Essex v Derbyshire Metro Bank One Day Cup preview

Derbyshire have lost two from two ahead of tomorrow's game against Essex at Chelmsford, while their opponents have lost their only game so far. So something has to give..

There has been no squad announcement as I write, but realistically, the Derbyshire side can only be selected from those in the squad for the first two games. There is no one else, because of injury and call ups for the Hundred, so your guess is as good as mine as to the final eleven.

I would like to see Naeem given an opportunity up the order, because that is where he is used to playing his cricket. It makes no sense to have him coming in at the tail end of an innings having to hit at everything. Just my opinion, but I suspect I'm not alone in that assertion. 

Whatever the lineup, we have to bat more responsibly and we simply have to use up the 50 overs. Some of the dismissals at Worcester were hovering between naive and horrific in the game context and not just Mickey Arthur but supporters need to see a reaction tomorrow.

In both games I feel we bowled pretty well, but you have to give an admittedly inexperienced attack something to work with. That shouldn't be something that I really need to highlight.

There is no news of the home squad yet either but their eleven for the last game was:

Thane, Das, Roelofsen, Critchley, Benkenstein, Fernandes, Zeb, Akhter, Jones, Bennett, Porter

No prediction from me, because the form of the team gives no confidence in a win, but at this stage I would settle for a better level of performance than we saw in that last game. 

Moving on, I watched an enjoyable feed on YouTube YouTube this afternoon, highlighting a talented Clifton side under Daryn Smit. The main reason was that the game featured a return to action for Harry Moore.

He played some delightful strokes in a breezy 54 from 42 balls against Alfreton, while Oscar Edwards looked a serious talent with a slower, but composed 57. 

I genuinely feel that Moore could be good enough to progress as a batter who bowls a bit, if his back is going to continue to be an issue, maybe in the style of Tom Moody, who many might recall. His height and reach give him an advantage and it is not beyond the realms of fancy that both could be teammates in Derbyshire colours down the line. It might yet be the county's best chance of being competitive, especially with Theo Brown emerging as an equally talented player down at Swarkestone. 

There is some way to go for all of these young players, but continued hard work will go a long way to realising their dreams.