Derbyshire 151 and 19-4
Lancashire 236 (Reece 6-58)
Lancashire lead by 66 runs
Unless anyone knows any good rain dances, ideally one that produces two days of rain, the thinking money is on a heavy defeat for Derbyshire sometime tomorrow morning.
There is no disgrace in being beaten by this Lancashire seam attack, for that has been the deciding factor in the match.
Luis Reece bowled really well for Derbyshire today, but for all of the huffing and puffing at the other end, he lacked support. As I said to a friend earlier today, Lancashire's batting would fare no better against Onions and Anderson than we have. After all, one has been a stand out county bowler over the past decade or so, while the other is an all-time international great.
It is laudable and very much the right thing to do for Dave Houghton to have extra grass left on the wicket to ensure results. Where the concept falls down is when the opposition attack is considerably better than yours.
I thought we bowled well today, with Reece excellent, but batting was a different prospect when the big guns start to bowl. Had this game been a little later in the season, Anderson away with England and Onions perhaps rested, things may have been different.
It is silly, however, to lay criticism on the batsmen, as I have seen in comments elsewhere. Maybe Tom Lace could have left alone the ball where he was caught down the leg side. Perhaps Wayne Madsen could have been a little tighter with his defensive shot. It's easy from the boundary edge, much less so when you have class bowlers testing your technique and are surrounded by fielders awaiting an opportunity.
I hope that we show similar fight to the first innings when we resume, but realistically it is unlikely to make any difference the result.
Congratulations to Sam Conners, who took his first championship wicket today. I thought he looked lively and offers considerable potential for the future. One to keep an eye on.
To end on a high, the second team at least seem to be in control of their game at Belper against the same opponents.
We made 202 all out, with Daryn Smit making 89, before our visitors slipped to 58-5 when the rain came. There were two wickets each for the very brisk Dustin Melton and for James Taylor.
More from me tomorrow.
On the face of it there's a huge gulf between these two teams. To have been able to leave out Bailey who was one of the top bowlers in Division 1 last year and also Gleeson shows how much faith they have in Anderson and Onions. Their batting however is brittle and we allowed them an extra 50 or so at the end of the innings. Reece was outstanding and I thought Connors bowled really well without much luck. There were plentiful nicks, plays and misses and lbw appeals which at one point made me think there might have been a first innings lead. When we batted again, some of the shots were disappointing but we must bear in mind that conditions had deteriorated and I think the umpires should have brought them off well much earlier particularly given Anderson and Onions were bowling.
ReplyDeleteSo we was completely overwhelmed by a very efficient first class Lancashire team, with quite a few England players in there. I can't see them being beaten ok... Maybe once?, and a couple of draws? But they look like a cut Above the others. I said at the beginning of the seasn If the Falcons can grab 3rd place that would be a successful season for me, And a decent run in the T20 too.I'm certainly not going to criticize individuals.. this team is still rebuilding and I have every hope & confidence that they will progress.. Small steps..maybe even two steps forward...& one step back,
ReplyDeleteWe have to dust ourselves down get back up again for the next match and not brood to much on this heavy loss.. better teams than us are going to be whacked by lancashire..i know it's no great consolation but nevertheless true imho.