Derbyshire 332-9 (Critchley 102, Godleman 79 not, Madsen 54, Sandhu 36 not)
v Durham
When opportunity knocks, as old Hughie Green used to say, who will open the door?
Today, most assuredly, Matt Critchley did. Last night I couldn't see how he would play, but Gary Wilson presumably had an issue with the knee injury that has troubled him this summer. He thus joined Shiv Thakor, Hardus Viljoen and Will Davis on the sidelines and it left a Derbyshire attack of two left and one right arm seamers, two leg-spinners and an off-spinner (maybe two, if we include Wayne Madsen).
There is certainly a hint of eastern appeal in the bowling, with Indian, Pakistani and Afghan origin bowlers in there, They have something to bowl at tomorrow too, and I am sure that Imran Tahir will be in the attack fairly quickly. Curiously, the combined age of our other two spinners isn't quite that of Tahir...
Critchley did a fabulous job and, given opportunity, took it with both hands. At 20, his bowling has a long way to go, but if he can develop his batting to true all-rounder status he will be hard to omit, whoever is fit. He showed in this year's RLODC that he could really hit a ball and today's innings, if it wasn't already, cemented his place in that side, I'd have thought.
There was another fifty for Wayne Madsen, who will be a little frustrated at again getting out when set, but Billy Godleman, batting at six, nursed the innings to respectability, mainly with assistance from Gurjit Sandhu, who exceeded his previous best by 28 runs in making an unbeaten 36, sharing in an unbroken last wicket stand of 66 in the process. As debut impressions go, that's a pretty impressive one. I suspect he won't bat eleven in the second innings...
There were a few failures along the way, as you will always get, but I would expect Billy Godleman and Kim Barnett will be quite pleased with the score at the end of the first day.
My mind was on the game all day and in other circumstances I would have been there. The crowd was apparently excellent and I look forward to hearing from those who were there, as well as those who, like me, had other things to do.
More from me tomorrow, when hopefully the news is equally positive.
One thing is for sure. Results may not have gone as we wanted and we have a few too many injuries for comfort, but there is nothing wrong with the team spirit.
I went down for the last hour and a half after work and took the kids. Very tame dismissals for our two spinners with the bat and I expected a swift end if Sandhu was to be worse than Tahir.
ReplyDeleteUnexpectedly though he was mostly excellent - one clip through midwicket suggesting his stats (minimal as they are) aren't a reflection on his skills with the bat.
We had to bat first with the side we had out & I suspect we'll be reasonably satisfied with that.
went today and enjoyed it very much - billy was nearly late for toss and then didnt bat too highly - apparently felt ill - but he batted very well in late afternoon and evening session (had a reprieve when umps decided ball didnt carry to gully and Durham then chirped at him all rest of his innings but from what i saw he gave it back well). Young Matt was superb and almost faultless innings (maybe played and missed at a few but gave no chances) - class knock.
ReplyDeleteMads did ok but was dropped by a sitter early on (Durhams fielding wasnt that good tbh). Sandu - well i dint see that coming - played some calls shots (one straight drive was sublime) and no way he will bat 11 in second innings. Reece was done plumb in front and Alex Hughes left one that hit top of off, Smit hit a dolly catch to mid on - Slater started well but got out when set. Palladino, Qadri and Tahir didnt offer much tbh but i would have taken 332 for 9 at start with Palladino batting 8! Going again tomorrow and after we sneak past 350 i hope lets see how Durham do with a cloudy day forecast!
Super day, cricket at Chesterfield at its very best. The pitch was bouncing inconsistently from the lake end, Madsen took a very nasty blow but did well to come through and at least make it to lunch. Hughes and Reece look passengers with the bat at present but Critchley played a blinder coming in up the order. It was a better innings than his ton a couple of years ago, with a better range of shots but still retaining the positive approach. Smit is an excellent keeper but his batting looks very weak - I think teams have worked him out already, and can't see him scoring runs any time soon unfortunately. The rest of the tail performed as expected but Sandhu kept Godleman company until the close, and I think 332 is a good score on a wicket that will turn later.
ReplyDeleteDurham looked very poor, and have clearly misread conditions in picking 4 front line seamers. They fielded very badly, set negative fields with men out square for a good proportion of the day, and I'm pretty confident we have 3 keepers in our squad who are better than Poynter, who clearly struggled albeit not helped by some wayward bowling. I can't be there for the rest of the game but against a side short of Jennings, Stokes and Latham I'll be disappointed if we lose this match with runs on the board.
Sold out for Saturday's game, thanks for the info guys, I was too late, absolutely gutted. Well done to Matt Critchley I didn't see that coming, fantastic innings.
ReplyDeleteAs an aside anyone else notice twenty five wickets went down on day one of Gloucester v Glamorgan, scandalous stuff. Someone's in trouble there.
What an enthralling day's play at Queens Park. A good crowd for a Monday with a good few from Durham.
ReplyDeleteDerbyshire's innings was a bit hit and miss but considering the absentees and a lengthy tail it was a commendable effort. Slater batted well early on and he will be disappointed to get out when he looked set. However, it was good to see Wayne Madsen in the runs again, especially after that painful blow to his hand. Hope there are no after effects with so many injuries at the moment. The inclusion of Matthew Critchley was unexpected but what a wonderful innings. He played some lovely shots from the outset and despatched anything loose with aplomb. What a mercurial talent, l can't believe he is only twenty. With the side crying out for some runs at five or six, maybe this young man is the answer. One hopes so.
Odd to see Billy at six and l wasn't privy to the reasons for his late entrance and at one stage it looked likely that he would run out of partners and be stranded in the forties. That would have been a waste but then along came Gurjit Sandhu to quickly suggest he wasn't a number eleven just making up the numbers. He played some delightful strokes and his unbeaten partnership with Billy has given us the edge on day one.
A very entertaining day's cricket and the battling performance augurs well for the rest of the match.
And while on the subject of Derbyshire cricket it was good to bump into Brian Jackson in the crowd today. What a fine bowler he was in the sixties opening the bowling with Harold Rhodes. Wonderful memories.
Stuart, York
Terrific, informative reports gentlemen. Thank you. I would have loved to be there with you...
ReplyDeleteEnjoyable day. Never seen wayne so sketchy early on in his innings seemed badly out of form but hopefully that knock has helped. Billy was apparently feeling unwell hence batted at 6.
ReplyDeleteAnother curate's egg performance to be sure, but it certainly makes for gripping watching, and the unlikely last wicket partnership has put us very firmly back in a driving seat that we looked like giving up. The pitch was misbehaving at times, but that made Critchley's innings all the richer, given that no-one else batted without mishaps and let-offs. I think you could probably count the number of times he played and missed on one hand, and some of his shots were simply sublime. One of the problems, of course, with him establishing a place as a batsman(as I commented pre-season) is that he's not going to get the amount of bowling he needs to develop, and it's easy to see his leg-spin going the same way as Kim Barnett's after he established a place as a batsman.
ReplyDeleteHis inclusion, and Godleman's enforced drop down the order meant that we didn't have a middle order collapse on the scale we've seen recently, but simply transferred it to either side of the big partnership. With a tail of the length we have in this match and are likely to have for the rest of the season, this proves that we can't continue with Hughes and Smit unless they are contributing with the bat.
Smit's dismissal was embarrassing for a front-line batsman, and spoke of desperation about how to get the ball past fielders. We can disagree on just how good a wicket-keeper he is in comparison to others, but we can't carry a specialist wicket-keeper with the tail that we have now. I've noted recent comments about Hosein not scoring enough runs in the seconds, and given Critchley's success, I had a look to see how they compared. Hosein has 414 runs in all second XI formats with a century and three half-centuries at an average of 52, Critchley 366 at an average of 46 with a century and a half-century. Hosein has had a bit of a dip in his last couple of innings, but it would be interesting to know what weight of runs would be needed for him to be considered for a place in such a badly malfunctioning middle order. Unless he's given the opportunity, we'll have no idea whether he can replicate what Critchley has done, but maybe that's the point of keeping him out of the picture.
I don't think there is any Macchiavellian scheme to keep Harvey out, notoveryet. The reality is that Critchley has two, maybe three routes into the team. Harvey has one.And in the last two weeks when he could feasibly have forced in, he made 20 and 14.
DeleteYou know as well as I do (and have cited often) that second team runs alone aren't an indicator of first team runs. Why, Smit got 200 in his last knock for them...
If Smit fails again, the pressure will mount and he will know that. If the roles are reversed and Harvey gets in, he will be under the same scrutiny with bat and gloves and will need to be ready for it.
Professional sport is all about winning and those in charge of teams will always choose the players that give them the best chance.
If Harvey gets in and does well I will be thrilled for him and the club. Like the rest of you, I just want to see a winning side...whoever is in it!
Of course Sandhu won't bat 11 in the 2nd innings, we'll have declared long before then.....
ReplyDeletePeak Fan...I note you say HH has but one route into the First Team. Thus do you consider his keeping or his batting as sub standard ?
ReplyDeleteNo Steve, both are of a very good standard. But there is only one place in the side as wicket-keeper batsman, as you know.
ReplyDeleteNot sure about that PF..if Matt Critchley has been picked as a batsman today ( well done Matt), then with similar 2nd Xl batting figures why not he be CONSIDERED as a batsman alone? Do you think that so remote? To also counter your position , we've been playing two wicketkeeper batsmen most of the season so far, so why not now?
ReplyDeleteI know there are several of us with bees in our bonnets over this. I know professional sport is a hard place to be, let's still hope it's a fair place.
He could be Steve. So that being the case he needs to continue batting well in the 2s and force his way into the batting on runs alone.
DeleteBut unless he is going to get a lot, or suggest that, the people he is ostensibly up against...Hughes, Reece, Critchley...offer a bowling option.
So for the selectors..NOT me..it would become a case of would he do better, or offer more to the balance of the side, than them.
Only they can answer that
And Wilson dropped out on the morning of the game. Critch was there and took advantage.
DeleteThe next game will be an interesting one..but it is a little time till that!
Re Hughes and Reece , they offer a bowling option which is rarely used by Godleman as it is not fit for purpose in the 4 day game .
ReplyDeleteAs batsmen they both flatter to deceive far too often and could be replaced by Hosein , one of the few players on the staff who are prepared to bat time.
Could be, yes. Though Reece bowled first change here. H could be in the mix when CC resumes
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