Logic suggests that sometime tomorrow Derbyshire will go down to a first Championship defeat of the summer, but there's maybe still another twist in what has been an absorbing game of cricket.
If Derbyshire could somehow scramble another 150 runs from those last five wickets, Gloucestershire will remember all too clearly their collapse in the momentous game of 2010. You never can tell at cricket and this team doesn't seem to have the propensity of others of recent vintage to collapse like a pack of cards.
Tomorrow would be an excellent day for David Wainwright to rediscover his best batting form and with Daniel Redfern established and batsmen of ability to come, 150 more is not beyond our compass.
The Derbyshire seamers again bowled well but were effectively held up by another fine knock by Alex Gidman, who with his brother Will has dominated this game. Alex Gidman is a fine player and has been for a number of years - were it not for his efforts this would be a very even game.
There were worthy efforts from Guptill and Madsen, but if Derbyshire are to salvage anything from this game Daniel Redfern needs to match the innings of Gidman and some of the lower order need to come to the party. It was a shame to see Matt Lineker fail for the second time in the game, but we cannot be too harsh on a player with little senior experience who is making his way in the county game.
So an improved effort from Derbyshire today, but we will need a stirring effort tomorrow to prevent us losing this one. There is little substantially wrong with the wicket and we will need a major effort to pull this one from the fire.
I hope I'm proved wrong, but I think the unbeaten record is gone here.
More tomorrow.
It's not been a great performance clearly, but at least we didn't capitulate after the first innings nightmare, like Derbyshire of old may have done.
ReplyDeleteWe're on the back foot, but still potentially in this game. A lot of pressure will be on Redfern's shoulders, if he goes early tomorrow that's probably it. Our unbeaten record looks endangered, but its not gone yet :)
I,m afraid this is a lost cause. It was from lunch on day one. We,ve just got to write it off and make sure we don,t repeat it in the Leicestershire game.
ReplyDeleteWe have worked hard to be in the position we are in. The important thing now is we don,t throw it away. We can get over one defeat and learn a few lessons from it. A similar performance in the next game will start alarm bells ringing,but let,s give the players the benefit of any doubt and see if we turn it round.
Leicestershire are a poor side and there is no reason we can,t dispatch them with some ease. One bad performance can be forgiven,but we must not start to make a habit of it.
We were never going to go the season unbeaten were we?. This is afterall Derbyshire we're talking about here. I'm just pleasantly surprised how well we've started this season, and anything from now until the end will be an added bonus.
ReplyDeleteFair comments gentlemen - one defeat will not ruin an excellent start
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