Northamptonshire 237-4 (Breetzke 93, Willey 53, Zaib 53, Aitchison 2-57)
Derbyshire 224-6 (Donald 71, Jewell 39, Came 35*, Pope 2-39)
Northamptonshire won by 13 runs
There was plenty of hitting from both sides. I have to admit, my preference will always be a game where there is a more even contest between bat and ball. It really wasn't tonight, but most of the people watching will have enjoyed the spectacle.
The least said about the Derbyshire bowling figures the better. Only Ghazanfar will be happy to see them in the newspaper tomorrow, but the major part of the batting carnage was inflicted by Matt Breetzke, who hit 93 from 45 deliveries. He was badly dropped by Ghazanfar off his own bowling and while the youngster is a huge talent with the ball, his fielding is barely passable club standard. He has put a few down this summer and I don't recall him holding one.
Willey and Zaib both hit 53, the latter off only 20 deliveries as the fielding wilted and the bowling came close to waving the white flag on a pitch that was something of a road.
237-4 left Derbyshire another batting mountain to climb. Yet Donald and Jewell led off with 112, before the latter was given out lbw in the eighth over. It looked a questionable call, but the loss of Donald to what would otherwise have been a wide changed the game. 71 from 22 deliveries tonight in another astonishing display, before he bottom edged to the keeper with what must have been a broom handle.
Thereafter the runs kept coming but always just below the required rate. Madsen, Came and Patel hit well, but the experienced bowling trio of Sanderson, Willey and Procter bowled better than their Derbyshire counterparts and the home side ran out winners by 13 runs.
Spot on again Peakfan. We actually won the power play but again heavily lost the death bowling. Until this is fixed we are rarely going to win. Donald absolutely fantastic again
ReplyDeletePaul
The innings' of Came, Andersson and Patel were painful to watch. Came hit 3 sixes, that's true but otherwise was all at sea swinging wildly and Samit's best days are long gone. If Donald had batted longer who knows, but a rethink needed for next season.
ReplyDeleteI thought that our bowling display was the worst I have witnessed. I don’t think you can really criticise the batting when chasing such a big total & getting close. If I was in charge I would not have any of the 3 spinners next year. Ghazza has been good, but not had enough impact for an overseas.
ReplyDeleteMarkB
Jewell's lbw decision was shocking. Different class from Donald, shame he chased that wide one. Less said about the bowling and Ghazanfar's fielding, the better.
ReplyDeleteJust think we don’t have any power hitting other than Donald who again batted remarkably. Patel, Whiteley and Brown as our T20 specialists have been poor overall. Maybe Tickner would have been a better option than Jewell in the T20 as badly missed quality death bowling and as mentioned don’t think T20 is really Jewell’s bag.
ReplyDeleteIt was a great game for anyone wanting a Good Friday night out. I don’t think many bowlers would come out on top at this ground. You have to appreciate somtimes a
ReplyDeleteClass act in bowling by Sanderson and Willey near the end again. They have both times played key role getting Northampton over the line. I still believe Pat can come back stronger next year as a death bowler. The criticism by our own fan base as been harsh.
The postive is thought Derbyshire got batting order correct for the situation. It’s shame we didn’t see Whitley most advance and Patel near en of innings near start campaign. We definitely didn’t get balance right but thought tonight was lot better.
I do think some questions need to be asked soon regarding is Patel value for extension or spending money elsewhere?
I look at our bowlers and struggle to really see development over the last 2/3 years. Do we need to look at new ideas and personal in bowling coaching department?
I may be wrong in this but only Derbyshire can score their highest ever T20 score and still end up losing the game. Our bowling is of such a poor standard that it's no wonder we're always chasing a target that nine times out of ten is out of reach. Major rethink needed next season about this squad and I'd start by not offering Samit and Ross any contract extensions, it really hasn't worked out for either of them, we signed them at the end of their shelf lives bar a few good performances. Back to the bottom of the table and I guess that's where we'll finish up, very very poor Derbyshire
ReplyDeleteThe bowling needs serious work. We don't have a single pace bowler with acceptable numbers this season.
ReplyDeleteChappell - 10 wickets at 27, economy 10.3
Brown - 12 wickets at 35, economy 11.2
Aitchison - 4 wickets at 70, economy 11.2
Andersson - 6 wickets at 47, economy 9.2
No strike bowler and the closer a pace bowler's economy is to 8 the better in this format, we've nobody even near it.
Why was Potts only given 1 over? Doubt he'd have gone worse than Aitchison who is clearly not a t20 bowler.
Chappell and Brown are better than this but we'll need a couple recruited next season even with Moore back.
Having had the opposition at 10-4 in our previous fixture and having Donald hammer 71 off 22 balls in this one mean we should have won both matches at a canter. Only Derbyshire in their present mode with their present squad of players could manage to throw away such opportunities. MA's strategy of prioritising T20 has, I regret to say , failed spectacularly. As has been said before, we need a total rethink next season.
ReplyDeleteWhile the run chase was a valiant effort, once again we don't have enough in the tank to claim a victory. We're a nearly team.
ReplyDeleteI'm not going to comment on the bowling. It's all been said.
But Donald. What a player he is in this format! Is there anyone better on the circuit? He's hit 29 sixes in the campaign, so far. But he needs others to build on what he does. Sadly, too many times this hasn't happened very often.
We actually did well to get so close to the target, but gave away too many runs again in the last couple of overs of their innings.
ReplyDeleteThe Northants bowlers gave an abject lesson on how to bowl at the death, with the Yorker. We don't seem to be able to do that...
Ian. South Africa.
There’s other areas that can be improved, but its those last 3 or 4 overs where we lose games. When bowling we get smashed everywhere and when batting we can't do the same with Donald gone by that point.
ReplyDelete