Derbyshire 300 and 352-8
Kent 219 and 252 (Stewart 65, Singh 59, Foreman 38, Aitchison 5-44, Randell 3-39)
Derbyshire won by 181 runs
Stoic resistance from Ekansh Singh, Grant Stewart and Bertie Foreman took the game into the last hour, then into the last three overs before the admirable Brett Randell tucked up Mahmud with a short ball that he could only spoon into the air and Brooke Guest ran in gleefully for the catch, shortly afterwards to be engulfed in his teammates.
Full credit to Foreman, who for the second time in the match defied the Derbyshire attack with a stoic and broad defence. He batted for 148 deliveries and looked like seeing his side to the draw until Bashir got one to straighten and trapped him in front of the stumps. Earlier Stewart had again been a thorn in Derbyshire sides before Andersson trapped him in front.
The Kent lower order all batted well and it spoke volumes for the team spirit engendered by Adam Hollioake. But equally good to see were the efforts of Derbyshire, again beating a side above them to claim their fourth red ball win of the summer. Had they only produced this focus on the last day in Manchester, or in the two games against Gloucestershire, they might have been in the promotion shake up.
Therein lies the Derbyshire dichotomy. If they could bottle the battle in this game, there would be no stopping them. In their wins this summer they have played some terrific cricket, but when they have fallen short, they have done so spectacularly. Narrowing the gap between best and worst will be the focus of the winter, but we know the talent is there. Over sixty summers I have seen sides where it wasn't so obvious, but the right winter additions *might* take the county on to the next level. And at least Durham won't be around next year...
Aitchison was magnificent, once again, but once the early movement had passed there was little in this fourth day pitch. The odd ball turned, an occasional one beat the bat and a couple of tough chances were spilled. But Derbyshire will be pleased to reverse the fortunes of recent games, overcoming the loss of overs after tea last night and the bad light at times today limiting what Wayne Madsen could do with his bowlers.
Top marks go again to Brett Randell, who has been an excellent signing. He runs in hard and consistently finds the dangerous areas, not especially quick but not wasting the ball either.
Bashir also did a fine job for his side, keeping one end tight throughout and enabling the seamers to rotate at the other. There will be those who say he should have taken more wickets on the last day, but I saw little sign of excessive help for any of the spinners and it was important that they retained their discipline.
The last day of county cricket at Derby this summer saw a home win and a wonderful finish.
Could you really ask for more?
Excellent display Simon
ReplyDeleteA wonderful match. Well done to Kent for clinging on until the last 3 overs, and very well done to Derbyshire for keeping the belief that they would wrap it up.
ReplyDeleteInevitably Andersson and Aitchison were the stand out performers as they have been all season.
You say in your comments that the inconsistency is the main problem. A couple of bits of evidence to back that up: Firstly, only Durham and Northants have more batting bonus points than Derbyshire. This despite most of us feeling that batting has been our weak link. In truth the 1st innings has often been pretty good, and the 2nd innings often been pretty bad. Secondly I've been looking at the median scores of the batters. Reece, Madsen and Montgomery have medians in the 20's; but all of Andersson, Jewell, Bin Naeem, Donald, Came, Dal and Guest have medians between 10 and 19. This indicates that while they may have the occasional good score, they have many very low scores. That we have so many inconsistent batsmen is the problem.
Meanwhile though, congratulations and well played on an excellent game and excellent victory.
As good a final day of a CC game I've seen in a good while Steve. I thought we dug in well, the morale across the team was clear, they kept their heads up and kept going to the end.
ReplyDeleteWell done all, including the coach and his team too. A solid club performance.
I'm left with a feeling of what might have been but ending the season on a high will do me nicely.
Yeah, that'll do for me today.
Andy
Credit where it’s due. A very good performance by Derbyshire. In defence of Morley and Bashir too it must be a thankless task in red ball cricket being a spinner with the main months of the season being April and September added to that even in a drought summer the wickets around the country are remarkably green as teams play to their strength which is invariably seam bowling. The Kent match does prove there isn’t much difference in quality in division two between the teams( apart from Durham) And there really is no reason Derbyshire shouldn’t aim a bit higher then they seem satisfied with and repeat what other small clubs have achieved. I would still much rather see a different coach at the club next season but credit to everyone for this match including M.A
ReplyDeleteA fantastic perforce, all the way to the wire.
ReplyDeleteRegarding Bashir, while he is a great addition tenth squad, he isn't picking up enough wickets, Yes, he's an England international, but so far his returns have been poor. like Abbas, Having said that, I;m delighted he's in the squad, because of his enthusiasm.
Pleasing to get a win.
ReplyDeleteAitchison and Andersson stood up and are very clearly our two genuine quality players. Randall and Guest also pitched in. These four won us the game. Really hope Randall sticks around, has offered spades more than Abbas.
Still plenty to improve on mind.
We batted too long, were too conservative and were within 15 balls of that costing us. Our spinners were also poor, don't think Morley and Bashir offer more than Thomson or even McKiernan did really.
Good to win but frankly after the debacle this season it's just papering over cracks.
Thought we battled really well today throughout all the sessions from Ben’s 5 for in the morning through to the finish. Looked like we might not get it over the line but frequent bowling changes eventually paid dividends.
ReplyDeleteBig turnaround from the game in Bristol.
We have now equalled the number of wins got in 2019 , which was the last time we won 4 CC games in a season. Martin
Glos fan here (from the last match). Great performance by Derbyshire against a good side and nice to see you're all feeling more cheerful. So are we!
ReplyDeleteCheers Huw, best wishes to Gloucs for remainder of season. In good hands with Mark.
DeleteA great advertisement for the County Championship, often derided by critics. From the first day to the last we gave our all and the team spirit was remarkable after three successive very poor performances. With Kent still battling hard and 8 wickets down with only a handful of overs left, I thought they had performed the Great Escape. But we never gave up and reaped our reward.
ReplyDeleteI would like to see Randell returning next year. He offers far more than Abbas did when he made his half- hearted efforts for us. I would also like to see Ben Naeem given an extended run as opener. He is a real talent and should be given further opportunity despite a couple of low scores in this match.
Onwards and upwards Derbyshire!
Chapel Guy
Randall looks miles better than Abbas whose efforts have been phoned in for Derbyshire.
ReplyDeleteHe has run in hard and looks keen as mustard. That didn't look the case with his predecessor at times...
DeleteI once.spoke.to Alex.Thomson, who said that Derby doesn't turn much. It might have been a different game at Chesterfield. The reliance on Andersson and Aitchison has been profound this season, although others did contribute in this game. We tend to be ok if we dominate games. If things are tricky, we struggle. No complaints in this one, though. A wonderful 4 days. A rumour that Anuj Dal is retiring and if so, I wish him all the best. He's been a credit to the club. Kris.
ReplyDeleteI have heard that as well, Kris and it has seemed in the pipeline for 12-18 months. I wish him well, whatever happens, but professional sports people are a long-time retired and need to go at the best time for them. IF the rumours are true, of course!
DeleteA great advert for 4 day cricket. Who can say it is boring when you watch that tense end to the game. Well done Derbyshire….but why couldn’t we see that fight and quality more often this season? Grant from Telford
ReplyDeleteCouldn't agree more, Grant!
DeleteI got what I wished for, the first 10 sessions were brilliant, the last day was extremely frustrating, couldn't understand the amount of spin bowling used particularly with the defensive fields, Kent were never going to score the runs.
ReplyDeleteLeft as soon as we bought Bash on with the new ball.
Let's hope this means we have turned the corner, however after what has gone on I am yet to be convinced.
Finally a big apology to Randell, he looks like the overseas player we want, hungry, enthusiastic and not with skill. Shame with us having to put up with Abbas for another year, we can't sign him up particularly as I wouldn't be surprised if he is snapped up by another county.
Martin
I am sure you meant 'not without skill' there, Martin!
DeleteDepends on budget I guess on Randell ? Remember you can register 3 overseas players but only play 2. I also find it very “Derbyshire” to keep criticising a player like Abbas a man with 900 wickets to his name. Looks like he wants to play next week. He could easily have taken a break. Not returned anything like what the club or he would have wanted but still time to put that right.
DeletePerhaps Abbas will come back hungry and up for the challenge next season. He is a quality bowler. Grant from Telford
DeleteLooking at it from his perspective, he is an experienced bowler who knows his body better than anyone. When he has three international series in quick succession, I guess he has to pace himself to some extent. Equally fair to say we put down a lot of catches off him, early season, which will not have helped...
DeleteMorning Peakfan
ReplyDeleteAs ever Steve, a great blog.
I thought I would wait until the after the Kent game before commenting on our season so far. Congratulations to Mickey, Wayne and the team for a great win against Kent particularly after the Gloucestershire game and the subsequent criticism, a lot of it I felt unfair.
I am very positive about the future of the club I think we have most of the pieces in place to take us to the next level.
We are a very well run club thanks to Ian McFarlane (and Ian Morgan before him) and Ray Duckett. I still think we have a top coach, and I think our squad is the best we have had in some years. Our recruitment of Andersson, Bashir and Donald in particular demonstrates this. Well done to Mickey on signing Randell too. In addition pathway programme seems to developing some good young players.
This season we should have beaten, Middlesex, Worcestershire and probably Kent in May plus saving the game last weekend. This could have given us another 40 points. However I think our injuries and player unavailability have badly affected our performances particularly losing Abbas, Bashir, Brown, Chappell, Haydon, Moore and Reece. That is 7 players. I live in London and watch Surrey CCC regularly and I have seen what injuries, franchise cricket and international call ups have done to their performances this year (probably 12 players unavailable at various times).
If there is one area which I think could transform our playing performance, it is the recruitment of at least one top class overseas player. As we all know this gets more difficult by the year with more international and franchise cricket. The days are long gone when a Barlow, a Holding or a Jones are available. Looking at recent Australian players in the county game, Bancroft, Handscomb and Harris, these guys are a level below our previous Australian recruits, De Venuto, North and Rogers and several levels below Dean Jones. So this won’t easy and I’m sure the Club are doing all it can, but if we do get the right player(s) I honestly believe this could be game changing for us.
I remain optimistic and wish the Chair, Executive team, Mickey, the captain and the players and all our supporters all the best for a successful few years ahead. I will be getting my membership for 2027.
Finally if the rumours of Dal, leaving are true, best wishes Nuj. Thanks for some fine performances.
Clay Cross Mark (London)
Thanks, Mark! Cracking post and thank you for it. I know you meant Ryan Duckett, who I once referred to as Ben...
DeleteSorry Steve, yes Ryan. I see Ben has just got out for a duck!!
DeleteMaybe we should have played Ryan...😂
Delete