He put out a post on X today that, although referring to England players returning to counties, might be equally relevant to single format players.
You can read it here
It got me thinking that this could be part of the problem at Derbyshire.
The strength of the red ball side has been its togetherness, a 'take on one, you take on all' mentality. A team where everyone knows their role and carries it out to the maximum of their ability.
The dynamic of that side has changed, with people who are only here for the T20. As a contributor mentioned yesterday, Harry Came, Luis Reece, Anuj Dal, Jack Morley, Brooke Guest and Blair Tickner have all played key roles within that side, yet all are missing from this competition. In some cases I get it, because they haven't played much T20, or enjoyed success when they have.
Yet the only white ball specialist who you could regard as having upheld his reputation in the format so far is Ross Whiteley. He is looking in good touch and perhaps could have been better utilised when that was obvious.
For the others, it has been a mixed bag. I'm not sure how realistic it is for Samit Patel, at his age and not, with respect, the most obviously fit in the squad, to play a number of matches in a short space of time. It might be different were he playing more cricket, but the additional pressure on muscles and joints has got to tell. He rode his luck against Northamptonshire and played some powerful shots, but his current injury is perhaps a logical consequence of that lengthy time in the middle.
The same with Nye Donald. I'm not going to mention this again because my thoughts are well known, but it was wrong to expect him to open the batting and keep wicket after no real cricket this year. I know he scores quickly when he gets in, but he hasn't had the time in the middle to do that consistently. His fifty against Nottinghamshire was impressive, but his other three knocks have lasted a total of seven balls. I don't doubt his value when he's in form, but where could he get form this year? Especially with an innate reluctance to 'have a look' first.
With David Lloyd struggling for runs and Samit in the same position as Nye for time in the middle, it is no real surprise we have made a mess of Power plays. With two of our best and in form batters, Luis Reece and Brooke Guest, outside the eleven, the frustration of supporters has been understandable.
I'm not suggesting that T20 is the strength of those players, but they could have fulfilled a role within the side, one that allowed an alternative game plan to be executed. You can score ten an over from five twos, just as easily as with a six and a four...
My other concern, again relating to squad spirit, is in the signing of Fynn Hudson-Prentice. He is a fine player and a lovely lad, but what does the signing say to Nick Potts? Picked for the first game, given one over and now a step further back again. Or for Mitch Wagstaff, who is surely worth a run now to see if he has what it takes?
Wayne Madsen mentioned the issue of losing too many Powerplay wickets after yesterday's game. It seems to me that Caleb Jewell is the designated anchor man, but when he has gone early, the rest just go for it, with no one taking on the role. It cannot work very often and certainly hasn't so far, more resembling the rush for lifeboats on the Titanic than a controlled run chase.
I am currently watching the second team. Brooke Guest and Martin Andersson are ticking over nicely They are running hard, finding the gaps, putting away the bad ball, doing nowt 'glamorous'. Whatever happens from here, there is a platform built, which is something to work with. Needing nine an over, they are scoring exactly that. Common sense, brains-engaged cricket. Hit a boundary early in the over, then knock it around.
I won't see our game on Wednesday, because we have tickets to go and see the most excellent Bonnie Raitt in Glasgow. Yet if I was picking a team to give it a go, I would select:
Jewell, Andersson, Whiteley, Madsen, Guest, Donald, Hudson-Prentice, Patel/Wagstaff, Aitchison, Ghazanfar, Brown.
They might not win, on a ground that historically isn't kind to us, but I reckon we would make a better fist of things than we have so far.
Thoughts?
Postscript: the second team beat Yorkshire by six wickets after a superbly-paced chase of 185 runs.
Brooke Guest made 51 from 32 balls, while the outstanding Martin Andersson saw them home with an unbeaten 84 from 51 balls.
Proper run chase, proper cricket.
Andersson has to bat higher and agree with your other comments. Hawkins also bowled well in said second XI game, wonder if he'll sooner rather than later be following Harry Moore off of Smit's conveyor belt.
ReplyDeleteHe did bowl well, very tidy. He will sleep well tonight. Game in the morning, one in the afternoon...maybe finish off with football with his mates, or a gentle game of squash? 😉
DeleteThe joy of youth and young joints!
The most pleasing feature of this season has been the team’s improved resilience in terms of fighting back, usually to achieve a draw, after getting into trouble,. This has masked various weaknesses. There is much less scope for this to work in 20 overs, a format which has so far exposed our frailties quite brutally. Single format players are fine as long as they hit the ground running. Perhaps the reality is that we are not quite as bad a T20 team as our performances (affected by odd team selections etc) so far suggest and perhaps also not quite as good a red ball team as the current table suggests?
ReplyDeleteYes, quite possibly. Single format players playing only one tournament will always struggle for form. Different if playing around the globe, but must be a challenge to, as you say, 'hit the ground running'
DeleteI totally agree with you Steve. Let’s hope our hierarchy are up to the management task to keep everyone motivation.
ReplyDeleteA great chase this afternoon, intelligent cricket and low risk approach while scoring at +/- 10 an over. Guest needs to play in the remaining t20 games for me.
Adrian
Yeah it's his common sense, speed between wickets, personality - he carries people with him and his encouragement of Hawkins and delight in his wicket was a good example of that
DeleteAn enjoyable afternoon spent at the County Ground today. Brooke Guest and Martin Andersson paced their innings beautifully without taking too many unnecessary risks. They knocked the ball around, found the gaps and didn’t feel the necessity to this and smash balls through the air all the time. It was sensible. Of course there’s a big difference in quality between the Second XI and playing in the Blast and the Yorkshire attack today hardly compared with Birmingham’s yesterday, but that same level of application displayed this afternoon could yield better performances than we have seen in the first four games.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about the signing of Hudson-Prentice why did we feel the need? Couldn't Dal, Wagstaff etc do the same job, ridiculous signing if you ask me and only for four games as well. All a bit slapdash this T20 side with no real balance to it and no match winners like most other counties have.
ReplyDeleteMy team for Durham would be: Jewell, Andersson, Guest, Madsen, Reece, Whiteley, Dal, Thomson, Hudson-Prentice, Ghazanfar, Brown
I also watched the second XI T20 game against Yorkshire, and I was also impressed by how well Andersson and Guest batted.
ReplyDeleteGuest has to play tomorrow. He's one of our best batsmen. Incidentally, in his four T20 games this season in the seconds he's scored 44, 39, 44, and 51.
I would also make a case for Dal coming in. He would be good addition to the bowling unit and he can bat. While he hasn't played much T20 cricket for the first XI, when the second XI won the T20 championship in 2023, he topped the batting averages, scoring 375 runs, including four 50s, at an average of 125 and a strike rate of 157.
Having signed FHP for four games tells me that MA doesn't have much intention in playing Dal in T20. Brooke Guest is a very fine cricketer. Some people forget this.
ReplyDeleteFrom the moment we went into the first game with Nick Potts, nothing against Nick, it's just that he had hardly played, gave him one over and persisted in bowling Brown, who was disappearing to all parts, it has been a quite shambolic campaign so far.
For me it's done, I shall watch with hope rather than expectation. Fingers crossed it doesn't rain at Queen's Park, for our annual collection of T20 points from Yorkshire!
Other than perhaps playing Tickner, on a pitch that might suit, I can't see a lot else that can be done. The ones most suited to T20 are playing. Several of them just need to play better. You would hope Harry Moore would be nearing fitness soon, and sadly that's what it's come to, pinning our hopes on a teenager....fine player, but it's asking a lot.
I think last year the 1st Xi played a number of warm up games before the T20 campaign (though maybe they may have been nominally 2nd Xi games) this year I do not remember seeing any such games.
ReplyDeleteDespite the call for changes , the 2nd Xi have not exactly been performing wonderfully either , Only Brooke Guest has scored runs consistently and Andersson obviously had a big knock this week.
I think the bigger problem of the two is the bowling where apart from Ghazanfar no one has really impressed. Chasing 190 means you have not really got time to waste a couple of the power play overs when the field is in and singles are going to be harder to get.
Martin