“None of the games are easy, we have Yorkshire, Worcestershire, Leicestershire and then Notts, they are four games that we have to go out believing that we can win. If we win all four, we have a chance of reaching the quarter-finals''
Thus spake Dominic Cork in this morning's press piece from Derbyshire. He's right, of course, and every team has to believe they can go out and win every game that they play, otherwise there is no point.
Yet, speaking as the realist I am, rather than a fantasist, it is unlikely. Having blown it big time last night, the chances of our winning those four games are toothpick-slim. While we have a good record against Yorkshire, we had a good chance in the first game against Worcestershire and threw it away, while our record against Leicestershire is nowhere near as good as it should be. As for Nottinghamshire, much as I dislike the club, they pretty much beat us at will, so I am not at all hopeful that this will change.
The loss of our overseas signings wasn't helpful, nor that the one that we have has added injury to a below-par summer. Yet the signing of Darren Stevens continues to puzzle and my overriding feeling is that he was signed by Dave Houghton, though not necessarily with the approval of Dominic Cork.
How can you otherwise explain his omission from so many matches? For me, a slow wicket yesterday would have been perfect for the Kent all-rounder's medium pace, while his batting might just have steered us to a win when it got tight at the death. Instead, van Beek got the nod and went for ten an over, while we all know his batting isn't going to win many matches.
One could also have made a strong case for Mark Watt to play. One can only wonder what his figures may have been, when the out of form Matt Critchley returned fine figures of 2-22. I'd also question why we didn't bowl Wayne Madsen or Leus du Plooy, rather than 16 overs of seam. Durham bowled ten overs of spin, three of them albeit part time from Short, but their other spinners, especially Liam Trevaskis, stifled us and won the match.
What I am saying is that if we don't read our own wickets, and select the right eleven to do okay on them, we can believe all we like, but won't win enough matches to make a difference.
The toss was crucial last night, as scoring runs became difficult for both sides once the ball got softer. Batting second on a slow track is never easy, but especially when you have muddled team selection.Whether it was coach, captain or both who were responsible, we got it wrong last night.
Yorkshire tomorrow, so expect the same squad as there is no one else. And while I accept that 'little Derbyshire' did well to take Durham close, just as we took Worcestershire close, that doesn't amount to a hill of beans in the grand scheme of things.
Nor will it do, until someone, from somewhere, starts to regularly find that extra ten per cent needed to get us across the line. Like I said at the start of this summer (and every summer), we can be happy to just compete with the perceived 'big boys' , or we can get team selection right, hold our catches, pick the right captain for the format, hold our nerve when it matters and go out and beat them.
Belief, for me, needs to start much earlier than halfway through the competition.
Of course I hope that Derbyshire win the next four, indeed the next seven games.
But I don't believe we yet have the mentality or personnel to do so.
Really good analysis in both your last two posts peakfan. I watched last night and after about 5 overs of Durhams innings commented on how low and slow the ball was coming through. The openers were scoring most of their runs driving off the front foot. I was suprised how we clawed them back with what was looking like 200 to 160 but was not full of beans at the interval. My friend Jim, commented that the wicket seemed to have got progressively slower over the course of just 20 overs, something that left me scratching my head a bit. In such a short span could this really be the wicket, ball getting wet and heavier or both? At this point I said that Durham would have seen this and will look to strangle us with lots of spin. The omission of watt began to look a poor one and van beek, coming back in had been expensive. Our power play was good with Billy's knock superb and the situation had been clearly noted at the interval. Why was this not noted before the match? We were at home and prepared the wicket for god damn sakes. It was not Reeces game with the wicket so slow and he struggled, however after the power play and then at 87-2 off 10 we were nicely ahead of schedule and I was very confident. Madsen looked in delicious form but the quick departure of him and du ploy suddenly rocked us and left us no more than 50/50. Yozza, critchley and prentice batting together have the ability but not the temperament to get us over the line. We need a experienced player in that middle order. I have noticed the few times critch or yozza cope in those situations they have madsen or billy at the other end. Otherwise we seem to implode. Smit couldn't get going and prentice did just enough to give us an outside sniff, however I cant help feel DS would have been a better option to have. The question is for who? I would have certainly started watt over VB but who drops out if we use Stevens? Would Ravi going in instead of Smit last night been an innovative decision? Either way the side looks unbalanced bowling wise. Realistically we are done I'm afraid and it would take a miracle turn around in performance and execution. The marketing team have done well as the attendances at the home T20 matches have been very good. For them too these close calls not going our way must hurt. We must be wiser before and during these matches to get the best out the squad. Not buying the we are smaller than other big counties label fully, although they do benefit to some extent from larger financial pools. If I'm correct all the other smaller counties have celebrated finals day success. It looks like as you were for us AGAIN.
ReplyDeleteGood post mate!
DeleteWith 74 runs needed off the last 10 overs the job could have been done in singles and twos but 2 or 3 wickets were sacrificed attempting six hits unnecessarily. When we are supposed to be setting a target there seems to be a reluctance or inability to make such shots by most of the Derbyshire batsmen.
ReplyDeleteTotally agree!!
ReplyDeleteQuestion is with all the limited resorces availble can we ever compete in all 3 competitions?
It is very difficult and think this year we need to make a desion as a team after the next loss. Do we continue feliding a strong team or do we give give youth opportunity and ease workload of likes Rampaul and Reece. As its fantastic opportunity to have chance at 3rd place in Championship. It would be poor managment if any key players get injured in 20/20 when effectivily chance of qualifying are slim
Not a cat in hells chance we'll win the next four, our squad is just way too weak. We have to go all out for a big hitter next season as our overseas player ( that's if he wants to come of course), because our current team are struggling to get over 160 runs and that won't win you many matches. Been a very disappointing T20 campaign again when I personally expected it to be a lot better, the Yorkshire result aside. Time for action now Derbyshire, starting with the Yorkies.
ReplyDeleteIt's understandable that there is a deal of frustration and depression around after the Durham game, but we also have to accept that any one of the selection of Watt, a catch by Smit, a different choice of shot by Madsen and du Plooy, or a few more balls for Hudson-Prentice could have brought a different result, and left us feeling quite upbeat about the prospects. Even from where we are, a win against Yorkshire and the other results going with the formbook will leave us 1 point off fourth place with a game in hand on most of our rivals. Where my frustration comes from is that there aren't many games we are outclassed in, and in most defeats you can see how the result could easily have been different. It's the lack of that 5% of quality or clear decision-making that leads to the defeats and the frustration.
ReplyDeleteI will be disappointed if we don't beat Yorkshire again today but we're going to need to do very well in at least two of the other three to keep our chances alive. You can see how it could happen, but the absence of Watt for the next 4 games is going to narrow down our options, and the challenge for us is that no-one apart from Rampaul is in any particular run of form. There does seem to be a bit of a pattern that whoever we call for to be dropped does well in the next game, so after my comments about Smit's place the other day, maybe it's his turn to play the matchwinner.
I agree with the principle that, regardless of the results this year, we need to have a fundamental rethink about our t20 strategy. Successful teams in this format are grown not bought, and having tried the latter approach for the last three years (admittedly often buying in the bargain basement), it's not been a particularly successful approach, and hasn't taken us very far in developing younger players for the future. Hudson-Prentice and du Plooy are a step forward although both have yet to provide a substantial series of performances rather than glimpses, and the options for using younger players has been limited by Qadri's commitments with England under-19's and injuries to Conners and Taylor. We have a pretty elderly team at times which often shows in the fielding and running between the wickets, and we've seen too little of Dal, Lace and Hosein in this competition to know whether their electrifying pace between the wickets would give us an option to the big shots that we simply aren't that well equipped for.
An interesting footnote to the Darren Stevens comments is that while his signing seemed quite a sensible option at the time, when you look at his most recent Kent record in t20 from 2017, he bowled 18 overs in 12 matches, took 4 wickets at an average of 40 and an economy rate just under 9, averaging 14 with a top score of 19. That's pretty much what we're getting from him, and I suspect I'm not alone in being seduced by his one day and championship performances to think we were getting Darren Stevens at the height of his t20 powers.