There was still turn, but not as sharp as it had been on the first two days. The ball still nipped off the seam, but really only when it was new and the old Kookaburra ball didn't do that much.
There are some good bowlers in this Derbyshire side and that leads me to be hopeful that we can, at the very least, hold out for a draw tomorrow.
We could have done without losing the wicket of Harry Came before the close, but Lloyd and Reece took it to that point without any further loss.
Earlier Alex Thomson completed a magnificent match with another five wickets, making twelve in the season opener. Had Jack Morley played too, I suspect we would be in the driving seat at this point.
For me, there needs to be a rethink. We could easily go in with two seamers, with Dal, Reece and Lloyd to back them up. I'm not sure whether a variety in attack may be more beneficial, but even on a green top I think it unlikely we would ever need six seam bowlers in the eleven. So you could either lengthen the batting or play two spinners.
Cooke and Harris batted splendidly for the home side and with few alarms. It would be unrealistic to suggest Derbyshire can go for a winning total in excess of 400, especially when one considers the forecast tomorrow, which suggests rain at times In as yet unknown quantities.
But I think it is for to assume we should be able to put up a decent fist on an improved pitch. The bowling of Mason Crane will be key, but if the ball is damp from a wet outfield, it won't be so easy for him to land it with consistency.
I would like to think that Derbyshire's battling approach should see them head home with a draw, but you never can tell.
Where is your money lying tonight?
I personally can only see one result. There a reason why the highest run total at Glamorgan is 285 that was nearly 80 years ago we achieved. I can’t see us batting this out. I only see at some point a bad session at some part of the day. There no real consistency for length of 4 days in this team. We need to learn to have bad session but come out of it with less damage.
ReplyDeleteI think with hindsight we needed 2 spinners. Maybe we missed the clue that brought crane on loan a players who had such huge promise. They delivered a wicket that most would like to see at Derby. It’s a result wicket that gives them great chance pushing promotion this season. I think Glamorgan will be top 4 in 2024. Only criticism towards home side they need to be braver with deceleration to stand chance winning more games.
My only worry is that we have basically started this years red ball campaign with pretty much the same team as last year other than Lloyd for Du Plooy (let’s say that’s like for like) and Donald for Lamb (guessing this is a 50/50 call for most people). The only other change is an overseas, so we are asking a lot for Tickner to turn us into a promotion challenging outfit. Hopefully proved wrong!!
ReplyDeleteWhat would we give for a player like James Harris. He’s been outstanding with bat and ball.
ReplyDeleteWith doubts surrounding the weather today I think the home side should have declared sooner to give themselves time to bowl us out. The other thing that occurs to me is the unusual nature of the pitch. After 24 wickets fell on the first two days, only 3 fell all day yesterday. The wonderful unpredictability of 4 day cricket!
ReplyDeleteThe weather seems like it will have the final say and probably for the best as
ReplyDeletePutting the weather to one side, I'd like to see us come out this morning and have a go at chasing the total. Mickey has spoken in pre-season interviews about being more aggressive and having a winning mentality. We didn't have enough of this last season, which was why we failed to win a single CC game.
ReplyDeleteDouthwaite and Harris seemingly made batting look a lot more straight forward than it had on days 1 and 2, so I would hope and expect our batters to put up plenty of resistance, whether or not that will be enough to avoid defeat, I'm not so sure. A bit of assistance from the weather might be both welcome, and required.
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