Derbyshire 173 (Montgomery 50, Potts 35)
Essex 179-5 (19.4 overs - Allison 67*, Walter 41, Critchley 37, Potts 1-23)
Essex won by five wickets
The somewhat erratic bounce did for some of the players. Certainly Martin Andersson and Wayne Madsen were both victims of this, while Amrit Basra struggled with his timing on a ground that few of them will have played on before.
Matthew Montgomery played a fine innings, while Nick Potts showed why he has opened in the second team, but the overriding feeling was that 174 would be difficult to defend on a small ground.
It didn't help that catches went down. Both Allison and Walter should have gone early, to catches that needed to be taken. The giant Walter must be a challenge to bowl to and was taking heavy toll of the Derbyshire attack when he was overly ambitious against Morley and skied to the safe hands of Jewell.
When Benkenstein overestimated his powers of acceleration and was brilliantly run out by a throw from Montgomery to Andersson, Essex threatened to wobble and even the reassuring sight of the experienced Wiaan Mulder coming in failed to steady the ship. He looked strangely edgy and after a couple of wild swings hit Andersson to Montgomery at long on.
64 were needed from the last seven and the pace variations of Andersson caused uncertainty, but Allison reached a crucial half century and some lusty blows from Matt Critchley took the home side to a win. Perhaps Andersson shouldn't have bowled three straight overs, which allowed them to line him up for the last, but it is easy to be clever in hindsight.
Akif again bowled very well today and special mention should be made of Nick Potts. The lad has had his critics, but in recent matches and especially here he has shown an aptitude for the format. His innings gave Derbyshire a chance and he bowled intelligently, mixing up line and length to good effect, taking the game to within two balls of its natural conclusion.
It was an odd day. Yorkshire lost heavily to Gloucestershire and Durham went down to Nottinghamshire, who earned their first win. With Derbyshire taking the game to the last over, there has been little negative impact on their Net Run Rate and theirs is now the best in the section.
Perhaps there was a lesson to be learned today. In striving for 200-plus again on an unfamiliar ground, I think we made a mistake. 185 would have been very interesting and fewer attempted pyrotechnics might have got us there.
Anyway, we move on. Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge, this time next week.
Hopefully a chance to get back to winning ways.
I don't think we played very well today and the last over finish flatters us. Oh well, onto the next.
ReplyDeleteI never felt we were ever quite in the game. Essex had all the luck too, a couple of sixes barely making it over fielders. Jewell and Madsen are struggling a bit with the bat. Potts was the pick of the bowlers. Sadly, getting everyone to do it on the same day is difficult, as it is for all sides. Not the worst performance. We move on....Kris
ReplyDeleteFrustrating, this was a good chance to win, a win which would have taken us top. Also frustrating is the fact that our 3 losses have all been last over losses. Montgomery was good & Potts was outstanding today, he is looking a proper T20 player.
ReplyDeleteBefore the comp I had no great hopes for us but wanted us to be competitive. To date they have passed my expectations & given the injuries we have faced supporters have to be pleased with how we have played the first 5 games.
Unless players get pulled to play elsewhere, we are looking a good squad for the 50 over comp
MarkB
It's definitely time to now rest Jewell and possibly Wayne. Neither are showing anything in this blast and Came or Bin Naeem should be given a go. That start killed us today and it seems like we're way to reliant on our opening pair and Monty to get us off to a flyer, 173 was nowhere near enough. The bowling was slightly tighter today but giving Andersson his full quota was stupid, poor captaincy. All in all a bit of a mess today!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about resting Wayne and Jewell, CB. We have able replacements waiting in the wings. But .pleased to admit I was wrong about Potts who has confirmed his ability as a T20 bowler.
DeleteChapel Guy
We have two overseas players who are not close to performing and have been very disappointing. We have Done well to win 2 games tbh.
ReplyDeleteOne season we'll hopefully get the overseas slots sorted. Been so disappointing for the last how many seasons. Guptill was the last real success
DeleteShan Masood, surely? Jewell did OK last year, but...Zaman Khan in T20?
DeleteI think we did well to make it close when only Montgomery and Potts achieved decent scores. A Donald 20 usually means we don't get enough and today was no different. I can see why Essex had only won one before today as they struggled to better a mediocre target. Potts bowled well to add to his runs and the fighting spirit and togetherness of the tea shone through even in a narrow defeat. Enjoyed the first day at Chelmsford for 35 years and the lucky hat is staying in its rightful resting place in Chelmsford Premier Inns metal receptacle.
ReplyDeleteJohn life member
I was at the match today, Steve, and I agree with your analysis. I thought we did well taking the game to the final over. I'd thought Essex would win with three or fours overs left.
ReplyDeleteI watched some of the Derbyshire players warm up by heading a football. What struck me was how good the team spirit seemed to be.
It was Downthewicket who was at Chelmsford.
ReplyDeleteThink your over estimating Essex as a T20 side guys ..we are crap TBF!
ReplyDeleteOut focus is in red ball and we are too financially poor to afford any white all specialists even in overseas.
Mulder isn't a T20 player in a million years and harmer really ain't these days and none of our seamers are with cook injured...Bennett is a kid who's played less than 10 games and akhtar has played more games this season than his whole career I think and snater is not a one day bowler and our batting has been off form and with no cox and pepper out of form has no explosive batsmen.
I thought you would hammer us after your notts game and your side looks geared towards T20, but it's a funny old game T20 and a leveller at times.
Essex fan.
Mulder and Harmer took 4 for 48 between them in 7 overs.
DeleteNot bad for players who aren't up to t20 standard.
Look at their records in t20. One swallow. Harmers blast last year was awful and Mulders record is modest. They are 4 days overseas players playing a game not really suited to them
DeleteOne swallow...
Essex fan
I think after Andersson and Donald went b, we looked frail in the middle order ,a weakness teams could pounce on . This was probably Nick Potts' best Vitality Blast game of the year . We pushed Essex close and we should be proud of how far we pushed a Division 1 team,who aren't bad at T20 . Montgomery batted well ,as did Potts but we let Critchley get away. Javed bowler a really miserly spell , but needs wickets with his economy . Ethan
ReplyDeleteWe are pretty awful at T20 as our recent record shows! Divisions n 1 is irrelevant to T20. I think Derbyshire should get to the quarters at least but you need to be beating mugs like us!
DeleteConsistency I suppose is the key.
Essex fan
We looked an over behind the whole way through to me. Still, there are positives to be taken in getting up to a reasonable total after that start (I had us as getting about 120 all out). We’ll just have to win the next one!
ReplyDeleteChris in Shropshire
As this was Derbyshire's first time playing at Chelmsford in the T20, it was very much a game of the unknown.
ReplyDeleteAfter winning the toss, I think they may have been better served taking a more cautious approach. Batting second would have given them a clear target to pace their innings.
For some reason, they seem to have a reluctance about chasing down a score.
Dre.
You should have chased. Small ground worn pitch. Very hard to defend.
DeleteEssex fan
We are still in the mix and bound to lose some like all teams do.If we win as many as we lose then we will be in with a shout. A word for Nick Potts transformed this year!!Topspinner.
ReplyDeleteWe have the T20 showcase match against Bedfordshire at Dunstable (it's actually in nearby Totternhoe) on Friday first.
ReplyDeleteWhile I'd expect some of our core performers to be rested prior to Trent Bridge I look forward to seeing Came & Bin Naeem bat, and hopefully Amrit Basra might get some time at the crease. 🤞🏻
Basra looked just what he is at Chelmsford, a totally inexperienced player. He's not the answer
DeleteBit unfair CB. Do many become stars in their early matches? Batting at 7? People said the same about Potts and with opportunity and perhaps the new coach he is developing.
DeleteYou don't improve at anything without plenty of opportunity to do it...
I agree that Basra lacks experience, but I believe that he has the potential to be an explosive batsman. And, of course, he needs time at the crease to gain the experience.
ReplyDeleteIt’s very “Derbyshire”to start criticising Basra after just 17 balls faced in the competition. I remember similar comments about Hilton Cartwright when he had a brief spell with us and look at him now. Basra is a fine prospect and one heck of a fielder too. Taylor made for T20
DeleteI was at this game as its my home turf.
ReplyDeleteAs you and others have stated the game was not as close as it looks.
With both Donald and Andersson failing and Jewel and Madsen out of sorts we actualy managed a decent score. Wickets fell regularly and no one bar Montgomery and to a certain extent Potts looked anywhere near at home on a tricky pitch.
When we came to bowl, we were ok without being overly threatening. The pitch was v bobbly and both sides made several feilding errors. Putting down 2 catches didnt help, the first of which was straightforward. Potts bowled well and had a good game. But Essex managed the powerplay better than us and fairly strolled to the target.
Maybe a sign of the times but the ground wasnt full and a fairly subdued atmosphere save for a noisy knot of away support in the covered stand.
Ive only ever wanted Derbyshire to be competitive and we were that today. Dissapointed naturaly but not to downhearted and we go again
Rob in Essex
I think home advantage had a larger influence than usual.
ReplyDeleteIt is rare that Derbyshire play at Chelmsford and when the pitch isn't flat this can take a bit of time to get used to. There's no time in a t20 blast.
Rather odd that we get to play a team that aren't even in our section.
I was there. It reminded me of England in the late 2010s: great on a flat deck, but give them a slow wicket then they went to pieces. We didn't go to pieces but Steve is right that aiming for 185 would have been competitive...
ReplyDeleteYou would think the players would have assessed that, but Whiteley's and Basra's shots in the circumstances were naive. A fellow fan called Basra's dismissal, seeing that he was going for it (after being tied down by spin) rather than content to nudge singles and then deposit the bad ball an over (which roughly equates to 9 an over).
We also dropped catches. Potts did well.
Jewell looked all at sea, and not a small sample size now across the formats. Now is the time for a change. He might find form and come back in towards the back end, or replace someone injured (hopefully not the case!).