Yorkshire 297 (Wharton 58, Tattersall 45, Bean 41, Dal 5-72 Scrimshaw 3-79)
Derbyshire 47-1 (Wagstaff 32* Guest 13*)
Derbyshire trail by 250 runs
It is a lovely ground and was blessed with equally pleasant weather for the first day. Yorkshire's openers played some nice shots but there were several appeals for leg before, some of them looking much closer than the one that eventually took the first wicket.
That fell to Anuj Dal and he went on to become the first Derbyshire seam bowler to take five wickets on this ground. That is quite an achievement and follows on from three spinners who did so (Rhodes, Swarbrook and Moir). He bowled splendidly and kept the batters playing, which is crucial on a wicket that offers some help but is also good to bat on.
I also thought Sam Conners did well, but had little luck, while George Scrimshaw ended up with three, but also went for six an over in a spell of variable quality.
Brooke Guest held six catches in the innings, the second time he has done so. He kept very well throughout, while the Derbyshire bowling was more disciplined on the whole than many we have seen this season.
Bean and Wharton looked good young players for the home side, who will have been disappointed that eight players got into double figures but no one made more than 58.
The Yorkshire tail wagged, but Derbyshire will have been happy to keep their hosts to under 300.
Harry Came was dismissed early, victim of a wonderfully athletic take by Tattersall, but thereafter Guest and Wagstaff saw Derbyshire to the close without too many alarms.
Wagstaff's confidence must have been high, after holding a brilliant catch at backward point to dismiss Bess. Twenty yesterday, he played some pleasing strokes and his first 24 runs came in boundaries. His footwork was good and he played with great conviction in both attack and defence. Hopefully he can go on tomorrow and make a score that convinces Mickey Arthur that he has what it takes at this level.
So far so good. Now now to hopefully bat all day tomorrow.
* Statistics courtesy David Griffin X Feed
I suppose my slightly sour comment on your last point would be - how does Mickey Arthur know, given that he’s on a different continent… But certainly, Wagstaff played well and it was a decent display all round today. Anuj Dal yet again showed what a fantastic player he is. Someone we need to retain at all costs. I’ve no idea if he would like to be captain but for me we could do a lot worse. We ought to be using the captaincy to retain our top players. Incidentally I thought your comment yesterday about Wood and McKiernan was spot on. Every player we sign means we can’t sign another. Anyway, I’m here in Scarborough for the duration, getting more and more sunburnt and thoroughly enjoying it!
ReplyDeleteAndy T
Yeah Nuj is special! As for Mickey, he would know like any other distant fan - get on YouTube and watch the stream.
DeleteHe is back before the end of this match, and I am sure will be fully appraised by the other coaches of anything he misses.
I thought I saw Mickey Arthur sitting just outside of the changing room a couple of overs before close of play. Although he got 3 wickets I think yesterday showed we won't miss George scrimshaw in red ball cricket.
DeleteOpening bat
I agree. GS is a good T20 bowler as they have to try and hit him, regardless of the bounce. Less convinced of his 4 day potential, but I may be wrong
DeleteForgive my scepticism, but there's a difference between "the condition of his [MA] accepting the Pakistan role was that it was around his commitments at Derbyshire. We currently have no games, so he is away" [which was what I too had understood to be the case], and "he is back before the end of this match, and...will be fully appraised by the other coaches of anything he misses". This is how the slippage starts, it seems to me--a bit of a match here, a trip for an especially important Pakistan match there, not worrying too much about this Derbyshire match because it's against the bottom-placed team, a bit of "it's OK, I can be appraised by the other coaches".
DeleteThe question is very simple I think, and the club hierarchy need to be asking it: does Arthur's role at Pakistan REALLY fit around his commitments at Derbyshire? Or not? Because if it doesn't in practice, then the club might as well have Arthur in the kind of role he has at Pakistan (or not have him at all), and appoint Bell or Shahzad or whoever to be the actual coaches. At the moment, it's still clear as mud, and getting less clear.
And again--if he's not here for the Asia Cup, why should we expect him to be here for the World T20? Meaning also, why should there be any expectation that next year won't be the kind of season this year has been?
Dave
Dave, MA will have had discussions with the club board and the CEO, who are presumably happy.
DeleteAre you and I, together with the rest of the support, happy? No, but I think most people are content that the situation can be suitably managed from a Derbyshire perspective.
There are no guarantees that next season will be any better, but the way that recruitment has gone suggests that there is a decent chance of improvement.
We will find out in due course, but I am sure that his involvement with Pakistan will continue to be closely monitored at the Derbyshire end
Totally agree with everything Steve. A good crowd, organisation excellent from the travelling in on park n ride, at the ground, decent food and drink and so many families there. The outfield was very busy at lunch and tea. Very noticeable how many more girls and women were playing too.
ReplyDeleteCounty cricket felt very much alive and well today in beautiful weather all day.
Andy
Thoroughly enjoyable day , felt we should have restricted the home team to 250-260 for reasons already noted by PF, but All in all a good days play .
ReplyDeleteGood first day. Putting the opposition in and bowling them out for under 300 is excellent and something we haven’t done too often this season. Great performance from Anuj Dal and good support from the other bowlers. Pleased to see Mitch Wagstaff given an opportunity and it was quite a test for him against a good opening attack in Ben Coad and Fisher. Just hope we can follow up with a good performance on day two as the side has struggled all season to find consistency over four days.
ReplyDeleteNudger