A squad of fourteen has headed down to the Garden of England for the clash against Kent. Hope its drier than the garden of Peakfan, which is currently wind and rain lashed after winds registering 110mph at times. Unreal...
With a doubt over Dan Redfern's knee, Paul Borrington could make a delayed season debut, while there will be a decision to make over the seamers, with Mark Footitt raring to go. My guess is that we'll narrow it down to the following 12:
Wayne Madsen, Paul Borrington, Chesney Hughes, Usman Khawaja, Wes Durston, Greg Smith, Luke Sutton (Captain), Jonathan Clare, Azeem Rafiq, Tim Groenewald, Tony Palladino and Mark Footitt.
There's a tough call. The extra pace of Footitt or the established trio of Clare, Dino and Timmy G? Do you play all four and drop the increasingly impressive Rafiq? It will, as always, depend on the state of the wicket.
Kent have had a nightmare start in this competition, which is hard to believe with the likes of Key, Jones, Van Jaarsveld, Tredwell, Denly and "I'm in a dancing" Mahmood in the side. If that was the Derbyshire side, can you imagine the fuss at under achievement?
Denly returns from injury in the following Kent side:
Key, Denly, Northeast, van Jaarsveld, Jones, Stevens, Mahmood, Tredwell, Coles, Shaw, Saker.
I've seen it described as crucial or season-defining. A win would certainly take us up the table and another good one against Surrey would send us into the T20 having had a good first half of season. Second in the pro 40 and midway in the Championship is a world better than last year.
C'mon the shire. Lets go get 'em!
why no Park, averaging 'plenty' in the 2's and showed good form with bat ? ? ? ..... Borrington not played much at all. Hughes struggling with own form...
ReplyDeleteAny reasons?
Now that John Morris has gone it my be a good poll to do on who we think was his best signing? We all knew that John had an eye for a batsmen and the signings of Rogers, Hughes, Madsen and Durston were masterstrokes. He did well in the bargain basement for bowlers too. I wonder if Groenewald, Palladino, Jones get a shout or will Foottit turn out to be the best?
ReplyDeleteNeed a lot of space for that poll mate! Polls on blogger not working at present but still hope to run the T20 poll soon.
ReplyDeletePark? Dunno the answer to that one except we get ECB money if Bozza plays and don't with GP.
Anonymous please don't moan to me about team selection. The last manager beat 3 division one sides in his last week in charge and they sacked him because the captain didn't like the team selection, lol!
ReplyDeleteKHAWAJA. Bad news that this is Khawaja's last match. The question is now can we afford another overseas player for the 20/20 given that we are now paying lots of money to two of our highest paid employees to sit at home?
ReplyDeleteIt is disappointing about Khawaja as he seems to be hitting his stride. I had no idea there was an Australia A tour scheduled but I would have thought he would have been a fairly obvious selection for such a tour. I don't know if the tour was fixed when we signed him but if so it seems a bit of a cock up...
ReplyDeleteOn the positive side a great day for Derbyshire down in Canterbury. We'll have to wait and see if the wicket plays as easily for Kent when they bat but you can't take anything away from 327/2 (as I write). A great performance.
Spireite Tim
A very good day indeed. Im looking for the happy pills. Get to 500 tomorrow,skittle them out twice and have two days off!.Perfect scenario.
ReplyDeleteOn the Khwaja situation, when John Morris was in charge if we needed a new replacement player he would be straight on the phone to his contacts in South Africa like Mickey Arthur, his Australian connections or John Wright in New Zealand. John Morris would just click his fingers and a world class international player would be boarding a plane to England. With Sutton in charge I am worried because if he gets on the phone then no one has ever heard of him.
ReplyDeleteThe lads that got the runs today had never played county cricket before until John Morris unhearthed them for us. Thanks John if you're reading this. Two great signings!
ReplyDeleteOr (tongue in cheek) is it a case of these unshackled players post Morris being given the freedom to blossom!!
ReplyDelete