggard and Claude Henderson Leicestershire have the two best bowlers in the match, but I can't believe that our bowlers are as innocuous as they have appeared over the past two days. To be fair they stuck to their task well and only went for three an over, but a few averages went downhill in that innings. Good game for Tony Palladino to miss, methinks...
Can we bat all day tomorrow? I hope so and think so. We can bat down to number ten and all they need to do is stay in. Runs don't matter - leave anything wide and just play the ones you need to and hit the bad ones. The field will be close set but the hosts will realise that once we get past their lead the game is dying on its feet and each run effectively counts double.
If we don't manage to bat out the day I may need to reassess our chances for the season, but I'm confident that our batting is capable of holding out against their bowling, unless the game recommences with heavy cloud cover.
Don't let me down now lads.
'once we get past theuir lead'??????
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