The main threat to Derbyshire appeared to be Yuzi Chahal, but he is unavailable for this game, while Rob Keogh, who has so often been a thorn in Derbyshire sides in recent seasons, today announced his retirement from the game through injury.
He has been a fine servant to the county and will certainly be missed. As will Chahal and I just wonder if pitch preparation might change a little, in the absence of the leg-spinning talisman.
Mickey Arthur has announced a squad of fourteen and there is indeed a return for Muhammad Abbas. Brett Randell is also in the squad but I understand he will not play under the terms of his NOC from New Zealand. The rest of the selection will depend on that pitch, but given the history of Wantage Road it appears likely that two spinners will play.
The likely Derbyshire side is:
Came, Naeem, Montgomery, Madsen, Andersson, Reece, Guest, Aitchison, Morley, Abbas, Bashir
Potts, Basra and Randell also in the squad.
The home side has also lost their Australian professional, Nathan McSweeney and their squad is as follows:
Procter, Bartlett, Conway, Guthrie, Harrison, Kimber, McManus, van Der Merwe, Miller, Sales, Sanderson, Vasconcelos, Zaib
They have enjoyed a very good season but now look to have only an outside chance of promotion, with Kent still in the driving seat to go up, alongside Durham.
It remains a source of frustration that Derbyshire beat Kent and Northamptonshire, as well as Middlesex, three sides above them. Had it not been for those defeats against Lancashire and Gloucestershire they could easily have been in the promotion mix themselves.
The next four days offer an opportunity to lay down a marker for next season, when I think the side will again be stronger. If they can nail this consistency malarkey, anything could be possible.
The forecast looks good for the next four days so hopefully Derbyshire can get on a roll to take us into the long winter ahead.
After the display against Kent, I think Derbyshire can win this one. We looked a good side in that game and hopefully the performance has created confidence within the ranks.
What do you think?
Despite getting a fair amount of criticism I think Abbas has been very unlucky so far and it’s brilliant that very shortly after the test match he has made himself available to play. A awful lot of players including English players probably would have insisted on a rest. I personally feel that northants will win fairly comfortably but you never know if the wicket is green and we win the toss you never know
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