There will be a different look to Derbyshire's attack for the game against Kent, that starts at the County Ground tomorrow.
Blair Tickner has failed a fitness test on his injured hamstring, while Ben Aitchison is rested with side stiffness, after his successful return at Old Trafford last weekend.
But Luis Reece is back and will likely take the new ball with Zak Chappell, with either Pat Brown or Nick Potts coming into the side as third seamer. That is unless Neil Godrich has been shaving the pitch to make it something akin to the sub-continent and we go with an attack akin to the great Indian one of the 70s..
A fourteen-man squad has been announced and I expect the line up to be as follows:
Jewell
Lloyd
Came
Madsen
Guest
Reece
Andersson
Dal
Chappell
Morley
Brown/Potts
Thomson
Wagstaff
I can't see a way back for Alex Thomson after Jack Morley bowled so well at Old Trafford, although a dry pitch might see both main spinners play and we omit the third seamer and go with Anuj Dal and Martin Andersson as support.
They have a lot of injuries, with Joe and Jaydn Denly, Joey Evison, Ekansh Singh, Mikey Cohen, Jas Singh and Matt Quinn all out. Zak Crawley is with England and Jake Ball and Alfie Ogborne may feature in the last match of their current loan deals.
I full fully expected Kent to challenge for promotion, after coming down last year, but they have never got going and the loss of overseas seamer Keith Dudgeon through injury seems to have affected them.
If the weather allows sufficient time, I feel that this is a game that Derbyshire can win. If they can end the first half of the red ball season unbeaten, it would be an even greater boost before we head into the Blast.
What do you think?
Hopefully the pitch will take spin it would be quite nice to see Morley and thomson bowl together again. If we get a mainly rain free match we should be more then capable of beating Kent although they can be unpredictable and occasionally look quite a good side. I personally think Parkinson is a very good bowler and like any decent leggie can be a match winner on his day. I think it’s unlikely to happen but I would go for wagstaffe ahead of Lloyd. Let’s hope for 4 days of good cricket with another win to keep us firmly in the top 2 before the other stuff starts
ReplyDeleteI worry about our ability to take the 20 wickets that's (usually) needed to win a game. The two absentees certainly don't aid our chances of doing that. I'd like to see us bat first and get a big score to build some pressure.
ReplyDeleteThe seam attack looks very thin. Chappell has been far below his levels of last season. Pat Brown has been very poor in his red ball outings in Derbyshire colours. Potts is raw and unproven at 1st team level. Luis Reece is good if fit and firing, though fitness must be a concern, particularly is he is expected to get through may overs. Dal and Andersson are support rather than main bowlers.
ReplyDeleteIn summary I think our chances of taking 20 wickets are slim to none.
Hopefully the depth of our batting can result in a draw, as has been the case already on several occasions this season.
Can’t see us taking 20 wickets based on form and absentees . Hope me I’m wrong !
ReplyDeleteWithout Tickner and Aitchison, it's going to prove more difficult to force a win, but at the same time, may afford opportunity for Brown or Potts (or both) to show us what they can do. A good draw would still leave us in contention when the competition resumes later in the season. I would be happy with that.
ReplyDeleteI see we have chosen to bat: good news! The team is the logical one. Allez Derbyshire
ReplyDeleteI'd have taken a punt and gone with Wagstaff ahead of Brown because that seam attack isn't going to take the bulk of 20 wickets. Hope they prove me wrong...
ReplyDeleteI think we are definitely capable of being beating Kent particularly with so many absentees on their side. I think our main barrier, like others have said, is that our ability to take 20 wickets. With no Tickner or Aitcheson and Brown 4 day record is nowhere near as good as his t20, I think we may struggle.
ReplyDeleteOn the upside, their attack also looks weak and we've proven this season, even our lower order/tailenders can score runs so hoping we can put a big score on the board early and really put the pressure on. Facet.
We looked very comfortable today, except on a few occasions when Kent took the second new ball. Jewell was superb - I hope he goes on to make a really big score today. Came was very unlucky and I thought he built his innings very well, accelerating his scoring rate once he was completely ”in”. He should be a fixture at number 3 in 4-day cricket. Against a weak attack with only four frontline bowlers we have the opportunity today to pile on the runs and then put Kent under real pressure.
ReplyDeleteI fully understand the doubts as to whether we can take 20 wickets but our bowling attack does look stronger than theirs (and don’t forget that we are missing Tickner, Aitchison and Moore also).
Allez Derbyshire