Derbyshire 443 and 89-0 (Reece 54*, Came 27*)
Durham 575 (Carse 80, Potts 64, Conners 5-115)
Derbyshire trail by 43 runs
Yet the game is destined for what I can only call a bore draw, with rain forecast for much of tomorrow.
Play was halted for a while while a mysterious object was removed from the wicket. It turned out to be an old eyelet from the covers, but to be quite honest, an unexploded World War II bomb wouldn't have made much of a difference.
The wickets at Derby are simply too good, certainly for batters. Four day cricket is all well and good, but these tracks do no one any favours, certainly not a home side trying to get their first four day win at the ground since 2019. I don't think it would make a great deal of difference if we signed prime time Michael Holding and Les Jackson over the winter, unless something is done to make the battle between bat and ball more even.
If winning four-day cricket is not our raison d'etre and we just want to be a team that is hard to beat, that's fine. But realistically, we will not mount a challenge to be promoted in this format unless the wickets are more conducive to results being achieved. As a spectacle it is pretty dull.
I switched over in the afternoon and watched Scotland v Jersey on BBC iPlayer. Jersey fielded brilliantly and had the Scots in a spot of bother, before an unbeaten 31 from Mark Watt took them to 149-7.
He then opened with a wicket maiden en route to figures of 4-21 as the home side won without too many alarms.
I bet he had more fun bowling at The Grange than he would have had at Derby today...
Just what has been the point of this game?. Heading in to the last day with absolutely no chance of a result, boring as anything. Bring on the Royal London Cup now, that's all there is left in this bitterly disappointing season
ReplyDeleteThe wickets are now getting more and more a problem for red ball games. It seems they are developed for high scoring white ball games. One positive result in two seasons at Derby (loss to Worcestershire this season) suggests the they are a problem and not just down to the Derbyshire bowling attack. I would not be against a full season at Chesterfield if it meant they could work on the Derby pitches to produce more exciting pitches.
ReplyDeleteOn the field it is encouraging to see Sam Conners fully fit and he seems to have added some speed even though he is more prone to bowling no balls.
If the pitches are to remain the same we should try and find a mystery (leg) spinner for next season to help bowl sides out as we have seemed to have had a problem removing the tail all season.
Not a bad idea, David. I think Tommy Mitchell would have had plenty to say about the wickets at Derby!
DeleteThing is, cricket is so saturated in coverage now and there are so many matches videoed that 'mystery' bowlers are analysed and not long a mystery!
Abrar Ahmed would be one option, but he is only a (very good) bowler with no real pretensions in batting.
DeleteIt would be something different, but would it turn a lot in England in April and May?
When will we ever become even moderately competetive. We are just very poor in all areas with the odd moment of magic ( as with the brilliant innings of our brilliant keeper) Still waiting for an explanation from the Management re. the reasons for this dire season.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry, but the pedant in me has to point they are pitches not wickets. Other than that I couldn't agree with you more about them. They don't seem to offer help for any type of bowler. I thought Matthew Potts bowled very well for them but even he couldn't get any joy. It really makes the five-for for Sam a major achievement.
ReplyDeleteJust a mention for the catch from Anuj, stunning.
Both catches by Dal and Came were excellent. Potts and Raine are fine bowlers.
ReplyDeleteAs for wicket, it is a versatile, multi-use word - see
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wicket
The Derby wicket is not fit for purpose. It fails to offer an equal contest between bat and ball. Good bowlers are not able to get much if any encouragement from the surface., be they pace or spinners. I attended for 3 days and it was clearly going to end up a draw. We all know to win a championship match you need to take 20 wickets. I cannot see this happening in the next 4 years. Please remember Durham have fine bowlers look at how many wickets fell. I spoke to a pace bowler during the game and his comments were ' it used to have some pace'. It is playing into the hands of the lobby to end the Championship. Something needs to change. In the Championship I would amalgamate the two divisions. Who knows it may raise the standards of all players. The bonus for me is we will again play counties we no longer see sadly.
ReplyDeleteSomebody at the game this week said that the ECB want wickets like this. They don't want green tops, with 45 year olds taking 5 for's. They want top quality wickets like Derby. Well, I'm sorry, this has been just DULL, with a capital D. If Matthew Potts is struggling, what chance do our lads have? 250 plays 250 should be the norm, not just at Chesterfield. Kris
ReplyDelete