Derbyshire 282-8 (Hosein 79 not, Hughes 55)
v Leicestershire
A battling, unbeaten innings of 79 from Harvey Hosein, in the course of which he took his season average to 194, took Derbyshire to a position they would be quietly pleased with by the close.
On what appears to be a slow wicket that offered help all day, we lost both openers early, recovered through Alex Hughes and Wayne Madsen, then slumped again, before Harvey got help from the tail and steered the ship to a better-than-it-looked-earlier total by the close.
Scoring runs never appeared easy, but Harvey pushed on well in the final session, ably assisted by Tony Palladino and Tom Milnes. Reaching 300 tomorrow would be impressive and a maiden century is tantalisingly within reach for a very talented young cricketer, who already has a career-best to his name.
Mention too for Alex Hughes, who again showed he has the technique and battle for the key role at number three. Leicestershire have a good and experienced seam attack, Mckay and Shreck being wily campaigners, but he did well and deserves an extended run in the position next year.
It all makes for an interesting day tomorrow.
Postscript - delighted to see Tom Wood make his senior bow today and I'm happy to correct an error from last night. Tom was never on the DCCC Academy, although he had a few games for them in his younger days.
His progress o the county game is an object lesson for any young cricketer - that you can get there if you are prepared to battle, even if there are rejections along the way.
I am sure the runs will come for him with extended opportunity - which I hope will be forthcoming.
dead game for 2 uninterested teams leics appeared to be going thrugh the motions sadly. harvey undelring no need for another keeper (especially a aged mercenary from o/s) to block him, despite being very luck dropped twice and a couple of good lbw shouts againt him.
ReplyDeletea win at the rump of the season against a leics side with 0 to play for will not add any gloss to the season however much its spun!
high peak
Both agree and disagree with High Peak's comment. I differ from him to the extent that I thought this was a spirited and enjoyable day's cricket from both sides, albeit both short on confidence which affected the quality, and I think it does matter that we get a win and get off the bottom. I agree with him that a win here doesn't cover up the awfulness of this season, and even more so that Hosein's batting has developed so much that he's well able to bat at 7. This was an innings of strength and nerve, highlighted by his ramp shot off the spinner just before he reached 50. I said a couple of weeks ago that we are getting close to the best batting side we've had since the golden years of Barnett et al, and the performances of Slater, Hughes and Hosein in the last couple of games have added to this. More consistency needs to be achieved, but a top 7 of Godleman, Slater, Chesney Hughes, Madsen, Alex Hughes, Thakor and Hosein won't often let us down in the short term, and could become a real powerhouse in the longer term. This would then allow our resources to be concentrated on strengthening the bowling, which has been the real reason for our declining fortunes in the last three years.
ReplyDeleteI know you're an advocate of the "aged overseas mercenary", Peakfan, (perhaps a little harsh, High Peak) but I was interested to find out that before his century against Northants last year, Alex Hughes batting record was almost identical to Hosein's before today's imnnings, and while Hughes' development since then has been marked, I think the development in Hosein since last year has been even more so. I'm sure both have grown three inches in the last couple of weeks, and carry a new air of authority and confidence on the field which must not be stifled through any recruitment.
As far as the position of the game is concerned, Derbyshire will probably be marginally the better pleased of the teams, although Leics may benefit as the outfield dries out and speeds up - our total might well have been 50 runs higher if the outfield had been quicker. I don't think there was much in the pitch apart from some sharp bounce at times, and it's unlikely there will be as much movement through the air on days 2 and 3 as there was today. It'll be interesting to see if Leics batting has recovered from the battering it's taken in the last two matches, but if it has, we might have some hard work to do tomorrow.
As I type, Harvey has just got out for 58, his third 50 in three knocks. Doing exactly what is required of him with the bat to be our first choice.
ReplyDeleteWell played, lad.