Derbyshire v Yorkshire preview

Hands up who is excited for this one? All five thousand of you, for starters, plus the many who will tune in to the stream.

This will be a good barometer of our development tomorrow, as a team and as individuals. There are those who thrive on big occasions, others who freeze, so we must hope that our players come to the party in the most gorgeous of settings at Queen's Park.

It's funny, I remember being in the ground for the 1969 Gillette Cup semi final against Sussex and look at the capacity of five thousand now and wonder how they ever fitted eleven thousand in that day. I have no idea how much of the game some saw, back towards the bandstand, but it gave those present a greater appreciation of the fate of sardines..

Back to tomorrow and I suppose the big question is whether we use the same strip as we did for the Middlesex game. It only had three days  of play and there must be, a temptation to do so, given the success of pace off in that game.

My feeling is that Anuj Dal, who bowled so well, might replace Sam Conners in this team:

Masood, Reece, Madsen, du Plooy, Guest, Kerr, Hughes, Dal, McKiernan, Watt, Scrimshaw.

That would be eight bowling options for the skipper. On a small ground, the edges might fly from pace, so George Scrimshaw's radar will need to be locked on tight.

No news of the Yorkshire squad as yet, but they play at Durham tonight and have announced the following squad. With Finn Allen, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Adam Lyth and Harry Brook they have serious firepower in the top order:

Lyth, Allen, Bess, Brook, Fraine, Shadab, Kohler-Cadmore, Leech, Luxton,  Revis, Shutt, Tattersall, Thompson, Waite

Then again, so do we. As I have said before, we bat deep and both McKiernan and Watt have shown they can clear the ropes at the death if required.. 

It should be a grand game and an even better day out, if the weather holds. Fingers crossed we come out on the right side of the result.

Because we are good enough. 

One final point : it's lovely to see so many comments coming in but a lot are using the 'Anonymous' option.

Could you PLEASE put your name, or a name you wish to use on here, at the end of your comment. It helps me to reply to you more personally and helps readers build up an idea of who you are.

Thank you all!