Lancashire v Derbyshire Vitality Blast game 3

Lancashire 179-7 (Bohannon 39, Bruce 35, Chappell 3-38, Brown 2-37)

Derbyshire 122 (Came 42, Green 4-12)

Lancashire won by 57 runs

The bottom line, at the end of Derbyshire's second defeat of the tournament, is that a small squad cannot afford the absence of two of its major batters. 

The loss of Nye Donald so far and of Wayne Madsen for this game hurt Derbyshire. Then again, as a friend said to me at the fall of the third wicket, how nice would it have been to have had a hard-hitting overseas all-rounder at that point? Or indeed, opening the innings, as Peter Handscomb did so well for Leicestershire yesterday?

I won't keep going on about it, because the die is cast as far as Mickey. Arthur is concerned. We went for an unnecessary second overseas seam bowler and in situations like this are paying the penalty for not having additional batting firepower. Even someone like Chris Green, maybe not a world beater, but capable of powerful shots, tidy offspin and excellent fielding.  He would have been perfect for this side and there are plenty like him around the globe.

Lancashire's overseas players registered second top score and and figures of 4-12 respectively, after Green also made the difference at the end of their innings with 22 from 11 balls. 

We fielded one overseas player, again.

I find myself pining for last year and a combination of Haider Ali and Zaman Khan would have given me greater confidence than I currently have. For all his faults, Haider got runs quickly and was a powerful presence when he got his range.

I thought we bowled decently again today and the fielding has maintained its intensity through the first three games. Dupavillon did very well in his first three overs, but the final one was what hurt us. It happens though and it is rare for a bowler not to go around the park in the last few overs. Only a Rampaul, Langeveldt or Zaman Khan can prevent that and we don't have anyone of that calibre.

I was a little surprised to see Mitch Wagstaff bowling in the powerplay, but he again did pretty well.  None of the bowlers let us down, but the top order isn't firing and in the absence of Madsen, Patel needed to go big, which he can't do every time.

Guest offered the only real resistance and there is an argument, as I have said before, for him to be going in at the top of the order. His speed between the wickets is a real asset and he can hit as cleanly as anyone else. He is used to facing a new ball and I would regard him as being the second best bat in the club. 

The place of Luis Reece would be under threat if everyone was fit for the Nottinghamshire game, because he isn't looking like scoring runs at the moment. I'm not overly fussed about a left/right partnership at the top, if we have the best players for the positions.

It was a winnable game, as was that at Northampton. But we go again and must hope our injured players are fit. At won one, lost two we aren't out of this, but we need to sort out our best batting order fairly quickly. Oh, and ideally find a good overseas playing in the leagues that we can register...

One disappointment today was the Lancashire stream. It is all singing and dancing, but I can live without regular shots of people waving to the camera, spotting 'lookalikes' in the crowd and focusing on the fielder throwing the ball in, rather than what is happening between the wickets. Several times we saw the bowler in his follow-through, while I lost count of how many times we saw the fielder throw the ball in, with no idea whether it was close or not. 

Things to work on for them. Just as Derbyshire have plenty to work on themselves.