You could argue that tomorrow is the toughest game of the summer, as Derbyshire head to the lion's den of Headingley for a T20 showdown.
It is a game that in many previous summers we had little chance of winning, but surprised a few people. Greg Smith and Loots Bosman did well there and we must hope that the class of 2017 look back on their trip with a degree of pride in a job well done.
It will be tough. There's no news on the Yorkshire side, but it will be strong, albeit without Messrs Root and Bairstow. Tim Bresnan and Liam Plunkett will feature in the attack, alongside Adil Rashid, which offers a delicious leg spin shoot out with Imran Tahir.
Peter Handscomb has been replaced as overseas player by Pakistan's Sarfaraz Ahmed and with Shaun Marsh in the side too, the home eleven is packed with experienced cricketers.
And yet we beat them at Chesterfield.
They will be itching for revenge and the winner will likely move to the top of the table as a prize. Backed by a good few thousand home fans who, as always, will be generous with praise and gracious in winning or losing (!) it will be a hostile environment and only the strong survive.
Yet we have shown this summer that we have players of character, experienced themselves and with the ability to defend a total and chase one down with equal aptitude and elan. It could all go horribly wrong tomorrow, of course, but 48 hours against Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire is a tough gig and one of those, at the very least, may go pear-shaped.
We'll see. We are batting pretty well and bowled brilliantly last time out, so need to keep that going. A win of the toss would be no bad thing either.
Tom Wood looks set to replace Matt Critchley and it is in his and our favour that Yorkshire won't really know him. Otherwise, I expect an unchanged side and a battle royal.
If we hold our catches and bowl as we largely did at Chesterfield, they should know that they have been in a game.
Any more than that and we won't complain...
Bring it on Peakfan. This Derbyshire team should be afraid of no one. We have shown over this T20 campaign that big names mean nothing as soon as you cross the boundary rope.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that it looks like Tom Wood will come in for Matt Critchley. This due to the fact that we have only added a bowler to the usual squad.
I hope it's a like for like swap, and that he is sent in to open with Billy. We can then leave everybody else where they have batted for most of the season.
I'd take a rain off tomorrow.....
ReplyDeleteI reckon Leics were happy with that last night against Notts!
ReplyDeleteI think it would be great to see Tom Wood. The only thing I may be tempted to do is open with Godleman and Wilson. As I think Wilson is explosive with the bat and could be used as proven power hitter. I believe in 20/20 the power play can set you up to win the game if you get between 70 - 80. I don't think I would risk it with Wood. I don't know his satistics this season to be honest. I would opt to put him down the order in a similar position like Brodrick at 5 where the expectation and pressure not really on him if we get good start. You can see 170 about 5 years ago would of won you high percentage of games but seem a par score now 185. Its been enjoyable season so far
ReplyDeleteI'd be happy with anything out of the next 2 games. You get the feeling it will all fall down to the games against Durham, Leicester and Worcester next week - all I suspect we will be favourites in which will make a change!
ReplyDeleteOff topic - but I've just checked the PCA Player of the Month thing, and Denley has drawn level with Madsen.
ReplyDeleteSo if you haven't voted yet, then do!
http://www.thepca.co.uk/index.php?q=8348
Apols for straying off topic Peakfan :)
Results in the past couple of days have certainly gone our way, as we'd have been fourth and a point behind Northants and Notts if they had won as they should and probably would respectively. As it is, we can afford to lose one or other of the games against Yorkshire and Notts without it doing too much damage to our chances. Notts will probably see tomorrow's game as a must-win for them to avoid beginning to lose touch with the leading group, and as we know, for all their strength in depth, they sometimes don't cope well with pressure. The big advantage we have in this group is that we play Leics, Worcs and Durham in the last three - two of them are already out of contention and Leics surely will be if they can't improve on their terrible recent performances. We should be able to see this as 6 points already in the bag, weather and our own tendency to play badly against weaker teams permitting. It would also help if Yorkshire and the Birmingham Bores win the rest of their games, as this would put a couple more out of contention, but less nerve-racking and more satisfying if we can do this by don't of our own efforts.
ReplyDeleteI'd agree with Gary that I wouldn't open with Wood tonight. If his reputation as a hitter is accurate, that duplicates the role that Godleman has been taking on. Reece is used to opening with Godleman and will play off him as Critchley has been doing. It's worked well in a couple of our wins, so I wouldn't want to see the format changing. I'd be happier seeing him come in during the middle overs when he has a bit of time and isn't under the pressure of the powerplay overs. Northants paid for bringing in Zaib instead of Kleinveldt the other night, and it showed the danger of inexperienced players in the closing overs. Better for Wood to be batting below Madsen but before the last 5 overs to give him the best chance.