Derbyshire v Northamptonshire preview

Mickey Arthur has named a 14-man squad for the game against Northamptonshire, that starts at the County Ground tomorrow.

To the eleven that played at Leicester are added Alex Thomson, Pat Brown and Mitch Wagstaff. The latter enjoyed a fine game in the well-balanced second team game against Lancashire, making 69 and 73 in his two innings, while Thomson did the same, making 87 in his only innings and taking six wickets in the match. It is heartening that everyone is making a strong case for inclusion in the first eleven at present and it can only be good for the team. Nye Donald is working with fitness staff to be fit for the T20, so looks likely to miss out until then.

Having said that, I would be surprised if there were any change to the eleven that played at Leicester, so I expect Derbyshire to line up as follows: 

Jewell, Lloyd, Came, Madsen, Guest, Reece, Dal, Andersson, Chappell, Tickner, Morley

Northamptonshire have named a 12-man, unchanged squad from the game against Lancashire, which they dominated but narrowly failed to win. They are currently missing Ben Sanderson, a very fine bowler, but Nottinghamshire spinner Calvin Harrison enjoyed an excellent debut on loan and Australian Liam Guthrie has made a positive impression with the new ball, since arriving on a 3-year deal and UK passport. Saif Zaib and Lewis McManus are in good batting touch, while Rob Keogh so often turns into Jim Laker against Derbyshire.

It will be a good game, but if the weather stays out of it, Derbyshire are capable of getting a second win on the board. The toss will again be important and hopefully Wayne Madsen can continue his fine form with bat and coin into this game. 

In hoping for a decent forecast, I'm going for a Derbyshire win here.

What do you think?

In closing, I will be on the North Derbyshire Radio sports programme again tomorrow evening, discussing the Leicestershire game, this one and my thoughts on Wayne Madsen's new contract with Matt Rhodes.

I hope you tune in. For those who can't, I will post a link to hear it on playback, later tomorrow evening.