Social media today said the squad will be announced on Thursday 'following confirmation of player availability'. Interesting...
Someone who should be available is Yusuf Bin Naeem, whose century yesterday put the Second Eleven in a strong position against Middlesex at Belper. This was duly hammered home today, as Derbyshire achieved a first innings lead of 123 runs, before reducing the visitors to 56-6 in their second innings. Matt Stewart led the way with 4-35, including the wickets of de Caires, Falconer, Nelson and Morgan, while Jake Green took 2-21.
Play was ended early for the day, otherwise Derbyshire would have wrapped up victory in three days. Sadly, the forecast suggests there will be little play tomorrow, either.
Scorecard and video clips here
That forecast extends to Derby, of course and perhaps we should have signed Jacques Cousteau as our replacement overseas, as there appears little likelihood of play tomorrow, with the expected rain.
When they do eventually get under way is anyone's guess, but the overall forecast for the next four days suggests that they will be lucky to complete two innings in this one.
The game will mark the last appearance of Caleb Jewell, who has been called back to Tasmania for pre-season training. I hope that Naeem is the beneficiary of this, because the closing fixtures give him a chance to show what he can do. While the Head of Cricket will doubtless want to play his strongest team and finish as high as possible (I actually wrote that in his voice...) there is much to commend forward planning and Naeem should get to the end of the summer to show his mettle.
Middlesex will be skippered by Leus du Plooy and include Ryan Higgins, who missed a fair chunk of the summer. They have a good side and Toby Roland-Jones continues to take wickets as the focal point of the attack.
Their squad:
Du Plooy, Cornwell, Cracknell, Fernandes, Geddes, Gohar, Helm, Higgins, Holden, Hollman, Robson, Roland-Jones, Sharma
In other news tonight, the under-14's lost on Duckworth Lewis to Surrey in the ECB age group final.
Colby Edwards made 59 of the Derbyshire total of 194, but Surrey were 109-2 when the rains came and ended the day prematurely.
Nonetheless, the young side have done tremendously this summer and deserve every credit for getting so far. I will watch their progress with great interest.
And finally, the under-18s had worked their way into a strong position at Lady Bay before the scheduled last day.
Slow left armer Oliver Woodward followed his three first innings wickets with another three, while leg spinner Umayr Hewitt took two as Nottinghamshire were reduced to 203-7 in their second innings, only 139 runs ahead.
Earlier, Hassnain Akhtar's 115 had anchored Derbyshire's 331-8 declared, with Dalugoda making 55, Edwards 59 and McHale 44.
Scorecard and video clips here
The age groups are flourishing.
Well done lads!
Assuming the player availability question is over Bashir, if he doesn’t find out until tomorrow, he’ll have to travel from London to Derby for 11 o clock. Not exactly the best preparation for a 4 day match.
ReplyDeleteIt’s been good to see the 2nd XI doing well this week with a youthful team. I haven’t been able to watch but have had a few thoughts and maybe they can be answered by those who were there or have watched the highlights…
Nick potts going at upwards of 6 RPO in 8 overs. Did he bowl as loosely as his figures suggest?
Yousaf Bin Naeem’s hundred fills me with joy. Were the Middlesex bowlers bowling well or did he show he can perform against a good attack?
Finally Matt Stewart and Jake green look to be improving at a rapid rate. Do they look far off bowlers such as Potts, Haydon, Dal, Moore? Or may they be catching them up…
Steve, I know you tend to watch more of the highlights then myself so maybe you can answer some of my questions.
Anyway onto tomorrow, hopefully we can have a good start to this match!
Allez Derbyshire,
Gary
Yeah, there will be a delay for that, but they likely won't start till Friday, unless that forecast is wrong.
DeleteFor the seconds you only see the clips of runs and wickets. Nick really needs to get his rpo down to stay in contention. To some extent Stewart is similar... He takes wickets, but when it goes wrong, it tends to be expensive. But he takes wickets AND is young enough to get better. So too Green, a year younger. Whether his future lies in cricket - he is a bright lad and may opt for an academic career - only he knows, but the potential is clear and next year they will both be in contention, I hope.
My thoughts were clear. Stewart should have got the short term deal that went to a lad 5 years older and not from our academy. If nothing else, it would have given encouragement to those coming through. We have to be seen to be doing that, far more than in the past five years
I suppose you can assume tomorrow’s team will be pretty much the same as the last match and will also be pretty much the same for the next match. Same team same outcome. I think if a few younger players come in and don’t even do that well it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a bad idea to try them. It’s got to be done at some stage so surely now is a good time. If ever a side needed shaken up a bit surely it’s Derbyshire at the moment.
ReplyDelete