Derbyshire 256-9 (Andersson 112, Guest 48, Robinson 3-44)
Durham 257-5 (Stokes 108*, Rhodes 45, Aitchison 3-31)
Durham won by five wickets
The former England captain started slowly but gradually became more expansive and saw his side home with a degree of comfort. He was well supported initially by Will Rhodes when Ben Aitchison took early wickets, but then took control and played an innings befitting the fine player that he is.
I would have to say that on the basis of this display I do not expect Derbyshire to win many games in this competition.
Martin Andersson made a splendid century and had good support from Brooke Guest and Yusuf Bin Naeem, but otherwise it was all a little underwhelming from the home side. Wayne Madsen got going but then got out, while Ross Whiteley and Anuj Dal didn't get going at all, making two and nought respectively. In a side not overly blessed with batting and with no overseas player, the attack simply didn't have enough to play with.
Like a few other people, at the halfway stage I thought Derbyshire were 30 to 40 runs short and despite good bowling from Ben Aitchison, the visitors never really needed to take risks.
Derbyshire took it fairly deep, to the last over, but the result was never in doubt some time before that.
From 181-2 in 36 overs, they should have made 300 against a Durham side where the batting looked much the stronger suit. Yet they bowled tidily as a unit and Derbyshire only managed 75 from the final 14 overs.
There isn't much more I can add really. I suspect that I am not the only one who is resetting expectations for this competition and it is hard not to do that, after a display that was somewhat anaemic.
Work to do.
I said at the start we were a batter light. Poor shots combined with a considerable number of mediocre performances resulted in an easy enough win for a depleted Durham side. We just aren’t very good are we? Grant from Telford
ReplyDeleteYes, losing 6 wickets for 45 runs from overs 36 to 46 is not good. They are missing Donald and Montgomery big time because for a team like Derbyshire they are a big loss
ReplyDeleteMichael
It’s not just the fact it’s another defeat It’s the way we never seem to learn anything or improve. Team selection is also odd playing bin naeem as a batsman but not trusting him to bat until number 7 and playing two off spinners who bat 10 and 11 on a not particularly spin friendly pitch. Unless he is injured it’s unbelievable that Hayden didn’t get chosen to play. I honestly thought we would qualify for the semi finals but after just one performance the way we lost I now know how misguided I was. Under mickey Arthur I wouldn’t bet on us winning the National village cup if we were allowed in. Brilliant innings by Andersson though and great bowling as ever by Aitcherson. Brilliant match winning effort obviously from stokes
ReplyDeleteI agree with most of your comments, but good support from Brooke Guest? His scoring was just too slow. The pitch did not have any demons but looked difficult to score quickly on. But batsmen who get in have to be thinking of a scoring rate of towards a run a ball.
ReplyDeleteAndersson batted well. Aitchison was fantastic & kept us in the game longer than we deserved. There was not much cause for optimism apart from those 2
MarkB
It may be a simplistic view, but there were far too many dot balls in Derbyshire’s innings for my liking. At 180/2 with 14 overs remaining, we should have been looking at a total somewhere around 280–300.
ReplyDeleteThe inconsistency is becoming all too consistent across all formats. I also can’t understand why we didn’t have a practice match before the competition, unless I’ve missed something?
Where is Caleb Jewell? We really need him batting at No. 4 or 5. And why are Derbyshire going into a competition where they should be competitive without an overseas player?
I agree with Peak Fan—I only expect two wins at best. Based on this performance, it’s given me very little hope.
Not sure what was going through Wayne Madsen's mind with that ugly heave which began Derbyshire's decline from 181-2 at a time when 300 was well within reach. Despite the loss of two early wickets, Durham were always favourites to chase down such a modest target.
ReplyDeleteMark from Buxton
It's not even a case of one step forward two steps back now, it's just two steps back. More rubbish batting apart from Andersson and Guest, set Durham a pretty easy target especially with Ben Stokes in their eleven. And so it proved, they ran out comfortable winners, Stokes doing it almost single handedly . Another dismal trophy Hunt on the cards, yep probably. If MA fails to win us promotion from the championship this season, i want him gone
ReplyDeleteDisappointing, Steve.
ReplyDeleteGreat effort from Andersson, but others let him down. We should have posted 300-330. As long as Stokes (even with all the difficulties he was having) was at the crease, we always looked like losing.
Downthewicket
Has anyone else seen the fantastic Mickey Arthur has got another lucrative coaching job in some Canadian 10 over league as soon as the English season finishes. He can’t be short of a Bob or two. Can’t he do us all a favour and concentrate fully on these mini leagues and walk away at the end of the season
ReplyDeleteI didn't expect much from white ball this season and so it's proven. What's most annoying is that the feel good factor from our last 4 day game, the win against Lancs, will be forgotten in 59 days. Should Jewell have been given a contract for this, instead of T20? We are desperately short of batting, without Donald, Montgomery, Reece and Chappell. Also, Thomson is missed for his batting, as we now have 2 spinners who can't really bat. Stokes was just too good on this occasion and I actually thought we bowled quite well . Kris
ReplyDeleteI've ditched Groundless Optimism and moved straight to Crushing Disappointment. It'll save time later. Dave.
ReplyDeleteI was quite optimistic early season for this competition but the revised squad means we will struggler tbh
ReplyDeleteReece , Jewell, Chappell ,, Moore , Montgomery , Brown , Abbas , Donald , Hayden all not playing would impact any team never mind a club like ours with such meagre resources… not good !!