Derbyshire 260 (du Plooy 57, Guest 51, Reece 49, Hughes 33 Paterson 3-36, Broad 2-36, Pattinson 2-85)
Nottinghamshire 22-0
Derbyshire lead by 238 runs
So it was for Derbyshire today, Suranga Lakmal ruled out with an ongoing elbow problem, while Anuj Dal twisted an ankle in the warm ups.
Then again, we don't plan to lose three wickets before we had fifty on the board either. Masood looked good once more but got a decent ball from Pattinson, Godleman's travails continued as he edged to slip, while the prolific Madsen was caught behind first ball from one that lifted but he could perhaps have left alone.
Last year's Derbyshire would have gone for 120 from there. The wicket had green tinges all day and batting was never easy, even if one side of the ground had a boundary within 'decent push' range. Plenty went past the bat, but they grafted, played nice shots and eventually got up to a position of respectability.
Guest again looked terrific, Du Plooy is getting back to his best and Reece played some sumptuous strokes. None went on to the big score we really needed, but Alex Hughes, a late addition to the side, grafted hard and the tail wagged pleasingly.
It was encouraging against an all-international seam attack. I thought the home side overdid the short ball at times, but we got into line and battled it out.
How our attack will do tomorrow is anyone's guess. When Sam Conners has played four times the first-class cricket of the other two, the biggest weapon they have is surprise. If Luis Reece can bowl his share it will help and if conditions stay the same, Alex Hughes, like Steve Mullaney, may nip it around.
All things being equal, not at all unhappy with that day.
Fair comments PF.
ReplyDeleteI went down yesterday after looking at the weather forecast for the game, and glad I did. Our imperious opening bat didn't go too well. Billy looked determined to stick it out, and was really disappointed to see him out when he was. Hopefully the contract extension may settle him a little. So hoping that he gets a score soon. When Wayne got out first ball, I thought 'here we go' but the afternoon session saw us digging in with solid resistance from the middle order.
Slater took a fabulous catch on the boundary edge to dismiss Reece, and shortly after came on to bowl, having Thompson stumped first ball.
I think we dug in as well as possible given the circumstances and injury list.
Slater punished the first over when they went out in the dying minutes of the day, and if anyone enjoyed the day - he did.
I'm not one for criticising anyone for leaving for pastures new, but feel he may well go on to cause issues again today.
We had a good go based on all the surrounding circumstances, and have to say that, again, the stewarding and ground operation was top notch. It all makes for a decent day out.
Fingers crossed for us to limit the damage today, and rain might just help us with the overall effort to get a draw.
Andy