Closing thoughts on Durham

We saw the good and bad sides of Derbyshire in the game just finished at Chester-le-Street.

It was good to see a return to form by Billy Godleman and Matt Critchley, though when the margin of defeat was so narrow, Wayne Madsen's pair was a blow, especially when one considers how important he is to our batting.

We bowled, on the whole, fairly well, but again, when you lose by 30 runs and concede 37 second innings extras it is not hard to see where there was fault. I accept that half of those were leg byes, but I am sure that you will take my point.

I just wasn't convinced by our second innings batting. It was hard to see the game plan, with some batsmen obviously going for it and others less so. The partnership between Matt Critchley and Alex Hughes after tea was excellent, but the dismissal of du Plooy was critical.

I think the latter should be at 4 or 5 in the order. He offers a left/right combination and here he would not have had to go at it as quickly as he did.

His dismissal triggered some dreadful cricket by Derbyshire. With five wickets in hand and 5 an over needed from ten, most teams would fancy a win. Hosein seemed to come in to play for the draw, Critchley was going for the win and the latter's dismissal should have seen us shut up shop for draw points. It was all very confusing and Harvey, for all his talent, will need to find ways to score runs quickly, when they are needed.

It was all very disappointing. Raine and Rushworth bowled well, but the batting at the death was muddled and poor.

We are better than that, and need to show it next week in Wales. An ankle problem looks set to see Luis Reece play as a batsman only, so the work load of the other seamers will increase.

I think Logan van Beek is an unlucky bowler, having watched him closely over two innings. Yet sometimes his length sees him beat the bat, but not take the edge. Then, in his frustration, he seems to strive for pace, to the detriment of his direction, and he becomes costly.

You cannot fault his commitment and were he playing on a Dutch passport, we would probably be quite happy with his efforts so far. He runs in hard, is an excellent fielder and a lovely bloke.

I think he is a decent cricketer, but some distance away from the all-rounder we looked to have signed. He looks only a tail end bat, and we can only hope that his overall direction with the ball improves ahead of the T20.

That overseas role is critical in any side. You need to be the best batsman or bowler, or good enough as all rounder to offer crucial balance.

At the moment, Logan is short of that, but isn't the first to struggle under the weight of expectation.

Let's hope it comes together in the months ahead.