Derbyshire 698-6 (Reece 211, Madsen 198, Andersson 85, Dal 52* Parkinson 3-188)
Kent 117-2 (Dawkins 53*, Compton 46, Morley 2-45)
Derbyshire lead by 581 runs
Yet it is quite likely that the most tired man at the end of this game is likely to be Jack Morley. He is going to have a lot of overs across the next two days, if Derbyshire are to end the season with a win.
Reece and Wayne Madsen added 358 runs together to set a new record for the county's third wicket. Both batted superbly and the only pity was that Wayne missed out on a double century by two runs. Martin Andersson also batted well, as did Anuj Dal, as Kent's eight bowlers laboured for 145 overs.
Therein lies my problem with four-day cricket. Derbyshire *might* make inroads tomorrow, but they could have an equally tiring day themselves. Which would leave the game three days old and with only two innings completed. There will be no complaints from batters, but such pitches - for me - make for dull cricket, regardless of who is prospering on them at a given time.
Morley removed the dangerous Compton with one that turned sharply, before Mikey Cohen displayed characteristics of brain freeze, in trying to hammer a rank full toss from the left arm spinner, only to be brilliantly caught as he dived to his right. No complaints from Derbyshire, but probably not the shot to play two balls from the end of the day, when you have been sent in as night watchman.
We will see what happens tomorrow, but expect a day of attritional cricket...
What a fantastic idea achievement by Luis and Wayne. Absolutely brilliant stuff. I had to smile to myself because Kent won a couple of early season matches and some wiseacre in the press was loaning about why Kent weren’t ahead of Derbyshire who had only won one at that point but had more bonus points. Well that kinda died down after we thrashed them at Derby! And now we are in a strong position again. I am genuinely excited for 2026 and the earlier discussion about who gets in the top 6 of the batting order next season really showed why. For the first time in years we have real options and maybe 9 or 10 players who would look good there. It’s great to see new and young players coming in. I was sorry to hear about Thomson but he’s probably peaked and it’s right that we look at Hawkins instead. All this and 14 games in the CC next year too! Viva Derbyshire!
ReplyDeleteAndy T Cleckheaton
What news about Thomson? Has he been released? Ant, Derbyshire man exiled in Bristol.
DeleteAnother good day. And it should be nice seeing Morley doing lots of bowling as it does make a lovely change in county cricket to see the spinner/ spinners get a good workload rather then just the odd over her and there. I noticed the Surrey v notts match last round had just a solitary over of spin in the entire match. It’s frequently bemoaned that England don’t produce spinners anymore
ReplyDeleteAlso your point about wickets being too batter friendly is a good one. I personally think to have a first innings forced closure at 110 overs like the old days would be a good idea. It is still plenty of overs to get around 450 and I think after that apart from the batsmen playing at the time the bit between 450 and 550 - 600 is totally boring for everyone else and almost always pointless because more often then not it just helps the opposition grind out a draw
ReplyDeletePS It’s not very often that I’ve seen the words ‘Derbyshire lead by 581 runs’! 😀 Happy days!
ReplyDeleteAndy T Cleckheaton
Good day yesterday, shame for Maddo and really pleased for Jack ( I missed both wickets as it had got really cold and senior wanted to go), as he had taken some stick earlier.
ReplyDeleteAs I write Jack has three!
Martin