Before the RLODC competition started, both on this blog and in an interview on BBC Radio Derby, I said that our best chance of success this season lay in the County Championship and in the Vitality Blast.
With one game to go, I take no real pleasure in being proven correct, other than the confirmation that my common sense remains intact.
We are well-suited to the twenty-over game, with a range of batsmen and bowlers. The intensity of the competition fits us better and players capable of special cameos fill the side. A quick twenty can win you these games, but rarely will over a fifty-over match.
In the four-day game we are on a fairly level playing field and, given luck with injuries, can hold our own against anyone. We have carried that through in the RLODC, beating two sides in our four-day division, as well as Warwickshire.
As is always the case, critics have been quick to emerge with defeat and some of the comments in social media have been unfair, inaccurate and in some cases downright nonsense.
Let's not forget that we have the second smallest playing budget in the country. We work with a very small squad, not through choice, but through necessity. We beat Warwickshire easily, came close to doing the same to Yorkshire and were 30 runs short against Durham. Small margins again, between the win and the loss. We gave Nottinghamshire a good game, a club that has almost twice the playing budget and that registered a prophet of over a million pounds, while Lancashire made over two million.
I think we have acquitted ourselves fairly well, in the circumstances. By my reckoning we are now four men down from a squad of eighteen and I think both Leus du Plooy and Matt McKiernan would have made a difference on the wicket yesterday.
It is not fair and is inaccurate to say we never beat big teams, because we do, in T20. Even more so to call the side a 'shambles' and to suggest dropping the captain for a mix up in running. The same captain who has over 500 runs for the competition, more than any other two players...
Cricket is much easier watched from the stand or from your armchair. Sometimes, as a supporter, you have to acknowledge when the opposition outplays you. Lancashire did that yesterday, their two international batsmen scoring runs, their slow bowlers choking us after a good start, and our batsmen playing into their hands for the most part.
I have said before that for us to beat big sides, eleven players need to play to their best, while preventing the opposition from doing so. If we don't do that, we won't come close.
It wasn't until Dal and Hosein came together that we saw quick footwork against the slow bowlers and urgency in the running between the wickets. The self-inflicted wounds of the dismissals of Reece and Hughes were major factors, but just remember that no one did it on purpose.
There is not one of us who doesn't have bad days at work, when things don't go to plan. Then again, we don't have people rushing into print to tell everyone how awful we were, when we were trying our best.
While the club site said yesterday that we can still qualify, it would require a combination of factors that I do not deem worthy of consideration. But we have been far from disgraced. There are counties with a far greater sense of expectation than ours who have done poorly.
For me, our best chance of success this summer lies ahead of us. I am not suggesting silverware, but if we continue to compete, learn a few lessons and have a little more luck with injuries, we will have our share of days in the sun.
After that, who knows?
I agree, Steve. It is a small squad, and I think, overall, this season they've done well. But they do need to sort out running between wickets!
ReplyDeleteDave Fletcher said on BBC Radio Derby that so often Derbyshire are "tantalising". You think they're going to do it, but then...
Anyway, Dal achieving his first half century was a plus, and it will, no doubt, boost his confidence. He seems a very enthusiastic player and he's brilliant in the field. And Watt looks a good acquisition.
A campaign that has exceeded my expectations & has to be regarded as satisfactory. We are not far off the teams that will qualify, but equally it is difficult to see how we will make that step up with the resources we have. The exception to this is van Beek who has room for improvement. As an overseas he has been disappointing so far. I understood that he had aspirations of playing for New Zealand, he looks some way off that. If he can up his game, Ravi can stay fit, Du Plooy continues his excellent start & Richardson makes the impact he did in the Big Bash, then the T20 could go well. But a lot of ifs there.
ReplyDeleteLet's give Van Beek some time (and not really disagreeing with you Mark b) but his trip back to NZ can't have helped his continuity. Suggest we start to judge him after a couple more Championship games when hopefully he'll have bowled a lot more overs.
ReplyDeleteSuggestion that we should leave Godleman out is crazy given his volume of runs but taking attempting unneccessary runs needs to be cut out.
I couldn't agree more Peakfan - have listened to every ball in every game apart from Lancashire and we have competed very well. If Leus Du Plooy had been available against Lancs we may have seen a different outcome. Money brings more better players - with our budget we have fewer, pro rata, than the richer counties so losses like his for that game are crucial. We've competed well in every game - it would be interesting to speculate if the opposition players would feel the need to criticise the way some do.
ReplyDeleteOne of the better one day campaigns that I can think of in recent years.
ReplyDeleteIt should be noted that 3 of the 4 teams above us currently (Notts, Lancs and Durham) have staged tests in the pasts leading to considerable assets that they can use. Although more recently Durham’s financial struggles have seen them lose most of their financial assets, their ground previously holding test status suggests tenet can attract big crowds.
The only non-test ground is Worcs’s New Road but they seem to specialise in white ball cricket anyway (see the signing of Ross Whiteley some years ago, 2012 or 2013 I think).
The only think I have disliked about the competition that I can think of is the Yorkshire tied match. Yorks went at about 7.5 an over and the rain came shortening the match to 22 overs a side and we were expected to go at just over 10 per over because the DLS method obviously thought that if Yorkshire knew the match would be 22 overs long they would have scored at just over 10s. Thing is we had to play in the worse of the conditions with the ball skidding on slightly more. What’s worse is I don’t think the table even took into account the fact our run rate was 2.5 runs per over better than Yorks which is criminal, we were forced to chase at a quicker rate than they scored because of the weather and the table doesn’t appear to reflect that. (Most of this part is just my opinion, it does not reflect the actual rules/targets imposed by DLS, merely what I believe the inadequacies are)
Overall good RLODC campaign shame we won’t progress but T20 and CC are where it is at. RLODC is a nothing tournament at the minute in domestic cricket