Derbyshire 194-4 (Andersson 81*, Whiteley 39*, Montgomery 35)
Yorkshire 195-8 (Ali 51, Tye 32*, Hasan 31*, Lyth 31 Morley 4-44, Potts 2-44)
Yorkshire won by 2 wickets
After a very good batting effort, they had done all the hard work with some fine bowling and fielding and Yorkshire needed 56 from the last four overs, with only two wickets left.
Yet they got them with three balls to spare.
They looked out of it at 102-6 and 139-8, but dangerous late order hitters Andrew Tye and Hasan Ali took advantage of some average late bowling to steal the win. Moeen Ali had earlier given them hope, with 5 sixes in his half century, but Derbyshire must have fancied their chances when the last four overs came.
Again it was down to small margins. There are two blokes swinging the bat and the smallest man on the side is at cow corner on the boundary. It was the height that did for Jack Morley on that occasion, but that should not detract from a very fine bowling performance. Anyone had him on their bingo card as our star T20 bowler this year? Me neither, but he has bowled beautifully and earlier held two fine catches.
Nick Potts also did well in his first two overs, but took punishment in his last two, while you would expect more from your overseas bowler than we got from Akif on this occasion. Matthew Montgomery also bowled a clever spell to follow a fine innings earlier, but that was very much a game that was thrown away.
Earlier, Martin Andersson batted beautifully (but we must assume is another unfit to bowl) and steered Derbyshire from 63-3 to 194-4. First with Montgomery and then Ross Whiteley, who clubbed in brutal fashion over the last quarter of the innings, he gave Derbyshire a strong total to bowl at. He looked shattered by the end, but batted through the innings in fine style.
The old failings came back today. For all that there is most of a first choice attack missing, the ones that played today delivered a fine performance until the final scene.
Sadly, that was when they fluffed their lines.
Fair play to Tye and Hasan, both players who I have seen do that a few times. But the discipline that was a feature of the earlier Derbyshire bowling disappeared and there didn't appear anyone in real control out in the field.
It is frustrating, that's all I can say. This could be a long competition and while I accept that the side competed very well and it was another excellent game to watch, the players will be wondering how that one got away.
Just the same as us.
Postscript: do we really need the interminable crowd shots? Between 'Oblivious cam' and all the other nonsense, deliveries were missed and the editing, for such a big club, was very poor.
Given a choice between that and a fixed camera at either end, I would have to think long as to my preference...
I saw it slightly differently. The batters lost us the game by not looking to accelerate earlier. Had they done so we could have got 210+. We know the bowlers are not our first choice T20 bowlers, they generally did well, but when the pressure was on were found short on experience.
ReplyDeleteI cannot think of a professional sports team that was better than this side at getting into winning positions & managing to lose.
Very frustrating.
MarkB
Yes Mark. OR...they could have lost 2 quick wickets and the tail starts at 8. Maybe that was in their minds?
DeleteDerbyshire only managed 4 "maximums" which is woeful in a T20 game. Yorkshire got 15 !
ReplyDeleteFair point Simon. Small margins again. Or 22 runs, in this case..
DeleteI see Leicestershire got hammered today, so we know what's going to happen on Wednesday. I think 7 wins out of 12 is the minimum required to finish 3rd with a chance of qualifying. So losing to Leicestershire will mean 7 wins from 9 required. Not very likely.
ReplyDeleteMichael
Beating Leicestershire is essential. Seven from nine leaves little room for error and odds are already against, given the limited bowling reserves
DeleteAre our overseas "stars" worth the extra investment ? Year after year my answer is no. Nothing much seem to have changed as yet.
ReplyDeleteThey are really only worth the investment if they help you win matches. Ours haven't as yet. Not currently convinced they will, but hope I am proved wrong..
DeleteBefore the match on Friday Fletcher was on the big screen with a pre recorded message saying Micky had told him we were ready. Yes Derbyshire were ready. Oh yea, I actually thought I will believe it when I see it.
ReplyDeleteDidn't pass my thoughts after that game but will now because nothing has changed them for me.
We need to score 200 plus regularly to have the best chance of winning and we can't/don't in fact I would say 220 should be the norm as we can't clearly defend 180.
Annoyed Friday, even more so tonight.
On TV Wednesday and the biggest money spinning game on Friday, we really need to batter Leicestershire otherwise the crowd on Friday will be poor and mostly Notts fans.
Martin
You can't say they have played badly, indeed the batting has been pretty good. And I know the bowling resources are thin. But as I wrote pre-tournament, we can't go into bat every time knowing we need at least 200 to compete.
DeleteSuspect Ghazanfar WILL replace Jewell when he arrives and both bowlers will play. Not sure that there will be much to play for though, by that stage..
Agreed with Simon and MarkB. Ultimately we left too many runs out there on what was a benign pitch.
ReplyDeleteWhere are the slogmen? Where are the hitters?
Whiteley has done a good job so far but is coming in too low to win games.
Jewell remains horribly, horribly out of form. And sadly is Madsen creaking in this format?
Andersson played a solid anchor role but didn't have the hitting around him, nor was he able to accelerate himself.
We remain reliant on Donald coming off and he hasn't so far. He's our only true slogman and MA needs to find others. Soon.
Thing is, Basra scores quickly but has batted once and faced 2 balls. Jewell has scored 31 from 26 balls. Could Naeem do better? Could Basra? Pressure is on, but while we can tweak the batting, there are no bowling options at present. It's a worry. Were that a final, they would have started engraving our name on the trophy today...
DeleteNow that the availability of our OS bowlers is up in the air and our batting weakness exposed I'd be very tempted to get on the blower to one Brian Bennett who is currently not playing any cricket. One of the top run scorers at the world cup.
ReplyDeleteA true slogman to open up top with Donald and I'm sure he'd be keen to prove himself here and wouldn't cost too much. Bowling has been good with players still to come in so bolster our hitting I say.
Fine player, mate. But he hasn't played for 2 months and should we expect much from anyone in that situation? Not to mention our not having the budget for a 4th overseas, nor the luxury of having them sitting watching
DeleteTwo games in a row it’s the hope that kills you. Andersenn and Ross Whiteley must be perplexed today as to how that slipped away. Hats off to Morley though again. End of game batting or bowling plan seems to have been woefully inadequate from two winning positions.
ReplyDeleteSeemed to be leadership by committee out there. Not convinced anyone can skipper, open the batting and keep wicket. Dhoni did it well, but he was a force of nature. Bob Taylor couldn't do it, and he was one of the greats.
DeleteAt the halfway stage I felt we were fifteen or twenty runs short of a competitive target. I thought Martin Andersson batted very well to anchor the innings but I hoped a few more batters might have taken the initiative to play a few more shots whilst he provided a steadying influence. However, for three quarters of the game it looked like it wouldn’t matter as we did a good job of defending 194, admittedly helped by some poor shot choices from the Yorkshire batters. Then again, maybe I’m never happy as I am grumbling that they played too many high-risk shots through the air whilst complaining that we didn’t! Either way, it was the power-hitting of AJ Tye and Hassan Ali that saw them over the line and to which our bowlers had no answer. Of course, they could play with an element of freedom as nobody would have blamed them if they had holed out.
ReplyDeleteAs for the ‘Oblivous Cam,’ what a ridiculous gimmick. I don’t think anyone featured on it was an actually oblivious to it and why are they so keen to catch people out? Are they wanting a Coldplay concert moment?
It was awful, Sarah. An absolute embarrassment. The Coldplay thought came to me too...
DeleteAgree about our batting. Apparently, Headingley is number four in the world for runs scored in T 20 games (Yorkshire live stream commentary). But our bowling in thee last few overs was not up to standard. I know Javed arrived late, but he is a gun for hire. Maybe we’ll see how good he can be against Leicestershire or Notts. From Nye Donald’s interview with Dave Fletcher after the game, Mickey Arthur’s language in the dressing room was…colourful.
ReplyDeleteIt's the only thing we can win....the best sweary coach trophy 😒
DeleteIt was pressure situation that did for us yet again Peakfan.2 tailenders clubbing everything and we couldn't cope.So frustrating both Blast matches could and should have been won.Should be used to it after 60yrs supporting them!!
ReplyDeleteWhoops sorry!Topspinner.
ReplyDeleteIt's all too predictable. Odds on our challenge fading within the next couple games only for MA to persist with the failing players and the likes of Bin Naeem, Hawkins and Wagstaff not getting gametime even in dead rubbers? Par for the course with MA.
ReplyDeleteI don’t see how you can blame the batsman today. They got us a score that enabled us to get in to a winning position. Then the final 5 overs. I don’t know why I get so frustrated and angry. It’s been the same for the majority of the 54 years I have supported them. Maybe bowling yorkers might have helped rather than the help yourself buffet bowling, half way down the track, that we served up. Grant from Telford
ReplyDelete