Promotion would now appear to be beyond us, with Middlesex 19 points ahead and only two games to go. Glamorgan themselves are in third, 7 points ahead of Derbyshire and regardless of promotion we will want to finish the season strongly. Third or fourth place in the league would be a fine sign of progress, but a lessening of intensity at this stage could yet see us finish in the bottom three. That would not be a fair reflection on the summer's work, so we must hope for a good finish, before we head into the winter once more.
Derbyshire have named a 12-man squad, with Mark Watt missing on international duty. Alex Thomson comes in for his first game in a while and will certainly add needed late ballast to the batting, as well as the offspin option.
An interesting addition to the squad is Adam Sylvester, who has played well recently in the second team, having played most of his cricket as a young man in Wales. The young seam bowler also played for our second team last year and logically should make a debut tomorrow, so we know if he can cut it at this level. We won't learn much if he is carrying the drinks.
The Derbyshire squad is as follows:
Godleman, Reece, Guest, Madsen, du Plooy, Came, Dal, Thomson, Aitchison, Conners, Sylvester, Potts.
Brooke Guest is 137 runs away from his thousand for the season, very possible with four innings to go. Meanwhile, Anuj Dal needs 191, while Sam Conners is 8 wickets away from 50 for the summer.
The home side have yet to announce their squad, but they are likely to feature two overseas players, Ajaz Patel of New Zealand and Shubman Gill of India. They were heavily beaten in their last outing against Middlesex and will be keen to make amends.
Their side in that last game was:
Lloyd, Byrom, Gill, Northeast, Carlson, Root, Cooke, Harris, Van Der Gugten, Patel, Hogan.
It will be a tough game for Derbyshire but hopefully one that produces a game of cricket that is as enthralling as the one at Derby earlier in the summer.
The first three days look set for decent weather, with rain showers likely on the final day.
I think we have the talent in our side to win this one, and hope that the final two games give county supporters more reasons for optimism before the winter.
As always, I welcome your thoughts.
If Derbyshire are going all out for promotion as was claimed by Micky In a recent interview why hasn’t Hayden Kerr been replaced?(I don’t count Cartwright’s brief period)
ReplyDeleteI think there is a fine line between bringing in players of marginal benefit, as opposed to giving opportunity to someone else who may benefit us more in the long term.
ReplyDeleteIf there is money to spare, I would sooner it used towards team strengthening for next year, when I feel that we will be far better placed to make a genuine and concerted challenge for promotion to Division 1.
I am not a huge fan of ' swinging door' overseas players, who rarely have sufficient time to make a genuine impact. Cartwright was a case in point. While the idea to bring him in was laudable, I can't think that he made any greater impact than perhaps one of our own players might have done in the same period.
How do you reconcile the idea of playing Adam Sylvester to see if he can cut it at this level, with the need to maintain intensity in the last 2 matches to finish as high as possible in the league? Surely we have to play the strongest possible team?
ReplyDeleteDepends if they think that he and Potts are at a similar level. I suspect there is little between the two and realistically either would be a fifth seamer.
DeleteTurning it on its head, how do you reconcile Arthur's comment of 'This gives us the opportunity to have a look at him within the first-team setup before the end of the season' with him carrying the drinks?
I wouldn't expect either to be a match winner at this stage, so why not see if he has what it takes? We know Potts has.
Or at least, at this stage, it would appear so...
DeleteIf the coaching team have confidence that he can stand as an equal to other options, then sure, test the theory. I was a little worried that as we approach the dog end of the season, we may be experimenting with players on a "just in case" rather than a "we think this ones probably got it" basis
DeleteWas there any particular reason why Scrimshaw and Potts weren’t included? are they both injured?
DeletePotts was in the 12 but they wanted to to try Sylvester. Assume Scrimshaw injured as not in twos...
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