Derbyshire Challenge

[Jamesy1984]

Thanks! Probably all down hill from here... ????

Every time I’ve not been a good county I’ve started my first season well and then it’s fallen apart. As soon as I get past that first transfer window and start to make the side my own improvements are quick

[cde]

Derbyshire v Sussex, County Cricket Ground

Derbyshire
B. Godleman, L. Reece, J. Gow, L. du Plooy, W. Madsen, N. Priestley, H. Hosein, F. Hudson-Prentice, M. Cohen, T. Palladino, D. Melton

Sussex
T. Haines, P. Salt, S. van Zyl, T. Head, T. Lace, B. Brown, D. Weiss, O. Robinson, W. Beer, G. Garton, D. Briggs

Derbyshire 308 & 173

Sussex 416 & 65-5

Sussex win by 5 wickets

Likely to be a stiff match since Sussex are currently three place above us in second. The bowlers, Cohen and Melton especially, seem to flagging in their form after so many flat pitches. Could do with Rampaul returning.

We win the toss and bat first but they scythe through the top three. Du Plooy strikes a magnificent 151 with others clinging on to limp to a hopefully competitive 308. They start solidly and just when it looks like we are gaining traction Brown (68) and Weiss (92) pull the game away from us. Reece takes 6-86 but we are firmly on the back foot.

We make a solid start with a 94 run opening partnership as we attempt to set a target but once they get going we fall like dominoes. They never look like losing but it is nice to get those 5 wickets.

First loss of the season. As feared the pounding young quick shave been taking on flat pitches is taking it’s toll on their form and their performances. The middle order is still going well but the form of the top three is perhaps dipping after their early season successes.

[Lynx54321]

Interested to follow this.

I've recently picked up Conners and Dal for other counties and found both to perform really well with Conners capable of 60+ wickets a season in D2 and Dal flirting with 1000 runs from the lower middle order. Worth giving them a shot and keeping hold of them if they stay cheap!

Couple images of last season for both in my current Leicestershire save:




Not Dal's best to be honest but he's useful considering he's on 17k!

[cde]

Lynx54321 Thanks! I will keep that in mind. They will do just fine if they can do that for me!

[cde]

After a good run of FC games we enter the T20 group stage with a little trepidation. This is a tournament in which we have some success in order to keep the revenue up.

However the feeling is that there are some players whose form is starting to slide, especially so in the bowling department. After a strong start Gow is also faltering. In his three FC innings before his big hundred he averaged 50, in the six after just under 1 with the exception of Reece the form of all the bowlers is suffering from being beaten around flat pitches for half the matches we have played. The concern is that the batsmen at our disposal all have low strike rates so if the bowlers are struggling for form and leaking big runs we will struggle. I think the cut-off is going to be about 145, depending on the pitch. If we have to chase 150 it will be a stretch.

It does not help that McDermott is coming back from injury so will miss the first match so will have to field Hosein as keeper.

Derbyshire v Leicestershire, County Cricket Ground

Leicestershire
N. Welch, H. Azad, S. Malik, C. Ackermann, M. Cosgrove, G. Delaney, L. Hill, A. Lilley, T. Taylor, C. Parkinson, G. Griffiths

Derbyshire
B. Godleman, N. Zadran, L. Reece, W. Madsen, L. du Plooy, J. Gow, M. Critchley, H. Hosein, S. Abbot, T. Palladino, R.Rampaul


Leicestershire 169-8
C. Ackermann 53, N. Welch 28
L. Reece 2-32, T. Palladino 2-37

Derbyshire 144-4
L. Reece 48no, J. Gow 53no
T. Taylor 2-31, C. Parkinson 1-31

Leicestershire win by 25 runs


Palladino leaks 20 from the opening over but does well to drag it back. As feared once faced with a big total we lack the grunt rather than the wickets. Poor start against last year’s bottom of the table.

[cde]

Derbyshire v Lancashire, County Cricket Ground

Derbyshire
B. Godleman, B. McDermott, L. Reece, W. Madsen, L. du Plooy, J. Gow, M. Critchley, F. Hudson-Prentice, S. Abbot, S. Conners, R.Rampaul

Lancashire
L. Livingstone, K. Jennings, S. Croft, G. Maxwell, J. Bohannon, A. Davies, D. Vila’s, J. Faulkner, S. Mahmoud, T. Bailey, M. Parkinson


Lancashire 86 all out
G. Maxwell 24, S. Croft 17
M. Critchley 4-8, L. Reece 2-20

Derbyshire 90-5
L. Reece 29, B. Godleman 24
J. Faulkner 2-21, G. Maxwell 1-12

Derbyshire win by 5 wickets


Pallidino’s form suddenly goes into free-fall. Out of the youngsters I am keen to bring into the T20 side Conners is in the best form. McDermott comes in to open and H-P adds another bowling option with Hosein not need to keep wicket.

The bowing clicks, Critchley takes a hat-trick in the penultimate over over finish them off. Even with just 86 on the board we have to take the chase easy or lose wickets.

[cde]

Derbyshire v Nottinghamshire, County Cricket Ground

Derbyshire
B. Godleman, B. McDermott, L. Reece, W. Madsen, L. du Plooy, J. Gow, M. Critchley, F. Hudson-Prentice, S. Abbot, S. Conners, R.Rampaul

Nottinghamshire
A Hales, B. Duckett, T. Moores, B. Slater, J. Clarke, C. Nash, S. Mullaney, D. Christian, L. Fletcher, M. Carter. M. Abbas


Derbyshire 167-5
L. Reece 51, B. McDermott 48
D. Christian 3-38, M. Carter 2-28

Nottinghamshire 131 all out
A Hales 32, D. Christian 23
M. Critchley 4-9, L. Reece 2-14

Derbyshire win by 36 runs


Having asserted that 150 was our limit we post a far better ? the first time we are asked to bat first. This was in no small part due to a very lucky half century from Reece. Dropped on 21, played and missed twice, two catchable shots that fell just out of reach and one LBW shout. With another couple of wickets to boot he had quite a game. Critchley is bowling well, starting a four over spell from the twelfth over he is looking adept at hoovering up lower order batsmen for few runs.

[cde]

Northamptonshire v Derbyshire, County Cricket Ground

Northamptonshire
A Rossington, P. Sterling, R. Levi, K. Pollard, A. Wakely, R. Keogh, G. Berg, F. Ashraf, G. White, B. Sanderson, B. Glover

Derbyshire
B. Godleman, B. McDermott, L. Reece, W. Madsen, L. du Plooy, J. Gow, M. Critchley, F. Hudson-Prentice, S. Abbot, S. Conners, R.Rampaul


Northamptonshire 168-7
K. Pollard 66, A. Rossington 57
J. Gow 3-18, S. Abbot 1-13

Derbyshire 166-6
B. Godleman 60, W. Madsen 44
B. Sanderson 3-34, F. Ashraf 2-32

Northamptonshire win by 2 runs


So close! A spinning pitch, so with our seam-heavy options presents some problems but dropping Rossington did not help. McDermott has now dropped two catches in two matches and such errors can prove costly. With the seamers getting clumped about I turn to Gow in desperation, which goes surprisingly well. We chase hard but with three balls Madsen gets out and Critchley just can’t connect.

[cde]

Yorkshire v Derbyshire, Headingly

Yorkshire
J. Bairstow, T. Kohler-Cadmore, A. Lyth, N. Pooran, H. Brooke, D. Willey, M. Waite, A. Rashid,
K. Maharaj, B. Coda, D. Olivier,

Derbyshire
B. Godleman, B. McDermott, L. Reece, W. Madsen, L. du Plooy, J. Gow, M. Critchley, F. Hudson-Prentice, S. Abbot, S. Conners,


Yorkshire 182 all out
T. Kohler-Cadmore 48, J. Bairstow 37
M. Critchley 4-29, L. Reece 2-38

Derbyshire 134-9
W. Madsen 46 no, L. Reece 31
D. Willey 5-36, K. Maharaj 2-22

Yorkshire win by 48 runs


Another costly dropped catch, this time by Conners at silly leg who dropped K-C off the bowling of Rampaul while he was still on 1. K-C was also caught in the slips off a Reece no-ball on 34. The total was always going to be tough and Coad took a couple of quick wickets by Willey decimated us with a hat-trick in the 5th over, essentially making it an exercise in trying to protect the net run rate as much as possible. We can not afford to be spilling the chances that come our way with four in the last three matches.

[cde]

Lancashire v Derbyshire, Old Trafford

Lancashire
L. Livingstone, K. Jennings, S. Croft, G. Maxwell, J. Bohannon, A. Davies, D. Vilas, L. Wood, J. Faulkner, S. Mahmoud, M. Parkinson

Derbyshire
B. Godleman, B. McDermott, L. Reece, W. Madsen, L. du Plooy, J. Gow, M. Critchley, A. Hughes, S. Abbot, B. Aitchinson, R. Rampaul


Lancashire 119-9
D. Villas 23, G. Maxwell 22
S. Abbot 3-31, R. Rampaul 3-30

Derbyshire 121-1
B. McDermott 65 no, B. Godleman 45
L. Wood 1-38

Derbyshire win by 9 wickets


Neither H-P or Conners are doing well enough so as the only batsmen showing and form in the 2nd XI Hughes replaces H-P and Aitchinson is given a chance.

Abbot finally delivers a good performance, as does Rampaul to keep them to a nice low total though McDermott drops yet another chance. We knock off the runs with no pressure on us at all.

[cde]

We switch back to some FC cricket

Derbyshire v Worcestershire, County Cricket Ground

Derbyshire
B. Godleman, L. Reece, J. Gow, L. du Plooy, W. Madsen, N. Priestley, H. Hosein, A. Hughes, R. Rampaul. T. Palladino, D. Melton

Worcestershire
H. Rutherford, J. Libby, T. Fell, R. Wessels, M. Ali, B. Cox, E. Barnard, B. D’Oliviera, C. Morris, J. Tongue, D. Pennington


Worcestershire 306 & 263

Derbyshire 445 & 125-4

Derbyshire win by 6 wickets


We get Rutherford Quickly but Libby (51) and Fell (50) dig in and we get into some pretty attritional play. They can’t get runs but we can’t get wickets. Once we get them out we have a bit of a job pinning them back with Barnard giving us what for with a quick 73 and they seem to be a bit T20 happy. We work our way through the wickets to keep them to 306. We make a solid start but Gow fails cheaply again before Reece (145) and Du Plooy (189) pile on 247 for the third wicket. With some help from Hosein and some bidding from the tale we take control of the match.

Time is running out after the slow start to Worcs first innings so we bowl hard at them and despite some good partnerships we get them out just before tea on day four for what becomes a reasonably simple chase with no real alarms. Gow (40) in particular gets some much needed runs under his belt second time around.

[cde]

And then back to the T20s

Derbyshire v Yorkshire, County Cricket Ground

Derbyshire
B. Godleman, B. McDermott, L. Reece, W. Madsen, L. du Plooy, J. Gow, M. Critchley H. Hosein, S. Abbot, T. Palladino, R. Rampaul

Yorkshire
F. du Plessis, J. Bairstow, J. Root, A. Lyth, H. Brook, N. Pooran, D. Willey, M. Waite, B. Coad, M. Pillans


Derbyshire 157 all out
W. Madden 70, L. du Plooy 37
D. Willey 4-37, M. Pillans 2-35

Yorkshire 160-7
A Lyth 50, H. Brook 26
L. Reece 4-46, S. Abbot 2-26

Yorkshire win by 3 wickets


Aitchinson is injures so Palladino returns. A decent enough batting performance – we are bowled with 3 balls to spare – but unlikely to be enough. Abbot takes du Plessis and Root for golden ducks with the first two deliveries of the innings and hopes soar until Lyth fights back. It gets tight but they are keeping up with the run rate throughout and win with a ball to spare. Better than last time but still a loss.

[cde]

Durham v Derbyshire, Riverside

Durham
C. Bancroft, S. Steel, D. Bedingham, A. Lees, N. Eckersley, F. Behardien, P. Cougin, B. Raine, B. Carse, D. Stern, M. Sailsbury

Derbyshire
B. Godleman, B. McDermott, L. Reece, W. Madsen, L. du Plooy, J. Gow, M. Critchley H. Hosein, S. Abbot, T. Palladino, R. Rampaul


Durham 142-6
A Lees 61, S. Steel 28
S. Abbot 2-15, T. Palladino 2-28

Derbyshire 143-5
L. du Plooy 52, W. Madsen 41
D. Steyn 3-27, B. Carse 1-24

Derbyshire win by 5 wickets


Hosein comes in because McDermott is still having trouble behind the wicket. A good win going to our game plan but could do with keeping the total a bit lower.

[cde]

Worcestershire v Derbyshire, New Road

Worcestershire
H. Rutherford, M. Ali, T. Fell, R. Wessels, A. Turner, B. Cox, E. Barnard, W. Parnell, J. Dell, J. Tongue, P. Brown

Derbyshire
B. Godleman, B. McDermott, L. Reece, W. Madsen, L. du Plooy,F. Hudson-Prentice, M. Critchley H. Hosein, S. Abbot, T. Palladino, B. Aitchinson


Worcestershire 110 all out
Rutherford 35, Wessels 16
M. Critchley 4-14, T. Palladino 4-30

Derbyshire 110-0
B. McDermott 62, B. Godleman 51

Derbyshire win by 10 wickets


Gow is struggling with form so as he is doing ok in the 2nd XI H-P comes in and since I want Aitchinson in the team Rampaul makes way since Palladino is picking up form.

A comprehensive display and a great win.

[cde]

Warwickshire v Derbyshire, Edgebaston

Warwickshire
E. Pollock, I. Bell, S. Hain, A. Hose, T. Ambrose, M. Burgess, A. Thompson, C. Green, T. Bresnan, O. Stone, J. Patel,

Derbyshire
B. Godleman, B. McDermott, L. Reece, W. Madsen, L. du Plooy,F. Hudson-Prentice, M. Critchley H. Hosein, S. Abbot, T. Palladino, B. Aitchinson


Warwickshire 140 all out
M. Burgess 37, C. Green 31
T. Palladino 3-22, B. Aitchison 2-19

Debyshire 143-7
W. Madsen 34, B. Godleman 32
A. Thompson 5-32, J. Patel 1-24

Derbyshire win by 3 wickets


Pleased to keep them to the 140 sweet spot another win was looking likely until Thompson run amok but we made it with an over to spare. While the batting order from 6-11 is about the best we can offer at the moment it is also decidedly brittle.