Leicestershire 398 and 236-9
Derbyshire 189 and 256 (Thomson 55, Chappell 50, Guest 32, Ahmed 7-93)
Leicestershire won by 189 runs
Perhaps there is an argument for Zak Chappell moving up the order next season, especially in the T20. He isn't always a secure starter, but when he does get his feet moving he scores quickly and hits powerfully. He did so today and is is a much improved batter.
Brooke Guest and Alex Thomson also fought hard in the resistance (not THAT resistance..) but there was too much to do for too few people. Special mention also for Jack Morley, who will be disappointed with his bowling in this game, but resisted for 85 balls at number eleven.
Next up for Derbyshire is a fifty-over warm up against Bedfordshire on Sunday, before the red ball action moves to Northampton on Tuesday.
Postscript: after the game Mickey Arthur revealed that Alex Thomson sustained a broken finger and will obviously be out for a while. Martin Andersson still has a back spasm but will play on Sunday, along with Amrit Basra and Rory Haydon.
Meanwhile Anuj Dal will not be back until towards the end of the Metro Bank Cup.
I don't think the season should be judged on losing to Lancs and Leics, who on paper, look stronger sides than us. Ok, Lancs had a bad start, but they are flying now. I think most of our fans would have hoped for 3 or 4 wins and mid table. That's still possible. Northants have had a heavy defeat, so let's see what we can do. Kris
ReplyDeleteSo more good news. Leicestershire just better than us in all departments. We lack a cutting edge in the bowling department, Tickner as an overseas bowler just doesn’t pick up enough wickets. Lloyd fails time after time and we are lacking a quality spinner. Did Mickey deserve an extended contract on what we have seen? I don’t think so. A quality fast bowler and a pretty reliable number 3 batter, plus bring on 2 or 3 of the youngsters are priorities for me moving forward. Grant from Telford
ReplyDeleteThis was Rehan Ahmeds match.An absolutely fantastic performance from this young man and one he will never forget.Luis Reece should also take a bow well played guys!Topspinner.
ReplyDeleteVery much enjoyed your talking points Steve.
ReplyDeleteThere will be a lot of disappointed fans on here later, but before we start with the "same old Derbyshire as the last few years" comments, quite simply, they're not.
The early season championship results were way above what any of us imagined, who would have put us second before this match and still in with a huge promotion shout. Even the grit shown at the end of this match shows a different mindset.
I think the blast came at the wrong time for us and our side, for that competition at least, probably had one veteran too many. I'll leave individuals, team selection, tactics etc to wiser cricket heads than mine.
Finally, coming into August, wouldn't you have taken where we are now at the end of March?
You betcha...
Why does it feel like the season is about to unravel?
ReplyDeleteI do worry that the early seasons sparks gone out and we are heading for a repeat of last season. So disappointing but it's clear many are not county level players sadly
ReplyDeleteA far better fight batting wise today. Credit to Leicestershire who without many star players look a very well organised team and seem to work very hard together. You could actually see them at least putting up a fight in division one whereas realistically if we somehow managed 2nd place( I know it’s highly unlikely) we would do well to pick up about 40 points all season unless we had at least 5 new and better players
ReplyDeleteSometimes you have to take your hat off to an opposition player and fair play to Ahmed who had the game of his life. Take out him and Reece and no one really did much with the ball at all. We didn’t bat well enough in the first innings after Jewell and Came had done well. Bemused by some of the pitches still. If you have an overseas fast bowler why do you prepare a turning strip? Feel sorry for Tickner to a certain extent as bowling at Derby is a nightmare for a quickie. As people have said we would have been happy being in this position at the start of the season so let’s see what happens next….
ReplyDeleteYes, and if you have an overseas mystery spin bowler in the T20, why not play on spin friendly pitches? (plus Patel, Thompson, Morley)
DeleteBemused, from Derbyshire.
The last 2 games against Lancashire and Leicestershire have clearly been against superior opposition.
ReplyDeleteThe next game will show whether Derbyshire can return to early season form.
I was concerned that they would be skittled in under an hour on the last day but instead they showed admiral backbone.
A bit of this attitude in the next game and they will be ok.
I agree with a lot of the comments. Good resistance from the lower order yesterday and we were beaten by a better team. In March we would have been happy with third place at this stage with a shot at promotion. I agree with you Steve that, even if survival in D1 would be difficult, promotion should still be an objective and welcomed if we do manage it. Getting rid of the coach is not an option for me: we have to stick with him (not least for financial reasons) and hope that a man of his vast experience will get it right.
ReplyDeleteFor the batsmen, we have five averaging more than 40 and Caleb Jewell and Wayne Madsen are third and fourth highest scorers respectively (and Harry Came is 13th). However, while Luis Reece is the top wicket taker in the division and has really bowled well (average 18), it is clear that the rest of the bowling is an issue and we have difficulty taking 20 wickets. Going into the last 4-day game for the moment and the 50 over competition to follow, and given the growing absence list, I would be tempted to shuffle the pack for the Northants game. I feel very sorry for David Lloyd, who is clearly struggling, but I think it is time for him to be rested. I’ve said this before but I would open with Harry Came and Jewell. If fit, Martin Andersson (two centuries) could slot in at 3. I would also refresh the bowling. For Northants, as Thomson and Dal are out and Tickner is going back to NZ (and Dal is also out) I would go with Wagstaff and Potts (who both deserve a real and concerted chance at trying to break into the first team). Aitchison could also replace Donald. The fact that Basra and Haydon will play tomorrow is very positive and I wish them every success.
Allez Derbyshire
Adrian, Nice