Vitality Blast thoughts

The Vitality Blast is back this Saturday, with Derbyshire taking part in a ground-breaking double header at Edgbaston against Lancashire, starting at 2pm.

There will no doubt be practice matches in the week ahead and what is likely to be close to the Derbyshire side will doubtless play for the second team this week.

I won't judge our prospects on the first game, because with their resources, Lancashire should be among the tournament favourites for every competition they play. But we will get an idea of the game plan and Derbyshire's approach this year.

I still have a feeling that Mickey Arthur might bring in a T20 specialist from Pakistan this week. I am unconvinced that Suranga Lakmal's fragile body will get through this competition and he will not be an asset in the field. There are a number of fine players in that country who would offer better balance to the Derbyshire side in an all round capacity. Imad Wasim and Mohammad Wasim Junior would be two very different but high quality all round cricketers who can win games with bat and ball.

It would be a statement of intent to make such an announcement, especially after the disappointment of the season's early weeks.

So what is your likely team as it stands? Here's mine:

Ali

Reece

Madsen

du Plooy

Lamb

Came

Guest

Chappell

Watt

Scrimshaw

Lakmal

It would be nice to get an extra spinner in, with McKiernan the most likely option after a good tournament last year. But on the face of it, that would be at the expense of Chappell. Mickey Arthur could opt to leave out Harry Came and play both, but that appears to leave the batting a little short.

A wild card pick could see Tom Wood selected, which would offer some power hitting and off spin, but I don't get the impression that is likely to happen, at this stage. That Tom has opted to play his league cricket at a lower level than the Derbyshire Premier League doesn't do him any favours, so I expect the players named above to be the nucleus of most selections in this tournament.

Potential? I'm not sure, to be honest. I thought our squad would do better in the championship than they have, but sometimes a side can get on a roll in a competition, start playing well and it snowballs.

There aren't many bowling options outside of the obvious five, so we may need to find overs between Madsen and Lamb if one of the front line attack take stick. There should be runs in that side, but after our disappointing start I am loathe to make overly positive assertions as to our prospects.

Let's see what happens and enjoy the ride for as long as it lasts.