Derbyshire 368 (Godleman 98, Sandhu 46 not)
Durham 274-8 (Richardson 64, Coughlin 62 not, Tahir 5-98)
Derbyshire lead by 94 runs
It didn't take Imran Tahir long to make an impression on Derbyshire cricket.
Five wickets on debut for the South African spinner put Derbyshire ahead in this one, although a ninth wicket stand of 69 by Paul Coughlin and Barry McCarthy dented our aspirations, just as our last wicket century stand between Billy Godleman and Gurjit Sandhu took the wind somewhat out of Durham sails.
There wasn't a great deal for the Derbyshire seam attack, although it appears to have been tidy. Sandhu got a wicket, to go with the positive impression made with his batting and I'll be interested to hear the opinions of those who were there as to his value.
Then came Tahir. While Hamidullah Qadri was again tidy and picked up a wicket, Tahir whirled away for almost thirty overs and picked up five wickets on his county debut, the first time in the club's history that this has happened in successive matches. No one older has done this on debut either, so records seem to be tumbling thick and fast right now.
Maybe Matt Critchley will get a bowl in the second innings, but there's only two ends and Tahir can expect a lot of bowling before the end of the summer. A fit new ball pairing would give us a pretty lively attack, but that is one for the future.
As for the match, the last forecast I saw suggested showers on Thursday, so Derbyshire will want to get a decent lead tomorrow then press on to allow time to force a win. Durham won't fancy facing Tahir on the last afternoon and anything over 300 will probably take some getting.
We've again done well for two days and must press the current advantage home tomorrow.
Not directly related to the current game but does anyone else find it strange that there has been no mention of Matt Henry this week, unless I have missed it. I assume he is in the country,staying on after the Champions Trophy. I am a little concerned as Friday and the start of the T20 is rapidly approaching.
ReplyDeleteNatWest 81
No the club tweeted his arrival last week mate, with a pic.
ReplyDeleteHopefully been in nets and doesnt have a pre-existing injury...
A very enjoyable day, it was a pleasure to watch Tahir once he got settled in from the pavilion end. He is very interesting to watch as he offers so many variations in his bowling whether he changes the pace of the delivery, the length, bowls the straight one or even a googly and he comes in of a wide angle which in itself offers a challenge. As a batsman you can never be sure what you are going to get, his enthusiasm is also refreshing to see and you can see that he genuinely enjoys bowling.
ReplyDeleteIf we can finish them off early this morning and the rains stays away tomorrow then I fully expect us to win this game.
Last Derbyshire number eleven to face 100+ deliveries?
ReplyDeleteThere was a picture of Matt Henry holding his 21 shirt on twitter last week also I'm pretty sure I saw him being interviewed at the Park yesterday.
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