Derbyshire v Leicestershire Vitality Blast game seven

Leicestershire 196-5 (Budinger 49, Masood 43, Brown 3-51, Patel 2-33)

Derbyshire 197-3 (Donald 60, Patel 52, Madsen 35, Jewell 32, Scriven 3-29)

Derbyshire won by 7 wickets

Weekends don't get much better than that for Derbyshire fans. Even if it seemed like it took place in some kind of parallel universe, where they beat everyone with ease..

Following gone from last night's emphatic victory over Nottinghamshire, they completed an East Midlands double by fairly convincingly disposing of Leicestershire at Edgbaston today.

It didn't look that way in the first half of the game. Sol Budinger blazed away in his finest style to give Leicestershire an excellent start, before the spinners brought back a little control. The return of the seamers saw another assault, with Cox and van Beek taking 55 from the last five overs. It left Derbyshire chasing 197 to win. 

I thought Samit Patel over the last two days bowled two of the canniest spells of spin that I have seen by a Derbyshire bowler in this format. Today, while his figures were not as spectacular as at Trent Bridge last night, he commanded respect and was well supported by Mohammad Ghazanfar. Although wicketless, the Afghan tyro was accurate and also returned fine figures. 

Derbyshire needed a good start and for the second time in two days they got it. Jewell and Donald led off with 93 in just seven overs, the latter breaking his own record for the fastest fifty in Falcons colours, this time taking just eighteen deliveries in a stunning display of hitting. 

Jewell seemed unhappy at being adjudged caught behind off the bowling of Scriven. Given that Cox, the wicket keeper, seemed to appeal every time he held the ball, maybe he had a point. Donald followed two balls later though and it left two new players at the crease.

Supporters may have had concerns about the inexperienced of that third wicket pair 😉 but the 41-year old Madsen partnered the 40-year old Samit Patel in a stand of sixty runs, surely the oldest half-century stand in the history of T20 in this country? They batted with great common sense, as you would hope, given their collective experience and kept up with the required rate.

It settled nerves, but when Madsen went in similar fashion to the way he was dismissed at Leicester earlier in the season, caught at long leg, 43 were still  needed in just over five overs.

Tom Scriven had bowled excellently for Leicestershire, but Patel took him on in his final over and hit him for two sixes and a four, to make the victory a formality. It had been, quite honestly, as good a run chase as you could wish to see.

Captain Patel scored the winning boundary and reached an excellent half century in 32 balls, a challenging chase completed with ten deliveries to spare. While the fan base has been clamouring for him to drop down the order, today he moved up, batted three and, to be fair to him, controlled the run chase to perfection. He can be very happy with his weekend's work.

I won't allow myself to get carried away. We all know the talent is in this squad to do this more often and we shouldn't have lost five straight games. Yet it was clear that confidence has been restored and I am hopeful that a mid-table finish is still possible. More importantly, the bounce will be back for the red ball, and as I said on the radio last night, once you get on a roll, the game seems so much easier.

Whatever happens, this has been an excellent weekend for Derbyshire supporters, one that will be looked back on with considerable pride and enjoyment.

Well done, gentlemen!