Somerset, Surrey, Sussex and Gloucestershire will battle it out at Edgbaston and many of you will notice that three of those four counties are not currently hosting teams in the other competition.
You could argue that some teams are more affected by the odd scheduling than others. Northamptonshire, for example, leaned heavily on Sikandar Raza and Matt Breetzke in getting through the group stages, yet neither was available for the delayed quarter final stage.
I always thought the northern group very strong, but events of the last two seasons suggest otherwise.
Yet for me, the two teams of the summer this year have been Worcestershire and Gloucestershire.
The former lost their first choice attack to other clubs last winter, then saw the likely replacements wiped out by injury. So they had to field an attack made up of academy and minor county players and did wonderfully well to compete in both the T20 and the one day cup.
As for Gloucestershire, you wouldn't look at them and think they were a team of outstanding individual ability, yet collectively they work. Mark Alleyne has proven as shrewd a coach as he was a captain and has created a wonderful team spirit in which they never know when to lie down.
Last night they should never have been able to defend 138 against Birmingham, yet they won by 14 runs. Accurate bowling was backed up by brilliant and tigerish fielding and it reminded me of their heyday when Alleyne, Kim Barnett and Ian Harvey did so well for them
Hopefully Derbyshire can generate similar fighting spirit for 2025.
We live in hope, but there is much to do.
Shows what is achievable with good coaching Steve, something I don't think we've had
ReplyDeleteInteresting comments on Gloucestershire when they have an almost identical record to Derbyshire in all 3 competitions played this season. But for a tied Championship game squeaking through their Blast group on net run rate and winning fewer ODC games. They may well go on to win the Blast which would be a great achievement. Fridays result proves just how close T20 cricket can be. Derbyshire can also vouch for that. Now if you want their 1.1m of losses in the last financial year and mounting debt you are welcome. Also Chair and CEO have left the building during the season. Be careful again what you wish for
ReplyDeleteJason
Don't think I said I 'wished for' anything Jason. I merely highlighted that a team that on paper isn't as good as ours had upset the odds and made Finals Day. As a team they are better than the sum of their parts and showed it in that win.
DeleteHow is the Gloucestershire team on paper not as good as ours?
DeleteBancroft is a top drawer overseas in all formats. Webster was good as well.
Even missing Dent all season players like Payne, Hammond, both Taylors, van Buuren and Bracey are proven county players who'd all improve our side. Akhtar and Dale have played England Lions this season and were excellent pickups. That's an XI better than ours already.
Oh and they actually trust their young players - both Price's and Ben Charlesworth would improve us as well and they have numerous others getting gametime and improving.
I agree Hamez with your points but up until Friday they had won exactly the same number of cricket matches as Derbyshire this season so are you saying they are underperforming ? In a lot of sports one team always comes up on the rails and it could be Gloucestershire this season. They will probably have to overcome Surrey at some point sadly !
DeleteJason
Difficult to judge really whether they've underperformed but they usually have a youthful tint to the side and the balance is always academy produced which I feel means I'm inclined to give them more latitude and expect they're on a better trajectory than us.
DeleteArthur banked on the experience of Patel and Whiteley etc and it hasn't worked in the white ball formats so we've nowhere to go. Gloucestershire have got to finals day and know their younger players will be continuing to improve.
Your first sentence says it all, Hamez. Top drawer overseas recruits. That's the difference. And we have opted to go down a different recruitment route. Not necessarily better..
ReplyDeleteTheir supporters may look to Guest, Dal, Madsen, Chappell, Moore in the same way. For me, little difference in the sides, though Hammond, Payne and van Buuren are fine players, Charlesworth a talent
Interestingly I feel Bracey is about as close an analogue for Guest as you'll get in terms of his keeping and playing as a top order bat though he no longer bats at 3 and I wonder if Guest will end up dropping to 4 or 5.
DeleteOf our players Madsen has averaged north of 40 with Guest at 32 (mediocre) and everyone else poorer still. Chappell has been great but still only averages 31 this season with everyone else terrible (easy to see our biggest problem).
They've had Dom Goodman average about 32 so not far off Chappell though less wickets and then they've had their 2 overseas and de Lange average less than 30.
Feel like this tells us two things, 1. There are too many docile pitches in division 2 this season and Gloucester'sacademy bats like Hammond, Bracey and Charlesworth have helped them cash in along woth Bancroft and Webster. 2. Good overseas can make a difference when faced with such pitches.
Maybe I'll write an article about some of this as I'm a data analyst when not watching cricket?
Makes me think it's a necessity to have two overseas next season who can take a lot of wickets on unhelpful surfaces. Ideally one of them can bat too but Madsen, Came, Dal and Guest should be able to step up and score our runs - hopefully this season is just a poor one for all but the former and they'll be back to their best next season. Outside of Chappell (and I really hope Aitchison) I don't think the rest of our pace stable is good enough. And I don't think Lloyd, Donald or Whiteley are good enough to be relied on in 4 day cricket either. I'd love to see Lamb stay fit too as clearly has talent and we could desperately do with him being fit to realise it.
Good thread and excellent debate all 👍
ReplyDeleteJason
That's what it is all about, Jason. We may not all agree on things apart from two. That we want the best for Derbyshire cricket and that everyone is free to express their thoughts, as long as they are neither rants nor personal attacks
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