Monday 6 August 2012

Monday musings - set for silverware?

Top of the table, five games to go, 26 points clear. Oh to be in Derbyshire, now that summer's here...

One look at the championship table tells its own story. In a summer that has been severely truncated and affected by rain, Derbyshire have still managed to win five of their eleven games. Only Hampshire, with three wins, have managed more than two.

There will be some counties will say that they have been more affected by the weather than Derbyshire. Not having seen the the respective figures I cannot comment, but what we have done is to produce results - good, solid cricket results - when the weather has allowed it.

The win at Essex was, until yesterday, the standout, but by any standards that was an extraordinary win against Kent. Even I couldn't see a win back at the end of day two. How could there be, when our opponents were over 200 ahead with seven wickets in hand? The wicket had already shown itself as offering something for seam bowlers and there seemed no way that a Derbyshire side that had shown a few batting frailties of late could score nearly 300 - the highest score of the match - to win.

Yet they did. They did so because everyone battled when they got out there and was prepared to do so in pursuit of the target they have chased since the end of March - promotion to division one. Time and again the team spirit at Derbyshire has shown itself as a twelfth man of some substance. The positive vibe around the club emanates from recent players such as Martin Guptill and Steffan Jones, both following the game's conclusion from the different locales of Jamaica and Somerset respectively. It also comes from the chairman, whose passion for the club is obvious in everything he says and does..

The strength of this side is in its seam bowling and in that respect it is a typically Derbyshire side. Tim Groenewald (32 wickets at 17 each) Jonathan Clare (29 at 20) and Tony Palladino (41at 22) have proved a handful for batsmen in this division and I will back them even now to enjoy success in the top flight. All have proved resourceful, accurate and penetrative, but their contribution to the side doesn't end there.

All average between 20 and 22 with the bat, priceless contributions to a batting line-up with talent, yet guilty of misfiring at times this summer. All contributed valuable runs to the cause yesterday, as they have done through the season, as has the other key member of the attack, David Wainwright. When numbers seven to ten in the order can add around 80 to an innings, over and above their stronger suit, it is indicative of a side, not just of some talent, but also considerable commitment.

Nor should the efforts of Mark Foottitt and Mark Turner be discounted. The former bowled with real pace early season before being stymied once again by injury. The latter bowls with greater rhythm this summer and when he gets it right is seriously quick. They have played their part in ending the old Derbyshire issue of concluding the opposition innings.

It is also appropriate to mention the captaincy of Wayne Madsen at this stage. While he had captained a side before in his native South Africa, Madsen's first summer as Derbyshire skipper has been solid. There have been mistakes, but name me a captain (especially an inexperienced one) who hasn't done that. Madsen's greatest achievement has been in welding together a team that at one point last summer seemed in danger of fragmenting into a single, cohesive whole, a team that works and celebrates success together.

I said at the start of the summer that I expected a promotion challenge in the championship, but the efforts of this side, which has only lost one game in the format this season, has been exceptional. While it should not be forgotten that several of the players were brought to the club by John Morris, Karl Krikken has worked with a new captain to create a young squad that Derbyshire fans can be genuinely proud of, one without any of the divisive elements that were so much a feature of too many of our sides of relatively recent vintage.

They can be proud of their efforts so far and just need to retain focus to finish it off. The side is a work in progress - but that last word is the key one.

There is genuine progress at the County Ground. Long may it continue.

3 comments:

  1. Worth noting that all five wins have been genuine results earned by bowling out the opposition twice. There have been no contrived finishes, involving declarations or forfeited innings, at all. Not all counties near the top of the table can say this!

    SR.

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  2. It's worth reflecting now how little we actually need to do to get promotion. We probably don't need to win a match as long as we don't lose one - five draws (weather permitting) should bring us up to 50 points, meaning that with our lead and apart from the games against us, Yorkshire would have to win all three of their remaining games, and Kent would have to win at least three out of their four. Given that neither has won more than two all season, good draws would be enough.

    I'm not suggesting this as a plan - I don't actually think that Derbyshire is designed to get draws. What it does mean is that our batsmen don't have to go all out to score quickly, and can set out to play with the patience they did (mostly) in the second innings against Kent.

    At the same time, a defeat against Yorkshire or Kent or both would pull us back into the pack. A win or two is, as always, the best protection against eventualities, but given the frailties of our batting when they are pressing, and the lack of big innings from anyone (last century was back in May) discretion can be the better part of valour.

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