Middlesex v Derbyshire CB40

The long and short of it is that we played poorly tonight. The batting was, Durston apart, fairly average, although Steve Finn bowled a good spell for Middlesex.

The bowling was also lacking, especially at the start of the innings. Steffan Jones did OK, but I shared the commentators thoughts that we went on to the defensive too soon in the field. The only way to win the game was to take regular wickets and removing the slips early was maybe not the right method. At the same time, I thought we had the right field for Newman, who tends to play in the air at midwicket and gets frustrated when his route through there is blocked - hence the thrash to Madsen for the first wicket.

The commentators waxed lyrical about Paul Stirling, who can hit a ball, but he's a tonker, not necessarily blessed with a textbook technique for me. A long way to go for him, but a potential one-day player for England in the future if he doesn't over-complicate things along the way. His knock took the game away from us, so good luck to the lad.

Tomorrow we start the Championship match, apparently on the same track, and the way that one or two balls straightened today suggested that batting last might not be a breeze. Not that we have a regular spinner in the side...

Sad to relate, we didn't show up on a biggish occasion again this evening.

Tomorrow will hopefully be better. Maybe Steve Finn will be in the Test side....