Derbyshire travel to Durham for their fifth county championship match of the summer in rude health.
They sit second in the table, on merit, having played some good, purposeful and attacking cricket. It has been a team effort and one in which everyone has made a contribution of some kind.
Their opponents, on the other hand, lost all of their first four games and are currently low on runs and confidence. Home wickets that usually enable the bowlers to prosper haven't helped, but it has been far from the start that they wanted.
Leus du Plooy returns to the Derbyshire squad and almost certainly take his place in the final eleven. I expect that he will replace Anuj Dal, which will otherwise be the same team that played and came out on top at Leicester.
Likely team:
Godleman, Reece, Madsen, du Plooy, Lace, Hughes, Hosein, Critchley, Van Beek, Palladino, Rampaul (Dal 12th)
There is no news, as yet, on the home squad. While Chris Rushworth has led the attack well, he doesn't play every game these days. Brydon Carse may make the eleven after good performances for the second team, but Cameron Bancroft is their only batsman with an average north of 30.
Matt Salisbury has been consistent with the ball, but Derbyshire have every reason to be confident going into this game.
The weather could be an issue, with two days likely to be interrupted by rain showers, but recent events at The Riverside suggest that the game may not necessarily need its scheduled duration for a positive result.
Plenty of reasons be confident then, and I am hopeful that a confident squad can return home on Thursday with another positive result. A more disciplined effort than the one that I saw there last season will be a very good start.
As always, your comments all welcome!
Go well, gentlemen.
Hi Peakfan, any idea why Tom Wood (or another batsman) doesn't have a contract? I think Dal is a talented player and has made a couple of good contributions but picking a guy to bat at 8 and not bowl is making up the numbers in club cricket stuff! Even when all batsmen are fit there isn't really any competition for places or the opportunity to rest someone. Obviously with du Plooy fit again we have a stronger looking line up but the squad definitely looks a batsman short. If they do think Dal has the potential to fill that gap then I don't think batting him at 8 gives him the opportunity anyway. So is it just a question of money? If that is the case then there have to be concerns about the club going forward.
ReplyDeleteI don't think we want to carry excess in the squad, Pete. If we had a couple of injuries, my guess is Tom may get a short term deal. He may get one for next year, but he needs to convince DH that he is a viable, better option than the current top 6, and Anuj Dal.
ReplyDeleteI hope he does it, but it is in his hands
Thanks Peakfan, I totally understand not wanting to carry a large squad for numerous reasons but having an additional top 6 batsman to cover injuries and form doesn't feel like excess for a professional county.
DeleteIf the season gets to a point where we're not in contention for promotion I'd hope Dal is given a go in the top 6 especially if Lace is unlikely to be with us next season.
We should win this one. But we need to show the kind of spirit Bangladesh showed today against South Africa. They were confident, urgent in everything they did, didn't get bogged down when batting, and bowled intelligently. We can do it - and those players who are struggling to find form have a great opportunity over the four days to get into gear.
ReplyDeleteIs Matt Critchley in the team purely as a batsman at the moment? three of his four wickets he has taken were in one innings. On a slightly different subject J Archer has to be the most overrated over hyped bowler to play for England for year's
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