Thursday 10 August 2023

Durham v Derbyshire preview

There is an old saying that you never change a winning team. 

After all, Derbyshire played very well against Sussex in one of the more complete team performances that I have seen.

However, after being excluded for the first three games by the Werthers Originals, or whatever they are called, he has been recalled by Derbyshire, as they are entitled to do. I think we'll  find a place for him, don't you?

The most likely omission is one of the spinners. My guess is that this will be the final 11:

Reece, Came, Lloyd, Madsen, Ali, Guest, Dal, Thomson, Watt/McKiernan, Conners, Lakmal

Lamb, Wood and Moore are also in a 15-man squad.

There is no Ben Raine and Mattie Potts for Durham, but having scored 427 in their last game against Sussex they could have bowled Claude Raines and Paul Potts and still won. Lees and Bedingham have been in fine form all summer and getting them early will be key to the result.

Their squad:

Lees, Potts, Bedingham, Borthwick, Bushnell, Clark, Coughlin, Drissell, Gibson, Jones, McKinney, Pretorius, Trevaskis, Robinson.

It should be a good game, between two sides whose batting is stronger than bowling. I think Derbyshire have enough to go one better than the Vitality Blast game on this ground and come away with the points.

The forecast is good, so let's hope captain Guest calls correctly and we can chase again!

What do you think?

Postscript: whenever I see the name Pretorius, I'm minded of a team mate of mine, Billy, with the same name. 

He pulled a hamstring before a game one day and since we had no 12th man he agreed to play.

In true 'Outside Edge' fashion, I put him at slip, where he dropped three catches. So I moved him to third man and everything went off the edge. 

He then batted number 11, with a runner, and was run out, forgetting that he didn't have to run...

Quite a character was Billy! 

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