Essex v. Derbyshire Metro Bank One Day Cup

Essex 257-7 (Westley 102, Critchley 40, Thain 40, Dal 3-33)

Derbyshire 248-9 (Came 97, Andersson 33, Whiteley 32, Bennett 3-32, Jones 3-43)

Essex won by 9 runs

'How's it going?' my wife asked me twice during today's game. Mainly because the first time was after the Essex innings.

I told her we MIGHT win from there and during a fine opening stand between Harry Came and Martin Andersson it looked like it could happen. Note I said 'might', not 'should'.

She asked me again just after Brooke Guest was bowled by Matt Critchley and my reply was one with which she was familiar.

'A bit Mills and Boon' I told her. She knew what I meant - I knew how it was going to end. 

There is a growing familiarity in the Derbyshire decline. Madsen currently looks a player with who time is catching up, while Dal is too high at five. Surely if Naeem is worth playing, he bats at three or four, where he is used to batting? 

He did OK today, though his running between the wickets is not good, with more forward and back than an episode of Strictly Come Dancing. There were a couple of fine strokes around long periods where he was becalmed. There is potential but he is a work in progress, understandable at his age. Learning to rotate the strike better will be on his development plan, as he used up too many dot balls, but he got a poor decision to end his stay today.

Came was excellent and you can normally tell within ten minutes if he is in the groove. His feet moved well, the bat came down fast and he deserved a century, before playing across one from Porter. Again though, there was little support after Andersson had gone and that is a massive concern. At 113-0 in 19 overs, a team should breeze 145 more off 31.

Whiteley and Potts steadied the ship for a while, but the Roscoe of old would have won that game, rather than chipping tamely to mid on. When Potts went in the next over, the final paragraphs of the story were nigh writ...the denouement assured.

I was very impressed by Mackenzie Jones, the Scots international, who bowled a fine line and length throughout and was the pick of the home attack. He got three wickets, even if that of Naeem looked to be going down leg side. He looks an excellent talent  and is one to keep an eye on.

Again it was clear that we lack a Matt Critchley in the middle order, as we have throughout the white ball summer. A run a ball 40, then a good spell of leg spin is gold dust to any side and for balance, if nothing else, Derbyshire lack such a player. On this showing - and others in this tournament - we seem to lack a few..

Earlier Haydon, Dal and Potts bowled well and despite a fine century by Tom Westley, Essex looked 25-30 short in normal circumstances.

But like all of us, they knew this story. A line up with the current resilience of a balsa wood bat was sadly never going to get there and Essex won by nine runs.

Can we fast track to the red ball now, please?