Derbyshire 275-7 (Godleman 116, Guest 40, Hosein 38 Lilley 3-49)
Leicestershire 279-4 (Harris 75, Patel 70, Hill 51, Aitchison 2-51)
There was a return to form for Billy Godleman, who made a good century, but there was little support for him, bar for Brooke Guest's 40 and Harvey Hosein's 38.
It was steady, but too slow throughout and we never looked to have scored enough. I swapped messages with a friend at the end of our innings and said we were around 40-50 runs short of a competitive score on that wicket. So it transpired, but expectations have to be tempered with what is a second choice batting line up.
Hosein failed to take the field after another blow to the helmet during his innings and while the bowlers worked hard, they needed the insurance of the extra runs to make the home side take risks. I would have had McKiernan and Dal above Hosein in this format, the latter equipped to rebuild if required, but not really a forcing player. Godleman slowed too, as he neared his century and we lost impetus at a time we should have been accelerating.
When we Rampaul looked lean and fit, if naturally match-rusty, while Ben Aitchison was the pick of the bowlers, taking two wickets, but the attack didn't look unduly dangerous. The openers led off at steady pace and they never let up, surviving the loss of Welch to an injury that caused him to hit his own wicket. Thereafter they mixed low-risk aggression with good running and won with ease.
Taunton next, on Sunday, but I am not optimistic after seeing this display.
Quite frankly our bowling was a shambles, and counties will be rubbing their hands at facing us. I think I could've handled several of our bowlers today, so so poor. Well done to Billy for at least finding some form again, he was the positive. We need to improve fast, or we'll be propping another table up very soon
ReplyDeleteVery disappointing. Billy did well, but he lost impetus after such a bright start, and, predictably, we tailed off towards the end. We needed another thirty of forty to make a game of it.
ReplyDeleteLeicestershire got there against an average bowling attack. No one, including Ravi, really shone, and FHP was very expensive, not for the first time.
I wasn't tempted to start my own rolling acca on the opposition to see where it might take me but as one of several bad habits I have, I did my best to suppress that desire.
ReplyDeleteI saw most of it - it was an enjoyable game and wasn't like recent defeats that have been abysmal. Leics are less depleted than we are and have a good overseas. We lost the game because our inexperienced batting line up didn't attack the spinners (successfully, anyway), whereas they did - home advantage and knowing the conditions probably played a part too. Good to see a return to form for Billy, and hopefully him and the rest of the batting line-up can take the positives and improve further as the tournament goes on.
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