Derbyshire 142- 6 (Ali 42)
Nottinghamshire 143-7 (Hales 35, Scrimshaw 3-16, Khan 2-34)
Nottinghamshire won by 3 wickets
The giant Derbyshire quick bowler was in fine form tonight and took 3 wickets, but the home side's sub-par score meant that there was no margin of error against a long and strong Nottinghamshire batting lineup.
Despite the protestations of the Sky commentary 'experts', it never looked like an easy pitch for scoring runs. None of the home side struck their best form, until McKiernan hit some lusty late blows from Afridi. It was too late then, despite the best efforts of Haider Ali, who did well in conditions some way removed from those he is familiar with.
It might have been different had du Plooy given himself a chance to get in. I remain unconvinced that someone new at the crease should be playing a low percentage shot from the final ball of the power play. The trade off between a maximum 6 extra runs or someone staying at the crease is not a positive one.
Nottinghamshire were disciplined and Derbyshire had to emulate that against a strong batting side.
They did well, but it was not to be.
Realistically, we can probably afford only one more defeat to retain any interest in the knockout stages. That boat may already have sailed, as our net run rate is far from impressive.
So the wait to beat Nottinghamshire in this format goes on. But they can take heart from a battling display.
Posting such a low total meant that a win would be unlikely. In the end, we managed to take the game to the nineteenth over. Two sixes by Afridi put the game to bed.
ReplyDeleteAlthough Ali scored 42 and Madsen 26, our top order never really got into gear and scored quickly enough. Reece, du Plooy and Wood only mustered 22 runs between them. Only McKiernan played with real aggression, hitting two sixes and a four in 13 balls.
Our bowlers did well, notably Scrimshaw with 3-16.
After such a good performance against Warwickshire, this was very disappointing.
I always think if Wayne is struggling to time the ball then it's not the easiest pitch to bat on.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly he said after the match that they expected the pitch to play a little better and were trying to achieve 170/180 when on reflection 160 would have been a decent score.
Unfortunately my expectation of about 10 points looks increasingly likely. Hopefully I'm wrong, it has been known...occasionally 😉
Oh! and I agree about Du Plooy. There's a fine line between being confident and reckless and although he was trying to take advantage of the remainder of the Powerplay, second ball? Perhaps that moment cost us the game.
ReplyDeleteNot for the first time Mullaney tied us up in Notts. To the untrained eye (mine), it looks simple to hit him down the ground but it clearly isn't.
ReplyDeleteDisappointing as it doesn't look like the greatest Notts side I've ever seen, the lads gave it everything they had though so that'll do for me.
Also no doubt that George did his career prospects some good last night being on TV.
The report card for the first XI at this point of the season says, "Needs to do much better." However, the second XI have made it to T20 Finals Day, with Dal putting in some good performances with the bat (three half centuries in the 10 games, and averaging 96.6) and Aitchison with the ball (14 wickets). A terrific achievement.
ReplyDeleteIt was a funny old match. The pitch was tricky and most of our batters struggled with timing and to get going. Haider Ali looked good again, which was pleasing. I have no idea why Leus du Plooy felt that his choice of shot was correct or necessary. Second ball of his innings and the last ball of the Powerplay or not, surely it would have been wiser to see off Jake Ball’s over and give himself a chance to settle in? He’d got lucky at the start of his innings against Birmingham and it would have been nice to think he might have learned something. Mattie McKiernan struck some good blows at the end as Shaheen Shah Afridi actually looked easier to score off than their slower bowlers, making me think our quicks might suffer. As it was, Scrimshaw and Chappell bowled particularly well and the Notts batters had as much trouble as ours did to really get in and firing. I had feared at the halfway point that Hales and Clarke would go out all guns blazing and the match would be over shortly after the halfway point. As it was, it was a much closer encounter than expected. Whether another twenty runs would have made a difference, I’m not sure. If the required rate had been higher and Notts had needed to take more risks, would we have got them all out or restricted their scoring?
ReplyDeleteSarah