vic's Derbyshire Story

[vic_orthdox]

25th May - County Championship: vs Surrey (H)

Changes: Marsden comes into the side and bats 6, with Clinton moving to opening. Marsden is taking the place of the injured Pearson. Clinton is captain in his absence. Dean and Jones swap places, while Lingham replaces Sherbourne whom is in the England squad.

A great knock from Jaques set up the innings for the side. Affter his dismissal, a few quick wickets made it look as though Derby wouldn't capitalise, but hasty cameos from the middle and lower order saw us to a total that was above par, despite the perfect batting conditions.

The subsequent bowling session was also very successful, led by Lungley who had a big impact after coming on at first change. He came back on in the afternoon session and wrapped up the tail. In typical Lungley fashion, he still went at more than 4 per over.

Surrey, following on, were a much improved outfit second time around. However, perserverance paid off, as Lungley, Razzak and Lingham - in his best performance to date in first class cricket - all combined to keep the required total to win down to 115.
In reply, Derby got the job done. It would've been good for one of the top 3 to bat it through and make sure, however a win is a win - especially when it's your first for the season!

 

[vic_orthdox]

Ladders as of 29th May

 

[vic_orthdox]

30th May - National League: vs Leicestershire (H)

Changes: Nethercott in for Casey, who has a cold and is out for four days.

Jaques was a little slow in his 50, but Nethercott played a wonderful knock, and with support from Wilcox, he took a good position and capitalised on it.

Once again, the spinners did a great job in the middle overs, after Simon Jones finally took his first wickets in OD cricket this year. Hopefully he can get some form up for us while Sherbourne plays intermittently.

 

[vic_orthdox]

1st June - County Championship: vs Essex (A)

Changes: Casey, still out with a cold, is replaced by Wilcox, rewarded for his efforts in OD cricket this year. Dean comes in for Lingham. Big game, go with the tried and tested.

Batting always promised to be tough going, and Essex's attack made it so. Two fine knocks were the highlight of day 1, especially that of Khalid; the lowlight being the last 30 minutes, where a few quick wickets handed back any advantage gained over the previous 5 and a half hours. The next morning was all Derbyshire, as Razzak and Wilcox took the game away from Essex, Wilcox making a 100 in quick time while Razzak notched up 68. After their dismissal, the tail folded meekly.

Essex batted well for the rest of the day, helped by numerous dropped catches, and were 3/170 at the halfway point of the match. The next day, however, Dean ran through the middle order and Jones helped with the tail, to enable Derby to enforce the follow on.

The talented Fuller was the cornerstone in setting a target for Essex, and they did so in an effective manner. Once they were finally dismissed, Derby required 184 to win, in one session and 21 minutes.

The chase was on, and in earnest. There were wickets and runs everywhere, however Jaques was down one end, plundering the attack. Suddenly, with 50 minutes left, only 68 were needed. The complexion of the game changed when Wilcox burnt Jaques, however, and soonafter Wilcox was trapped LBW. This left 39 minutes to make 44 runs, with 4 wickets in hand.

Goddard was bowled soonafter, but Razzak was in good touch. He and Lungley got the equation to 15 to win, 13 minutes left with 3 in hand. On the last ball of the fourth last over, Palladino nipped out Razzak. This left three overs, two wickets, and 13 to win. The next over, from Stamp, was taken for 5.

Two overs, 9 to win, 2 wickets in hand. Palladino bowls a wide one, and Lungley lashes it through the covers for four! Next ball he whips it behind square for three - 2 needed for the win. Just as it looks as though we're right on top: Jones gets bundled out by Palladino. Bowled for 3. Kevin Dean comes out to bat and fends off the rest of the over.

The last over of the game. Two runs to win required. Tim Leonard to bowl to Tom Lungley. A short wide one, Lungley gets a single down to third man. 5 balls left, 1 to win, 1 wicket in hand. Leonard bowls it full outside off stump, but Dean mistimes the drive. It heads to midwicket - where Ben Hutton drops it!. They scamper through, and take an extra couple for good measure, as the dressing room celebrates. What a win!

 

[NZTailender]

Is Casey an off-spinner?

Great win, btw.

 

[vic_orthdox]

Is Casey an off-spinner?

Great win, btw.

Nah, just bowls some little right arm meds. Averages about 38 in one day cricket, but his bowling is getting progressively better.

More of a partnership breaker option in the longer form.

 

[UncleTheOne]

how you finding lee goddard? my 1st choice for england at the moment, but he mainly deals in a good score or stupid dismissal for single figures.

 

[NZTailender]

Nah, just bowls some little right arm meds. Averages about 38 in one day cricket, but his bowling is getting progressively better.

More of a partnership breaker option in the longer form.

Ah. Had a G Casey in my game who was an off-spinner and tooks loads of wickets. I never paid much attention to whether he was generated or not.

 

[vic_orthdox]

how you finding lee goddard? my 1st choice for england at the moment, but he mainly deals in a good score or stupid dismissal for single figures.

Goddard's going really well. He's averagine about 35 and above in FC cricket. It's probably a little inflated by our flat pitch at home, and a few not outs. But it is better than the FC average of most of the players they're picking to keep for England at the moment, and he's still only 29.

 

[vic_orthdox]

5th May - National League: vs Warwickshire (H)

Changes: Marsden comes in for Khalid, who needs a rest.

Jaques and Marsden batted pretty well, but Jaques couldn't find that extra gear needed to accelerate. Thus, on a perfect batting strip, the score reached was a bit sub-par.

The bowling effort was really impressive though, and it was only Duckett, coming in down the order, who gave Warwicks a sniff. However, Jones came on when it looked as though we were going to be robbed, and took two wickets in quick time to wrap the game up and save some face.

 

[vic_orthdox]

8th June - County Championship: vs Middlesex (H)

Changes: Sherbourne comes in for Simon Jones. Casey comes in for Marsden, who is very unlucky to miss out, as Wilcox keeps his spot.

An ordinary performance from the top order was covered up by Goddard and Razzak, who put on 103 for the 7th wicket, and got us up to a competitive score, after a number of players threw away starts.

5 wickets in the hour before lunch put us in charge of the game, with Middlesex's score only at 53. Despite resistance down the order, the introduction of Razzak only worsened things for the opposition, as the follow on was allowed to be enforced.

Middlesex were much improved in the second innings, however, and amassed a huge total, as Sherbourne bowled bravely before getting injured, while Lungley was fantastic in his wicket-taking ability. This left us with 318 runs to get, with a bit over 5 hours to play.

Wickets fell early, but a stabilising partnership between Wilcox and Clinton gave us a sniff of victory. Goddard fell soon after Clinton was dismissed, and with the last ball before tea, Wilcox was bowled. This left us with only 2 wickets to spare over the last session, and over 100 runs to get. Despite a bit of resistance from Lungley and Razzak, the innings was wrapped up, and a very disappointing loss after being in such a dominant position.

 

[vic_orthdox]

22nd June - Twenty20 Cup: vs Durham (H)

Starting Team:

Pearson*
Clinton
Miller
Sutton+
France
Pearce
Casey
Stanton
Lingham
Bridge
Dean

Wood launched an avalance, making a 28-ball 60, as we got pogo-ed around early. The introduction of Pearce slowed down the scoring rate, and eventually we pegged them back after it looked as though we were to be chasing over 200.

Miller responded well after the early loss of Pearson, but Clinton could never really get going, and thus the total was out of reach for us.

 

[vic_orthdox]

24th June - Twenty20 Cup: vs Leicestershire

Once again, the bowling effort was substandard, and left us with a large total to chase.

However, in reply, Sutton's 17-ball 40 was vital in not letting the required rate get too high, and Miller, Stanton and France also made important contributions in a good win.

 

[vic_orthdox]

28th June - Twenty20 Cup: vs Yorkshire (A)

Changes: Sales comes in for Casey.

Good innings' from Clinton and Sutton in support of Pearson, but we were well restricted in the last few overs.

Yorkshire got off to a flier, but the spinners pulled them back. They needed 18 from the last two, and then only two runs from three balls. However, Dean took a wicket, and then two dot balls to secure the win.

 

[vic_orthdox]

29th June - Twenty20 Cup: vs Lancashire (A)

After being 4 wickets down for 3 runs, the recovery wasn't too bad. It at least gave the bowlers something to bowl at, on a pitch that favoured the pacemen.

Despite a strong effort from the bowling group, Lancs got there in the last over.

 

[vic_orthdox]

July 1 - Twenty20 Cup: vs Nottinghamshire (A)

Changes: Marsden in for Sales.

Another poor start, but a middle order revival got us up to a reasonably total.

In defence, the fielding was of particular highlight, as we secured four run outs. Once again, the spinners really turned the screws, as a convincing victory was had.

 

[vic_orthdox]

4th July - Twenty20 Cup: vs Lancashire (H)

After being sent in, a really good performance with the bat against a quality line-up.

We were met with a Sean Ervine whirlwind, however, he scored his runs from only 42 balls, and with quick assistance from Flintoff, they knocked off our total in the last over, again.

 

[vic_orthdox]

5th July - Twenty20 Cup: vs Leicestershire (A)

Changes: Sales in for Sutton, who has a cold.

After being 3/14, we fought back well to post a score that was about on par. The pitch was suiting spinners, and we have three of them.

Carey was the difference in the end though, guiding his side to a pretty comfortable victory.

 

[vic_orthdox]

6th July - Twenty20 Cup: vs Nottinghamshire (H)

A pretty good performance with ball in hand. Dean trying to capture back some form, while Pearce continues to show promise.

What followed was a comprehensive batting performance, wrapping up the win in the 16th over. A good end to a disappointing title defence.

 

[vic_orthdox]

Twenty20 Cup Ladder - End of Group Stages