Its a funny thing, confidence.
After scoring his maiden century for Derbyshire today, following two for Yorkshire, David Wainwright must have felt ten feet tall and gone out to bowl feeling he was Bishan Bedi.
We've all been there. Take a few wickets and your bat feels like Excalibur; bat well and your bowling possesses devilment beyond its normal compass. It's funny, but true and Wainwright capitalised today by becoming only the third man since 1937 to take five wickets and score a century in a match.
The other two, for the record, were one Graeme Welch and Jonathan Clare, the latter sadly some way from such triumphs at present. Back in 1937, we were somewhat spoilt and had both Les Townsend and George Pope manage the feat, indicative of the quality of those two outstanding all-rounders.
Top marks to Tom Taylor for a terrific supporting knock again today, though he looks like having to wait for his first wicket. Scott Elstone took another couple of wickets to reinforce his growing reputation, but things could have been so much better had we not again missed decent chances in the field. It is frustrating, to say the least and I hope our profligacy in these areas doesn't come back to bite us tomorrow.
We look like chasing under 200 to win. I'd have been much happier had it been around 150, but with all day to get them and the opposition not having the most demanding of attacks, we should be asking serious questions if we don't get there. I just hope we go out with a positive but sensible intent, rather than trying to grind them out, which is when we often get into trouble. With Alex Wyatt batting with a runner tonight, it would appear he is unlikely to bowl, which leaves them struggling a little.
Sincere congratulations to David Wainwright tonight. He's had a rough old summer so far but might just have bowled us to the verge of a first win of the campaign and reaffirmed his talent into the bargain.
Though I'm not going anywhere near those chickens for a roll call at this stage...
I'm not going to think about tomorrow just yet. Well done to David Wainwright though - excellent to see and clever captaincy to chuck him the ball before lunch. I was thinking just that actually as I perused the early Leicestershire score and glanced at the clock. Confidence is absolutely key in cricket and we've been blessed with very little of that given results in 2014.
ReplyDeleteI'm disappointed for Taylor to be wickletless but his innings suggests he won't end his career a natural number 11.
Fingers crossed for the morning.
First victory of the season coming up. We'll win this by Seven wickets.
ReplyDeleteMagnificent effort from Wainwright has almost single handedly got us back in the game here. Surely we are due some decent top order batting by the law of averages! Decent forecast - what can go wrong......
ReplyDeleteI refuse to be optimistic. It's not in the bag yet and results this season and last year have sadly shown that Derbyshire are more than capable of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. I hope that is not the case. David Wainwright's performances deserve better. Could this be the win to kick-start the season? Fingers crossed.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to Wainwright with both bat and ball. I can,t see the Leicestershire innings lasting beyond an over or two against the new ball,so yes,the target should be under 200.
ReplyDeleteWe are not up against the most potent of attacks so I fancy us to knock these off with ease. We have plenty of time but need to play normally,keep the scoreboard rolling and punish the bad balls. It,s a wonder their isn,t torrential rain forecast tomorrow. Maybe the world will end instead.