Nottinghamshire v Derbyshire preview - Bob Willis Trophy

Don't know about all of you, but I couldn't be more excited tonight if I had met Santa coming down the chimney of my house with the keys to a new car. Which would be a great trick, as we don't have a chimney...

Cricket, at last, at the start of August is here. More specifically, DERBYSHIRE cricket. I watched England, like many of you in recent weeks, but will always watch  my county on a stream over the national side. Weird, maybe, but I am unfailingly a county cricket supporter and will be so until I shuffle off this mortal coil.

There were a few things learned from the two-day friendly between Derbyshire and Lancashire this week, even if the batting and bowling was limited to ninety overs each.

Firstly, our top four seem in rude health. Luis Reece got out in both innings, but had valuable time in the middle and will benefit from that. Meanwhile, Billy Godleman, Wayne Madsen and Leus du Plooy built nice knocks and got some early, if non-first class, runs on the board.

Leus also confirmed that he could be a handy spin bowling option for us with two wickets, as did Matt Critchley, while Sam Conners and Ben Aitchison got on the board too. Both seamers are named for the four-day game that starts at Trent Bridge tomorrow, along with Michael Cohen. It makes sense, because while we want to do well in the Bob Willis Trophy, we also need to see if this trio could be an attack to take us into the future. With Fynn Hudson-Prentice and Luis Reece in support, Billy Godleman will have NINE bowlers to choose from, whichever eleven takes the field tomorrow. 

There is a chance, of course, that Matty McKiernan could make the eleven at the expense of one of them, but with du Plooy and Madsen to support Matt Critchley in that department, it would seem the less likely scenario, unless the wicket starts dry.

That Derbyshire squad:

Godleman, Reece, Madsen, du Plooy, Hughes, Hosein, Critchley, Hudson-Prentice, McKiernan, Cohen, Conners, Aitchison

Our hosts have a side that looks a little different after the travails of last summer. Ben Slater has today moved on loan to Leicestershire for a couple of weeks, and they go in with a few new faces. Peter Trego has arrived from Somerset, Tom Barber from Middlesex and Haseeb Hameed from Lancashire, all doubtless keen to make an early impression. There's no Luke Fletcher, so their twelve-man squad is:

Nash, Hameed, Duckett, Clarke, Patel, Mullaney, Moores, Trego, Chappell, Ball, Barber, Evison.

With rain forecast tomorrow and Tuesday afternoon. the ball will need to be considerably on top of the bat for a positive result. Both sides have lengthy batting and logic dictates that a draw is the likely outcome here.

Then again, when did logic ever play too big a role in professional sport? I can't wait to see it and will be back with my thoughts on the first day tomorrow evening.

As always, your comments are appreciated!