Derbyshire 173 and 119 (Madsen 32, Roland-Jones 5-38)
Middlesex 358
Middlesex won by an innings and 66 runs
It was always likely to be so, against a keen attack and on a worn pitch. When Wayne Madsen was dismissed this morning, the writing was on the wall and by the end had been sprayed on with indelible ink. A weary and injury-hit Derbyshire capitulated with not too much of a fight against a far better visiting eleven, in which Toby Roland-Jones was excellent.
I have no idea if the apparent disconnect between Mickey Arthur and the players is as bad as results suggest, but Derbyshire continue to lose session after session and as a consequence, match after match.
To be fair, today's result is rather overshadowed by the unedifying scenes at the Members Forum last night, as reported by several people in comments and also by others to me by e mail. Not having been present, I am loathe to say too much, but there appears a growing disconnect between the membership and the Head of Cricket, as well as that suggested in the dressing room by results.
There are ways in which opinions should be expressed and only those present know if the line was overstepped last night in comments to Mickey Arthur. Equally, it is not appropriate for a representative of the club to react in the way that I am told he did, to people who spend their hard-earned cash in lending their support.
It will be interesting to see how this develops, as it is has done no favours to the club, nor indeed to the Head of Cricket.
Saying 'if you don't like it, don't come again' is not going to attract supporters, at a time when a membership drive is under way.
If it is indicative of how things are done in the dressing room, it explains a few things, doesn't it?
"Resistance is futile" seems to have been the motto of our team today. As usual Wayne's dismissal led to total capitulation. If I were at last night's meeting I would have asked MA "After three years being coached by you what do you think our team has achieved?" No doubt I would have been told to get out. This man has been a total failure at Derbyshire but instead of admitting his mistakes he turns on supporters who ask reasonable questions. He is also a bully and if he carries on like this in his dealings with our players the only surprise is that they all haven't left.
ReplyDeleteAfter beating Glamorgan convincingly I hoped for a good finish to the season to breed hope and confidence for next year….
ReplyDeleteInstead, we sink to new lows, failing to reach 200 runs in the last 4 innings (short of 150 in two of them) and unsavory scenes between the coach and the members. Its all very depressing.
Peakfan, I'm a technophobe so it might be anon. In reality I'm Rob the lone Derbyshire fan in Essex.
ReplyDeleteI've sat on my hands long enough. As we are seeing with politics, reasonable people have had enough.
Put starkly this mornings rubbish has to be the catalyst for change. I can think of no other sports team who would put up with the results and more importantly telling very long suffering supporters not to attend surely only ends 1 way.
These are good players but it's screamingly obvious that they are being badly led.
My Aunt Dolly could coach better and would definitely be more polite.
The real rub of this is there are influential names queuing up to do away with the County system or certain counties within it. And yet if we wanted to we couldn't make it easier for them.
Arthur has to go. If the overseas are nothing better than we have, then save the money
For heavens sake play Derbyshire youth because we are loosing allready. If we go down we go down fighting and having given it a go.
Arthur's treatment of the players and of Thomson in particular is so poor its laughable and yet we are told not to attend if we don't like it.
Well will the last supporter out please do the club a favour and turn the lights off
What Mickey should remember that some of us were watching Derbyshire long before he became Head Coach and will still be watching long after he’s gone
DeleteLet s give Aunt Dolly a go ! Mal B
DeleteInevitable capitulation we've seen so many times this season. One really has to wonder what the mood in the dressing room is like. Obviously we are not party to that, but if MA treats the players with the same attitude he supposedly did with the members last night then I'm not surprised with the poor performances on the pitch.
ReplyDeleteIt really is time now for the board to grow a pair and get rid of him. Most of his tenure has been an unmitigated disaster.
If paying him off means we can't afford star overseas players then so be it. It's not as if we will get any worse playing our local lads.
I seem to recall back in the winter someone on this blog asking why Du Plooy would want to move to Middlesex. I think the answer is crystal clear.
ReplyDeleteI suspect something similar re Sam Connors.
I fear that there will be others.
That comment from MA is appalling. The members’ money literally helps pays your wages, the members decide how the club is run. The club belongs to the members.
ReplyDeleteApologise or go, based on that comment alone.
Robert
I haven't commented at all this season, partly because my points were well made by others but also because I was hoping for some form of improvement. Other than a dead cat bounce during the one day cup improvement came there none.
ReplyDeleteThe comment about not coming back reminded me of Lionel Pickering suggesting that fans go to watch the local rivals if they don't like it. These sorts of comments achieve nothing other than to annoy people and live in the memory for decades afterwards. At least Pickering had real success and a shiny new stadium to show for his efforts, the current Derbyshire team are collectively worse than when Arthur arrived and there's nothing to suggest that next season will be any different.
The club is rightly proud of turning a profit each year but if they have to dig deep in order to pay Arthur off and give us all some hope then I think that would be the right course of action.
Paul (Pride Park)
Perhaps this is a new benefit for members next year?
ReplyDeleteRenew for 2025 and you will get the exclusive chance to be shouted at by the coaching staff.
All too predictable this morning, I'm afraid. That's our third innings defeat in the last five games. The fact that only three players have scored centuries in the CC this season tells you a lot about how poor our batting has been.
ReplyDeleteIf the comments Mickey allegedly made at the members' forum are true, then it sounds like our poor performances on the pitch are getting to him.
Despite this, I would still stick with him for next season. Perhaps all the pieces will come together then. Maybe I'm being too optimistic. If he goes, there's no guarantee that his replacement will do any better.
Really??? What has he done to warrant another season as Head Coach? We have gone backwards over the last 3 years which I didn’t think was actually possible. His overseas signings this season have been a disaster. Would Wayne consider stepping up in a player/coach role? Grant from Telford
DeleteMickey Arthur. Reinventing the 3 day County Championship match 🙄
ReplyDeleteFor each of the past 3 seasons our best batsman has been lured away by a county offering more money - Critchley , Masood and DuPlooy. Presumably we could have persuaded at least one of these to stay by offering more money instead of squandering our funds on an idiot who clearly isn't up to the job of coaching a county side.
ReplyDeleteEnough is enough, Mickey Arthur out now!
ReplyDeleteI wasn’t there last night and wouldn’t defend any behaviour that not respectful. I have attended previous forum and cringed at remarks a member where making about Samit Patel that was very unfair. You have to ask wisdom doing a forum in mid match when you get questions fired at all direction and some that are unfair.
ReplyDeleteI do think this raises big question has our squad got enough depth? I find very difficult to read constant criticism of the team on social media. In reality if you judge some players purely by white ball cricket they done quite well. Micky see that success in white ball with long term go into red ball. My question is if these players don’t get crease time in club and 2nd eleven makes very difficult change any form. Who have we got to replace out form players? We focus so much time making a profit what I can understand importantance but do think we need to expand budget. Take a calculated risk to go forward as a club. We are cricket club not event business. The main aim should always be how can we improve the cricket.
I live on the IoM and every season I come over to watch at least a couple of Derbyshire matches. Preferably 4 day games. This summer I've struggled to find the motivation to attend. Clearly, there is something wrong both in the dressing room and the wider Club. Close friends have told me of the almost toxic atmosphere at recent Members' forum. We seem to have a Director of Cricket who's cv and ego are blocking out reality. After 2 years we are wooden spoon winners. No progress in limited overs comps. There is only 1 person responsible.
ReplyDelete