Derbyshire 297-8 (Godleman 116, Reece 88)
Nottinghamshire 299-4 (Slater 83, Mullaney 68*, Moores 52* Gleadall 3-43)
Nottinghamshire won by 6 wickets
Derbyshire gave a decent account of themselves today, in the East Midlands derby, but in the end we were simply outplayed by our more affluent neighbours, who hardly seemed to need to change gear.
Batting first, supporters enjoyed a fine opening stand between Billy Godleman and Luis Reece. The skipper went on to a fine century, but the heat of the day clearly affected him as he approached the landmark. By the end of his innings he was accumulating in singles, when a little more was needed.
It seems churlish to be critical of a fine innings, but at 224 in the fortieth over when Madsen went, we really should have been exceeding 300. I would have to say that Luke Fletcher and Jake Ball bowled excellent closing spells, but it is an area for improvement and the rest of a long batting line up were left with no time to play with.
Reece batted splendidly and is a fine sight in full flow. A century seemed there for the taking, when he top edged a sweep, but he was also struggling with the heat towards the end.
The consensus was that we were at least thirty runs short at the halfway point. Slater and Clarke set off in imperious fashion and looked in little danger, until Clarke hit the second ball from Alfie Gleadall down the throat of Reece on the boundary.
Duckett didn't last long, but Libby joined Slater and the score moved merrily along. I was again a little underwhelmed by van Beek, whose control was poor, though there was an encouraging debut for Gleadall, who returned to remove both batsmen, bringing Moores and Mullaney together.
Hosein had earlier got his fingers to a very difficult chance and looked to miss a stumping from the bowling of the burly Watt, which might have made the finish more interesting. I thought the Scot bowled steadily enough, before late 'treatment' ruined his figures, but nor did he look like taking wickets on this surface.
Pick of the bowlers was Reece, who commanded respect from all of the batsmen and completed an excellent all-round game.
In the end, it was all to no avail and the visitors cantered to their target
with time and wickets in hand. Moores again showed a liking for our bowling and has very fast hands, illustrated by several mighty blows for six. He and Mullaney carried them across the line with ease.
Beaten then, but not disheartened against one of the best sides in this format.
We pick ourselves up and go again.
Hi PF
ReplyDeleteI only followed the game on text coverage, and had I sent you this when we were meandering somewhat mid-innings it would hold more water I guess, but my take from a'distance was that the hammer was simply not hit soon enough.
Beit professional cricket, or amateur cricket, it's often patently obvious to those watching or listening, but not so to those in the middle. As I said, I wasn't there, but I'd hope a change of gloves, or a drink, or (as we used to do at my previous club), bang a few tin number plates together. Unsubtle, but hey, start to pick it up, or else 😊.
With none down, we ought to have been in 20/20 mode from midway. On another day, two fine innings, but today, methinks the boat had sailed without it dawning ....
Nowhere near enough runs today but a good effort all round. As good an innings as it was by Billy, he just doesn't score quickly enough and it's paramount in this one day tournament. Notts have so much batting strength that we needed another 50-60 runs to make it competitive, but a big shout to Alfie Gleadall the pick of the Derby bowlers. Easier games await, so no doom and gloom here.
ReplyDeleteI won’t go down the Godleman route like I have commented on the preview thread but we need to clear the boundary more. Lost maximums by 9-2. Seem comments elsewhere about a long boundary on 1 side not helping us. We often get out hit in such ways at home. Food for thought.
ReplyDeleteHi Peakfan,
ReplyDeleteAs the sun sets on my annual pilgrimage to the home of cricket and my wife drives wearily down the M1 for home. Some thoughts if I may. We are as ever where we are. On Friday we beat Northants by plenty and today in truth got beat by plenty. I got talking to a Notts fan at the interval who was bemoaning his losses of Broad to England, Gurney to the IPL and Hales to who knows where. When I told him that Notts bought the win today and simply hoovered up all of the local talent he didnt care a jot and there perhaps lies the state of English cricket and sadly we are on the wrong side of it. Whilst the Slaters of this world are allowed to show zere loyalty and move for more money at fast as fast as they can then the Derbyshires of this world will always feed off the scraps. And yet where would he be but for the opportunity provided by us. A lovely weekend with Derbyshire folk and the club as friendly as ever but no more questions answered and I fear that with the current dreadfull lack of loyalty shown by players and the smaller clubs not reccompenced for their loss there never will be. Rob in Essex
Very true Rob, Notts are probably the equivalent of one of the top four in the prem league, they will always be there because of the money. We would probably beat Notts once out of every twenty attempts in this fifty over format, such is the huge financial difference between the two counties. I don't think we could've done anymore today except maybe score a bit quicker, but sadly this fixture will always now be men against boys.
ReplyDeleteI think today we pre determined that 300 was a good score. We were wrong, Godleman was also unable to recognise this & adjust accordingly. The game was effectively over after their first 10 overs, after that everyone knew what sort of wicket it was & their was no scoreboard pressure. I like how we flex our batting line up, I enjoyed Gleadall’s enthusiasm & how we batted the first 25 overs. Today’s results have blown the group wide open. Much to play for, I am hoping that we are still in the mix for our next home game.
ReplyDeleteFirst visit of the season for me , I enjoyed Reece's batting and Mads was purring along, if only he had stayed in longer we might have reached 320 -340.
ReplyDeleteI thought the skipper needed to gun it as time moved on , getting close to batting through the fifty overs for shy of 120 will not win us many games against good teams
We were a bowler short and looked it . Alfie did a grand job but he and Reece seemed to be the only bowlers to ask questions .
Playing the Notts deep pockets we needed everything to go our way, it didnt but I was heartened by the spirit amongst the lads and (kind of) enjoyed the day
Rob
ReplyDeleteThat’s a little harsh on B Slater
Derbyshire had ample time to give him more security by means of salary and contract type
Unfortunately this had rolled on for a number of years whilst the likes of Dilshan and Viljoen .to name but 2 ,were in town
40 runs short today . but progress is evident
My first match of the season. By all accounts, the same wicket as Friday. Seemed to favour the batters today. Largely docile.
ReplyDeleteAs already voiced, we were short of, at least, forty runs.
Some good death bowling from Fletcher & Ball but we should have attacked earlier. Wayne looked like he was in the mood to push but he was unlucky to serve up a silly after a toe-end.
I was impressed with young Alfie Gleadall. Notts ran better between the wickets. Difficult stumping chance for Harvey off Watt, which might have checked their progress.
Essentially, though, as already observed, they curtailed our batting, and had the measure of our bowling.
Outlaws is something of a misnomer. There's no robbing of the rich, to give the poor.
Quite the contrary, actually.
I have to agree with Paul F. You can’t blame a lad for leaving to play at a bigger club for more money. Cricketers are not over paid footballers. Loyalty works both ways. I think we have underestimated Bens ability for a long while. Wasted countless money on over paid imports . I’m pleased for the lad. Good luck to him I say . His scores suggests his game as moved to another level at Notts. There’s a lesson in this somewhere that we really need to learn one day. Hopefully DH is on the right track. Stop trying to buy success with money we don’t have. Identify young talent early. Coach them properly with high quality coaching and give them a chance to shine. We can’t compete with test ground clubs. We simply need to except this and move on with a more sustainable business model. More in line with Worcester’s I would suggest. I watched most of the game on the feed today. We did ok but against teams of Notts quality you need a big slice of luck and it didn’t quite go our way. If Mads had been able to push on who knows but a decent effort all in all. 300 against their attack is no way a given regardless of wicket. We are where we are which for me is better than the last couple of years. Let’s hope we can continue to improve under DH and his team. Rome wasn’t built and all that. Chaddesden Jim
ReplyDeleteI thought Alfie did really well today and he looks to have a good temperament. Tremendous effort from Billy Godleman. He did above and beyond what we could expect from an opener. The middle order obviously had to wait but didnt produce when required. The bowling looked generally poor apart from Reece, who is a super cricketer and Gleadall. Van Beek needs to calm down and concentrate on the basics. He does not appear to be anything special at the moment but with a confidence lift and a hard work he could become very useful. Watt, to me needs more variation, particularly of pace in his bowling. Not a bad effort at all overall but batting first on that track against such opposition as Notts, 320 is a minimum. Just my opinions.
ReplyDelete