Durham 165-7 (Ackerman 69*, McKinney 31, Akif 3-30, Potts 2-27
Derbyshire 160-6 (Andersson 44, Came 35*, Carse 2-28)
Durham won by 5 runs
Again both overseas players bowled well, but so did everyone else. Matthew Montgomery was left on an over too long and his second was punished by Ben McKinney after a good first (and a first ball wicket) but as a collective effort I thought it was excellent. Jack Morley again bowled an intelligent spell and Nick Potts was back to his best after punishment on Wednesday night. Martin Andersson also mixed up his pace well and proved hard to get away.
No complaints about that at all and the fielding was equally good. Special mention needs to be made of Ross Whiteley, who saved a lot of runs at long on with some excellent (and very brave at times) stops.
The home innings was kept afloat by Colin Ackermann, who although not as fluent as usual played a doughty knock for his side.
Derbyshire needed 166 to win as a consequence and quickly lost Donald and Naeem, both playing with undue haste in the circumstances. In their defence, it was clear that second use of a pitch that was far from true was going to be a challenge.
Andersson, as he has done so well this season, mounted a recovery with Madsen at the other end. Neither found the boundary regularly, but adopted a similar method to Ackermann and Derbyshire reached halfway at 71-2, needing 95 to win.
A slog sweep six from Madsen on the resumption signalled intent, but he hit Sowter to mid off later in the over and the rebuild had to start again. Sadly Andersson followed in the next over after a good knock and Derbyshire's hopes were dwindling.
Montgomery hit a couple of sixes before going the same way as Madsen but Derbyshire reached the last three needing 39, with Came and Whiteley at the crease.
They came close but in the end the collective nous of Raine and Potts was too much and Derbyshire slipped to another defeat by five runs
Close but not close enough. Perhaps the story of the competition this season.
We can make all the insightful analysis in the world. I'm sick of it and have been for most of the last 25 years. We are not good enough!
ReplyDeleteNick
Do think we have improved in this format this year despite the results. We have been on the wrong end of 6/7 close matches including the ties and there upon lies the problem. Even tonight Whiteley hits a 6 leaving 6 needed off 2. A poor waist high full toss is then bowled and somehow he hits it straight up in the air about 3 yards. You’d not have asked for a better batter to be on strike or a better ball to hit yet somehow it goes pear shaped
ReplyDeleteIt's just beginning to dawn on me that after many years of denial, Derbyshire are rubbish.
ReplyDeleteMichael
Barring Donald and Andersson (the former needs to at least offer some thinking occasionally) there's very little you ink in to next season's side. Whiteley has lost nothing in the field but it's time for him to gracefully move aside and time for Wayne Madsen to focus on the red ball.
ReplyDeleteTheir's just no self belief within the team and that's down to the coach to instill it.You cant keep getting this close and failing every time without good reason.Topspinner.
ReplyDeleteWe’ve been better than the table suggests. We just don’t have that extra 10% to win games, it seems to be about team psychology. Downthewicket
ReplyDeleteExactly my thoughts. Ian, Heanor
DeleteI wouldn’t mind betting a pound that this time next year we will be having the same conversations again
ReplyDeleteI went to the match last night, my first visit to The Riverside since it became my local county ground.
ReplyDeleteIt was a game of fine margins, as any match that goes to the last ball would be. Some of the fine margins that went against us were:
Bowling our spinners for two overs each at the start. One over yes, and that worked, but in the second overs gaps were found and boundaries scored;
Durham's batsmen seemed more able to turn singles into twos than we were. Not sure why that was, both teams fielded well, maybe they were just a little more adapt at finding the gaps;
I had just started explaining to my son - not usually a cricket fan - that Donald would either score 12 in an over and get out, or 50 and win the game, as he attempted a scoop and got out;
Wane Madsen in particular seemed to struggle with his timing and couldn't get above a run a ball. He was unusually demonstrative when he eventually holed out going for (I think) his first ariel shot;
They had Ben Raine to bowl overs 18 and 20. We had Nick Potts for the last over. No disrespect to Nick, but I know which I would rather have.
As I say, fine margins, but they went against us as they have for most of the season.
Finally a word on The Riverside. A fine ground, even if the wicket looked a little suspect. The attendance was healthy if not huge. It has more "soul" than most Test grounds I have visited. The fact that you can see trees and the castle between the stands certainly helps. The outfield is super smooth and super quick. I'm fairly sure you could play snooker on it. An enjoyable evening even if the result went as I suspected it would in advance.