Derbyshire 698-6d
Kent 271 and 198 (Compton 65, Stewart 35*, Reece 5-63, Chappell 2-36, Aitchison 2-36)
Derbyshire won by an innings and 229 runs
The sun shone and Derbyshire won, Luis Reece finishing things off with the final wicket, to become only the 51st player in first class cricket to register a double century and five-wicket haul in the same match.
Earlier there were two wickets for Ben Aitchison, which helped him have a decent chance of making Twickenham for the start of the Women's Rugby World Cup Final, where his sister, Holly, is among the England substitutes. Also two for Zak Chappell, who has played most of the matches this summer in a remarkable feat of fitness. He deserves great credit for his labours and has certainly earned a winter rest.
Their efforts ensured that Derbyshire finished third in the table, a very good effort. They were only five points behind Glamorgan at the end and will rue the botched run chase at Cardiff earlier in the summer. At 278-5 and needing 60 off nine overs, they should have won.
By the same token, had Ben Aitchison been fit for the full summer and Luis Reece not missed three matches at a crucial time, they may well have been enjoying champagne before today.
But third place is good. Better than Lancashire and Middlesex and there is much to be proud of. They became hard to beat, battling down the order. They missed out on a couple of wins with disappointing collapses, but avoided a couple of defeats with fighting fourth day displays.
There is something to build on. Credit to Wayne Madsen, who took on the captaincy, then led with considerable innovation and flair while leading a team that played with smiles on their faces for the most part.
More from me in the coming days with my end of season reviews. Now to see if Derby County can do something similar and England Women can win the Rugby World Cup.
Fingers crossed!
Thanks for your efforts over the season PF.Much appreciated. Simon
ReplyDeleteA great end to the season and thank you for your excellent reports on each day’s play and other comments throughout the summer Steve. No reason why Derbyshire shouldn’t really push for promotion next season. Cheers Steve and others who contribute to this excellent forum
ReplyDeleteOn another note I watched the last 20 minutes of the Yorkshire match v Durham and noticed Jonny Bairstow kept wicket with no pads on. Maybe he thinks the only thing all these years that’s made him a pretty awful keeper is the fact he had to wear pads
ReplyDeletePerfect game for Derbyshire the only slight negative would be that the two stand out performances in this game were by a 41 YO and a 35 YO. What Derbyshire need to do is to develop players and then keep them, how often have we seen a player reach a certain level at Derbyshire only to leave as soon as another county shows interest in them , something that seems to have gone under the radar is Thomas Taylor leading wicket in division 1(58wickets)
ReplyDeleteWell done lads, I remember the great Eddie Barlow saying when he was with us we spend too much time talking ths opposition up.He forbid that and talked instead how good we were and helped to get several players to Test class . I think we still overrate the opposition.We have the makings of a really good side for next season. MALBAR
ReplyDeleteA nice way to end the season.
ReplyDeleteLet's not pretend it's been a good season though, we started very well and then absolutely imploded for both white ball comps looking very poor. That atrocious form continued into the run in and we never realistically looked like challenging for promotion during the latter part of the season.
We've done next to nothing to promote our homegrown young players and look increasingly reliant on the (superb) contributions of the aging Madsen and Reece who will be 42 and 35 at the start of next season respectively.
The coach has continued to do little to inspire and even openly threw his initial 3 year plan in the bin with some nonsense about youth being the future instead prior to barely playing our promising youngsters.
Club is going nowhere under this leadership sadly, though I will contend that the signing of Montgomery is a relief and the eventual emergences of Basra and Haydon (which were too late) were positive. Moore will also be back which is good.
Lancs fan here. Wow, tough crowd! I'd gnaw my arm off to be where you are, you're a much better team than we are and I'd think you have to be in the mix next season, especially if you can bag Abbas. I think of all the sides in CC2 next season only Worcs look in as decent shape, all the rest look to have serious structural issues. Durham have an unhappy dressing room and no heart, Lancs are astonishingly poorly run and have no idea how to develop players, Middlesex are resolutely far less than the sum of their parts, Kent have absolutely no coherent side and an absolutely inundated physio room, Glos have lost the entire spine of their side through retirement and transfers, and if you think you're reliant on veterans, have you seen Northants?
DeleteI think pretty much all the sides in the division would swap places with Derbyshire.
Very well put. I think maybe the split now between franchise players and England squad players getting loads of rest time is making for some fairly unhappy and badly run clubs. Derbyshire unlike lots of clubs do seem to have a consistent and happy team
DeleteNothing to promote our young talent Hamez ? Really. They have to be better than those already in the team and some of them have probably played far more games than they thought they would have done this season. Basra Hawkins Haydon were names you hadn’t even heard of in April and are very exciting for the future.Add in Harry Moore to that also and Bin Naeem who suffered the injury in the nets which no doubt prevented him from more games in the ODC
DeleteJason
That has to be one of our most convincing performances for a long time Peakfan.To finish 3rd is commendable and so close to Glamorgan in the end.Lots of promising youngsters coming through well done Daryn Smit,and real optimism for next season.Topspinner
ReplyDeleteWe started the CC season with a win and ended with a win. It was in some of the games in between when our performance wasn't good enough. If only...Yes, had we won those games, then we might have pipped Leicestershire to the title. All credit to the foxes. They are a similar team to us in players and resources.
ReplyDeleteA solid year , the run chases at Glamorgan and Gloucestershire were within our grasp but not to be ..
ReplyDeleteThank you for your regular blog - I look forward to it. Long may you continue......and, in other media, long may Dave Fletcher continue to broadcast.
ReplyDeleteI’ve really enjoyed this season. Some bad days foe sure. But…. Doubles over Kent and Yorkshire in different competitions. Nye’s astonishing knock at Queens Park. The magic day at Edgbaston beating Leicestershire. Repton which, although a defeat, was a grand day out. Winning at Trent Bridge in the Blast. The only one of these I missed attending was Canterbury this week. It’s been a season of progress. I’m hoping next year will be a season of real achievement! We’l have a stronger squad for sure. On to 2026!
ReplyDeleteAndy T Cleckheaton
ReplyDeleteThird in the CC and hammered the noisy neighbours home and away on consecutive T20 weekends.
ReplyDeleteWe're far from perfect but, personally, I look at the league table with a little pride and hope for next season.
Oh, and Madsen scored a penalty for QPR at Hillsborough yesterday . He gets everywhere! 🤣
Andy
What a fantastic finish to the season.
ReplyDeleteThat may be the biggest win in the cc during the 60 years I have followed Derbyshire.
If we get the 2nd overseas player right there is real hope for promotion next year.
Certainly this season has been a big improvement in 4 day cricket.
Obviously more to be done in the shorter version of the game.