Derbyshire 345 and 241
Leicestershire 314 and 273-7 (O'Brien 87, Palladino 3-32)
When we look back on this season in the depths of winter, this game will be looked back upon as another one that got away.
While acknowledging correctly the threat of Niall O'Brien, a very good wicket-keeper batsman, I didn't really see a way that we could lose today. That the home side lost only three more wickets in scoring the required runs was disappointing and it would appear that we were off the pace intensity-wise today.
It's a shame and I feel for Wayne Madsen and Billy Godleman, scorers of very good centuries that should have seen them on the winning side. It didn't happen and they will have been frustrated in failing to turn a position of some dominance into the points.
Got to credit the opposition though. Ali's four-and-a-half hour 42 cannot have been fun to watch, but was mightily effective, while Raine and Agathangelou contributed well. Half chances weren't taken and there's no doubt that the loss of Wes Durston was a major one in the field, thoroughly exposing our lack of quality spin options.
It's been one of those seasons. A step forward and one back, sometimes two. We just need to continue battling and aim for as high a finish as we can, before revamping the squad over the winter months.
In other news today, Wayne White signed for Leicestershire again, which was no surprise and exactly as I suggested a few days back. He 's a good player and may well rekindle his old skills for them. He deserves to do well and I wish him the same.
Finally tonight, I did a piece for Cricinfo on the young players emerging in the club and it is now live on their site
Hope you enjoy it...
Good piece on Cricinfo Steve. The less said about today's cricket the better.
ReplyDeleteThanks Tim..yeah not a good day..
ReplyDeleteAlways a risk only playing 3 bowlers , the 3 allrounders are all essentially the fifth bowlers, it only works if the extra batsman ( Hughes) contributes, but he didn't. You have to give credit to the opposition, in the position they found themselves it was an easy game to lose, battled far harder than we have on occasions this season.
ReplyDeleteIf a match like this occured once or even twice per season,observers might put it down to "one of those things" and move on quietly to the next match. With us,it,s a recurring theme and one which rears it,s ugly head with increasing frequency. There can be little in the way of mitigation to excuse a defeat such as this against any team and especially against a side as mediocre as these.
ReplyDeleteWe had more than enough bowling to win this match twice over from the position we were in on Sunday evening and I question whether the most ardent Leicestershire supporter held even a passing thought of winning. Perhaps that late flurry of wickets contributed to believing we only had to go through the motions to secure the points. It,s hard to see where this result will not have an effect on morale,which is far from ideal when the time comes to face Durham,with or without Durston. A very disappointing match.
I was too depressed to think about it last night, and hardly more in the mood for it today. I think you said in your preview, Peakfan, that Surrey had been the nadir of our season but we certainly surpassed it yesterday and I'm not sure we're there yet.
ReplyDeleteYou could see Surrey as a pathetic capitulation over two bad sessions in a game that we'd competed in otherwise against one of the favourites for promotion, albeit very much weakened in that match. Against Leicester, we didn't play very much below par but still weren't good enough against a Leics team who have been beaten heavily in their previous 5 matches, hadn't scored more than 253 in 10 innings, and hadn't scored more than 200 in their second innings in their last 7 matches.
I'm afraid that this reflects our real status, as a team struggling to get sucked into a fight for the wooden spoon. Buoyed by their success against us, and strengthened by our generous donation of the (statistically) most successful bowler for the rest of the season, Leics may now go on a bit of a run, in which case, we can only hope that Kent prove to be even more supine than we have become. Have we really improved since Graeme Welch took charge - remembering that at this time two years ago we were fighting hard in Division 1 to avoid relegation, or last year, when we twice beat Leicestershire by huge margins. We have no effective spin bowling, no young batsmen developing, overseas players who have been an embarrassment for much of the season, a glut of young players who, despite a great deal of potential, are actually making slow and uneven progress, and a readiness to shed the experienced players who might be able to support their development by providing a solid spine to the team.
I also don't place much faith in Graeme Welch's ability to identify the right players to strengthen during the winter, given his track record - Amla, Dilshan, Rimmington being expensive failure, White either a mistake in recruiting him or a failure in man management. Of the players he's brought in, only Rutherford has been a success. I'm confident that Thakor will come good, but he hasn't had the impact that was expected of him. It's not impressive, even though his hands have been tied to an extent by budget tied up in non-contributing senior players on long contracts. The approach I want to see this winter is that he should be asked to set targets for the last year of his contract, and to be judged against those, rather than be given the opportunity to start another phase of development with vague promises of improvement. I'm confident that in his business career Chris Grant would not have tolerated an employee who had lost money on deals for two years in succession, but wanted a free hand to spend more on the promise that there would be an improvement of some sort in the third year, and I don't see why a cricket club is any different.
I am sure that everyone at the club has targets. Some have met theirs...one or two surpassed and a few missed by a margin.
DeleteI agree on the overseas roles but did anyone quibble at the time? No. Wise after the event but all looked sound signings.
As does Rutherford for next year but there are no guarantees in life or sport. Welch will debrief and with the RIGHT winter recruits and further youth progress he can move things on next year.
There are big decisions to be made though that will aid that task...
Before the game I suggested Thakor should have been left out for this one, and I think playing the spinner would have been the right way to go. One has to give credit to Leicestershire, who on the last day at least clearly wanted it more, but our attack looked very one dimensional and Footitt never quite reached his peak. I've no doubt he'll come good, but with Alex hughes in the all rounder slot, we needed a 4th frontline bowler, a job Thakor in red ball cricket is not yet ready for. I also have a major problem with the tactic of never using a third man, at least a third of the runs must have come from edges there, and in a close game that was vital.
ReplyDeleteLeicestershire reminded me of when a Chris Grant took over at Derbyshire a few years ago, and I think their days in the doldrums may be coming to a close, with new men at the top and some decent youngsters, Raine and Ali especially, coming through. I particularly enjoyed the full English breakfast and the offerings available in The Meet, and if the new non members lounge were to offer the same menu and prices next season there wouldn't be many complaints! The tea and cake available in the afternoon for £2 was a real highlight!
Just really bored with this season tbqh. The championship is finished with nothing left to play for, and I'd be surprised if we get more than a hundred folk there for the remaining home matches. Utter rubbish again this season.
ReplyDeleteHarsh Mark. There's been some good stuff though it didn't pan out as many, including me, expected.
ReplyDeleteBet there'll be more than that at games too. A lot of people can see slow, but definite progress and there's many months ahead to miss it...
Just ahead of two big games being bored is your choice Mark but not mine. How we have managed to lose games from winning positions is frustrating but certainly not boring.If you are so bored, not sure what motivates you, or what it adds to tell other supporters.
ReplyDelete