Birmingham 159-7 (Hain 73*, Conners 3-25, McKiernan 2-18, Watt 1-28)
Derbyshire 160-3 (Madsen 55, Masood 45*, Reece 38)
Derbyshire won by 7 wickets
I'll wait.
Since a below-par performance at Northampton, Derbyshire have beaten Leicestershire, Worcestershire, Yorkshire and now Birmingham in the T20, sandwiching a fine win over Middlesex in the County Championship.
They are playing professional, fearless cricket, bowling with discipline, batting with flair and common sense in equal measure, fielding tigerishly. It is the best I have seen in many years and it is a joy to watch.
Today, pretty much from the home side's Powerplay, they bossed the game. When Paul Stirling flicked Sam Conners to deep mid wicket and Leus du Plooy held the first of two catches, we were on top. A good innings from Sam Haine gave the home side more runs than looked likely, but they never got the scoring rate to one that might challenge.
The attack bowled well as a unit. Special mention to Sam Conners tonight, who has had a tough game or two but bowled very well here. So too did our spinners, yet again, while it is no coincidence that the return of Alex Hughes and his many variations has given balance.
When we batted, the result was never in doubt. Shan Masood set out to bat through and did, though less fluent than in some games. His running and calling was less sure today, and it is fair to say that he and Luis Reece are not always on the same page, possibly not even the same chapter, in their running between the wickets. One of these days, and soon, Reece will go on to a big score and it will be magnificent to watch
Nonetheless, the two gave us a half century start and when Reece departed to what seemed the inevitable run out, Madsen was quickly into his stride. Successive sixes off the dangerous Lintot brought the required rate down and when he was eventually well caught by Stirling at long leg, the result was a formality.
This, again, was the imperious Madsen of his glory days. There were some who thought they might be consigned to the past, but the Master has shown there is much more cricket in his locker, producing crafted gem after gem this summer
The only sour note was the stupid throw made by Brathwaite to attempt to run him out, hitting the Derbyshire man on the back of the leg. It cost the Birmingham skipper five penalty runs and reputational damage, because it was unnecessary and came across as petulant. He is better than that and I sincerely hope an appropriate apology was issued.
At the end of it all, a square cut by the skipper sealed the win, the third over a 'big county' in a week.
These are heady days for Derbyshire, the like of which we haven't known since Dean Jones was here in 1996. A big week is coming up, with Northamptonshire at home on Tuesday, Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge on Thursday, then Lancashire at home on Friday.
Two wins from the last four games (the other against Durham, also at home) should see us to the quarter-finals.
Most immediately, a win over Northamptonshire, a team playing very good cricket, would put it within touching distance.
In this form, don't discount it. This Derbyshire side will go toe to toe with anyone.
Hugely impressive, gentlemen. Well done!
Having commented on here a couple of times that Anuj Dal should replace Sam Connors in the team, I am beyond happy to eat humble pie and accept (who knew) that Micky Arthur knows more about this squad and cricket in general than I do!
ReplyDeleteYes, the game is about the match ups and Sam proved effective yesterday. Just as McKiernan came on when Brathwaite came in to bat, a far more effective player against pace than spin. You can tell the preparation in this side
DeleteI concur with everything you said, Steve. I was there today, and it was a delight to see us take apart the group leaders. We were purposeful, disciplined, and confident. We were just too good for Warwickshire. MA is moulding a squad who expect to win and who are all developing technically. It's a far cry from last season when heads dropped all too regularly in a game.
ReplyDeleteIt was a joy to watch.
ReplyDeleteI must confess I thought the last over against Yorkshire was a step too far and delighted to be proved wrong. Here though, listening to the Warwickshire / Birmingham commentators (they kept forgetting who they were meant to be) desperately looking for the positives through the powerplay as wickets tumbled, and then trying to convince themselves it was a par score, was rather amusing.
And true to form, even with the late couple of weickets, the result was never in doubt.
I don't think we fear anyone, and if we stay in the top 4, anything could happen
I recall their commentators from last year, Carl. Had no intention of listening to such nonsense again and had the sound muted. They redefine bias..
DeleteWhat a fantastic week !
ReplyDeleteThree of crickets established 'Big Beasts' take time from their busy schedules to collect their routine victory spoils over making-up-the-numbers Derbyshire …
It's happening, isn't it ?
I will answer that at the end of this week, Silenius!
DeleteI was thinking the same thing about the all too brief Dean Jones era PF. Derbyshire are a force to be reckoned with again at last. This was an excellent victory over a team that had just amassed a record total against Notts yet we beat them with ease. Let's hope we keep it up!
ReplyDeleteAnother fantastic win by the non-League Falcons! It's such a great feeling to once again tweak the nose of these big counties. I have resolved to make a list of those who would like to see us out of business (Agnew and Vaughan would happily see a reduction in the number of counties. At least Simon Heffer consistently shows support for county cricket) - the damned arrogance to think we don't really matter, to remove such pleasure for a good number of Derbyshire CCC supporters. How dare they! Come on you Falcons!
ReplyDeleteSimon Heffer has been a cricket journalist for decades and therefore now's how to keep things in perspective regarding Agnew IMO he's a pompous bore and Vaughan will quite probably be out of a job soon
DeleteWhat's especially pleasing is how well our top five are scoring in the T20 and that we are posting good scores. Between them, our top five have eight 50s, and even in the four games we've lost, our scores have been good: 197, 202, 178, and 151.
ReplyDeleteFor sure. And Masood showed yesterday the game intelligence we have lacked. He ensured he batted through and for such a chase that was all we needed!
DeleteI don't want to get too carried away, all I wished for at the start of the season was for Derbyshire to be competitive. And they are competitive. I get the impression the players would run through a brick wall for our head of cricket.
ReplyDeleteA very satisfying victory. I wasn't there but the thought of those irksome refrains of "Youuuuuuuu Beeeeeeeaaaaaaars!" diminishing as the game progressed yesterday warms my heart!
ReplyDeleteLoved that performance yesterday, so professional with the bat and ball. Maybe this is the season that we actually go on to win a trophy, we look a well oiled machine at present, and if Aitchison can get back to fitness that's another bowling option to have. What did you make of the Warwick's commentary duo Peakfan, not very complimentary to Derbyshire ( is anybody), and one in particular was making out Brathwaite was quite hard done to with that stupid throw at Wayne. I personally think we're ruffling a few feathers at present and these bigger counties just don't like it. Well done Falcons, looking good!
ReplyDeleteI rarely listen to commentary when I can see the action, CB. And having heard their commentators last year, which redefined partisan, I had no intention of enduring the same!
DeleteBrathwaite was daft. He crossed the line between competitive and petty. No need for it and for me should have been removed from the attack.
I don't think he could be removed from the attack under the Laws of the game. It was a Law 42 Level 2 offence throwing the ball at another player in an inappropriate and dangerous manner. The requirement here was to award the penalty runs, warn him about his future conduct and report him afterwards. The umpires got it spot on for me.
DeleteBut just looked up the rules and that wasnt an option. Umps got it right!
DeleteThanks Old Amateur. I looked up the rule around that time!
DeleteTheir comical partisan commentators said at the end of the first innings " Terrific effort.........by the Bears" !! Biased. Bizarre. Absolute b****cks !!
ReplyDeleteHa ha, spot on
DeleteI looked it up after they said they were 20 below the average winning score at Edgbaston. Aatif who was there for a few overs was alright. He was much less biased. The two (same as last year) were horrendous and should never be allowed to work in the media- Dave
DeletePutting this here as I don't know where else to put it
ReplyDeleteJust realised (probably because i'm a bit slow) that there are only 14 matches, in a group of 9. So two teams we only play once: Worcestershire & Durham
And which 2 teams are propping up the table with a combined 20% win ratio? The same two
I think I'd be a little irked if we finished say 5th having played all the top teams twice to a team that picked up four extra points from demonstrably easier matches
It's seemed bizarre to me for a little while as to why an extra 2 games can't be fitted in to what is a very sparse fixture list in truth.
DeleteYeah it's not fair, Carl. When there are lots of free days in the course of the summer, they could easily find 2 extra dates.
DeleteECB are simply not fit for purpose. We see that with the shambolic fixture arrangement and so little Saturday cricket