Derbyshire 130 (Dal 55, Du Plooy 38, Aitchison 25)
Worcestershire 141-5 (Ali 52, Haynes 48, Conners 3-45)
Worcestershire lead by 11 runs
The home side won it and their seamers revelled in the conditions, as one might expect. Maybe we have become too used to playing on tracks where little happens, but we didn't handle the moving ball especially well. Pennington bowled splendidly and if I had the budget to sign a seamer on the circuit right now he would be high on the list.
Far too quickly we were 53-7, that paltry score only because Du Plooy chanced his arm. His stay didn't suggest permanence and it was only during a worthy stand between Dal and Aitchison that a score avoiding embarrassment was reached.
The home side's seam attack is a good one, as I said last night, though their early batting tried to keep us in the game with loose shots. Conners produced a good one to remove Libby, while both Pollock and Cornall gave it away with loose strokes.
Haynes and the debutant Ali played pleasantly, but with the exception of Aitchison, no one bowled consistent lines and lengths to trouble them. Again, both gave it away when well set and the home side ended the day eleven ahead, with five wickets remaining.
Derbyshire are not out of the game yet, but we need to bat and bowl much better tomorrow, or those with tickets for days three and four will be sorting out refunds.
It was disappointing and again highlighted that this is some distance from the finished article as a side.
Which we knew, of course.
We would just have preferred less clear evidence.
This seemed like the bad old days to me. If we take away the runs scored by Du Ploy, Dal and Aitchinson from the total, the other 8 batters managed just 7 runs between them with 4 ducks. Then our bowling was walloped for nearly 5 runs an over. Our worst day this season in Championship cricket so far.
ReplyDeletethat occured to me too, i hope it is not a false dawn the way we started the season! malbarlow
DeleteWhatever we did this year was with DH team. We knew their shortcomings and MA has got more from them, but will know limitations better than we do. Changes are needed, but depends on budget...
DeleteOur batting very rarely let's us down and we have lost a couple of vital tosses on the trot. Having said that, I think we really miss Masood and Watt. Mckiernan and Scrimshaw look raw at first class level, with not enough games behind them.Kris
ReplyDeleteAgreed Kris
DeleteI thought this today. Whenever a toss appears crucial (ie last two games) we seem to lose it.
DeleteI'm guessing Leus Du Plooy is not enjoying being captain with the Somerset Blast, 1st day v Notts and now 1st day at Worcs.
ReplyDeleteThe concern for me was the run rate that Worcestershire scored at especially with the RL50 about to start.
To be fair when we batted it was the ability of their bowlers more than rash shots. But we were a bit lucky to still be in the game as a number of Worcestershire batters got themselves out.
After an encouraging first half of the season I do hope that the season does not fall into decline.
I expect us to do well in the RLODC as we have lost less than many sides. But we still need to play to potential!
Deleteps Steve, know you live north of the border. I've had an interest in Scottish cricket since the Gavin Hamilton days and have been to the Grange a couple of times. I was very interested in the book mentioned a couple of days ago.
DeleteI really do hope the current negative coverage has the "no such thing as bad publicity" effect.
I really hope Scottish cricket can recover, whatever the rights and wrongs ofvthe matter
Dave
Wirral
Yeah this, is really bad for them and they have much work to do up here now, Dave
DeleteI am a betting man Peakfan, and had heard of Andy Ducat, so maybe the £20 risked on Derbyshire this evening may be well spent. Trust me, I wouldn't have chanced 20p on them last season!
ReplyDeleteMasood would have struggled today along with everyone else. For the first time for a while in England it's been a horrible batting day, look at the scores elswhere.
Get them out for under 200, score something around 250 ourselves, and you’ve something to work with 4th dig.
Having said all that as a betting man, I'm still working on that first million without much success!
Dave
Wirral
Hilton Cartwright's contributions with the bat have been rather underwhelming. And can you let me know PF why he hasn't bowled?
ReplyDeleteExactly, just hasn't worked out for Cartwright. Can't see him being asked back anytime soon
DeleteYeah it must be tough flying in to play for 3 weeks and be expected to hit the ground running. His record at Middlesex wasn't great either, but he was available and MIGHT have come off.
DeleteCan only assume a niggle as otherwise the non bowling, is odd
Nick Potts should be playing this game. He let nobody down early season. I would also suggest that Alex Hughes would be a better bet, in the lower middle order. White ball cricket is a lot different to red and we still seem to be picking a T20 side. Kris
ReplyDeleteGiven our early collapse, when it looked like we might be bowled out for 60 or 70, I think, all things considered, we ended the day in an okayish position. But, of course, that depends on whether we can restrict Worcestershire tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteLeus du Plooy made batting look relatively straightforward, scoring 38 off 60 balls, but everyone else in the top order couldn't handle the Worcestershire attack.I thought Dal did a great job in getting us to something near respectable. He's having a wonderful season with the bat, showing real application and nouse.