Essex 291-4 (Browne 116 not out, Westley 73, Milnes 2-48)
v Derbyshire
Essex's day, largely thanks to another (predicted, I thank you) century from Nick Browne, who now averages 227 against Derbyshire in a relatively brief first-class career.
With Greg Cork omitted from the side, our seam attack was Milnes and Palladino, with Alex Hughes perhaps bowling first change seamer for the first time in his first-class career. They all bowled tidily, Milnes much improved on his control from Leicester and seemingly impressive. Had Neil Broom held what was described as a regulation slip catch after tea, we might have deemed it a decent day from a young attack.
Callum Parkinson again impressed and I like what I have seen of Alex Mellor, who held one very good catch and from what I hear looks a compact and able wicket-keeper. I have no idea when we last bowled three spinners before lunch at Derby on the first day, but reckon that it must be a long time back.
I predicted a draw last night and we have the batting to ensure that happens. Browne may well go on to his second double ton of the summer from our bowling, but we must dig in, continue to bowl with the control shown today and see what happens.
More from me tomorrow.
To be honest about today, Derbyshire did about as well as they could (Broom excepted) but that made it worse than if they had had a shocker. It's a measure of how far we have sunk that we could genuinely say that this was almost the best we could have done. We might not be able to do much about the injuries to our already weak bowling, but we cannot seriously go into matches with Alex Hughes as a third seamer, or two 19 year old spinners on a pitch which is unlikely to turn very much. You may be happy to say how good it is that we are giving young players opportunities, but for those of us who are spending our time and money watching Derbyshire, we want to see the strongest sides we can muster for the last third of our home matches to give us the best chance of avoiding the wooden spoon.
ReplyDeleteBroom's drop was the latest in a long line of errors in the field by him, and it beggars belief that Chesney Hughes should have been dropped before him. I don't accept that McDonnell's second eleven form compelled his selection for this game (his last eight innings contain two half-centuries, highest score 74, and an average of 37) hut arguably he can't do worse than Broom (last 5 Div 2 innings an average of 14 with a highest score of 30). Hughes didn't have a great game against Leicestershire, but his record in the same 5 innings is an average of 45 with a highest score of 122 and another half century).
If I was Chesney Hughes, I would be spitting about this, and it may be that he was, as Greg Cork was doing 12th man duties supported by the injured Ben Cotton as bottle carrier, with Hughes conspicuous by his absence.
It was not the most engaging day of county cricket that you will see but our much depleted bowling attack largely stuck to their line and length throughout the day. Tom Milnes has bowled quite well in the last two games and it was unusual but good to see two spinners in operation at Derby. Although I could not understand why Wayne was bought on before Matt Critchley as Wayne is only a part-time bowler and it does not display much confidence in your frontline spinner. This was not the first occasion this season that this has occurred.
ReplyDeleteIt will be interesting to see how we bat in response to what you will imagine will be a 450+ total. I am especially interested to see how Charlie MacDonnell and Alex Mellor perform. I have seen Charlie play some very impressive innings in the seconds and Alex is certainly capable with the bat, he had some outstanding innings at Staffordshire where he opened the batting. I believe that he is only on a one year deal at Warwickshire and he could be worth pursuing as his keeping is very good and we will need someone to compete with Harvey for the gloves next year. It is surprising that we never looked at him when he was at Staffordshire and he was trialling at a fair few counties prior to signing with Warwickshire.
We do bat right down to number 11, hopefully Callum Parkinson has already been promoted above Tom and Tony in the batting order and I am confident that we should be able to post a strong total in response.
I do question on some mental levels with some staff that we have given up. This won't be taken lightly in the spirit of the game by Gloucestershire who are fighting Essex for promotion. Well done Milnes again by the way and the young spinner. Crazy selections and order's of duty. Alex Hughes at 3?? Chesney opening for Lullington whilst we are getting skittled and an overseas big signing awol. Add to that and Durston who was at 3 a couple of years ago has been on yhe beach, so to speak for 2 weeks. We are in desperate need of leadership at the club!
ReplyDelete