Three games to go for Derbyshire and the one that starts tomorrow takes them to the scenic splendour of Hove, for a four-day game against Sussex.
Gary Wilson and Imran Tahir continue their hokey-cokey end to the season, out now because of international commitments, so our side isn't the strongest-looking that we have fielded this year. Nevertheless, there are reputations to be built and Harry Podmore, in particular, will hope for better opportunity to impress.
He didn't pull up any trees at Chester-le-Street in a poor team bowling performance, nor did he bowl at all against Glamorgan, so the game hopefully offers him a chance to impress. So too Callum Brodrick, who has looked a player of talent in his few appearances so far and perhaps has a chance to sparkle in the four-day game.
The Derbyshire squad:
Godleman
Reece
Slater
Madsen
Hughes
Critchley
Brodrick
Hosein
Palladino
Viljoen
Davis
Podmore
Qadri
The final side will be dictated by the pitch, as always, but it would be a surprise if we went in without a specialist spinner at this stage of the year, even one as such tender years as Qadri.
The home side has announced a talented squad with a number of exciting young cricketers. They will make for a stern test and, if the game goes its full course, we will do well to come away from this one with the points.
Their squad:
Ben Brown (captain)
Jofra Archer
Danny Briggs
Laurie Evans
George Garton
Chris Nash
Ollie Robinson
Angus Robson
Stiaan van Zyl
Luke Wells
Stuart Whittingham
David Wiese
Luke Wright
Sad to say, I'm predicting a defeat here. Sad to say, but in the light of our four-day performances this year, it's hard to say otherwise, I'm afraid.
If there's three days worth of play out of the four (not looked at the forecast) then the evidence of history suggests another sorry defeat.
ReplyDeleteThe forecast looks good, so looking forward to a couple of days at Hove tomorrow and Thursday. I'm inclined to more optimism about the possibility of a good result than others, though with a healthy dose of caution. Sussex are under real pressure, needing to win to keep a realistic hope of promotion alive, coming off the back of a defeat to Northants and a very narrow win against a much weaker Glamorgan side than the one we beat, and with a number of their batsmen struggling even more than ours. Spin doesn't usually play much of a part at Hove, so Tahir may not be much missed, and I'd be surprised if Qadri plays. Viljoen enjoyed himself at Hove playing for Kent last year, and even in a poor spell of form for him, you'd never discount Palladino somewhere like Hove. It'll be interesting to see whether Sussex have gone for a bowler's pitch on which to go for bowling us out twice, or a batsman's paradise in the hope of batting us out of the game, but if the former, I think we have a decent chance here.
ReplyDeleteI probably shouldn't comment so close to the toss. We go with Qadri and leave out Palladino, they pick a full set of quick bowlers and leave out their spinner. We choose to have a toss, indicating we want to bat, they win and turns out that they want to bowl. It looks as if the two captains see the game completely differently.
ReplyDeleteJust when you think that's it, season over and nothing to play for, up pops a really decent total. I'm relatively new fan of Derbyshire - it's certainly interesting.
ReplyDeleteSorry peakfan last comment from Dave, Wirral. Aware you are not fond of anonymous contributions...
ReplyDeleteCheers Dave! Yeah names are best, thanks for remembering!
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