Wednesday 14 September 2016

Derbyshire v Leicestershire day 3

Derbyshire 307 and 286-8 (Madsen 134 not, Hosein 58)

Leicestershire 247 (Davis 4-68, Palladino 3-27)

Derbyshire lead by 346 runs

A fifth century of the season for Wayne Madsen today put Derbyshire into a position where they could feasibly break their duck for the championship season tomorrow.

With a game to go, Wayne is just short of 1200 runs for the summer and averages a touch under 60, highlighting once more how important he is to the cause. The pair he got recently was a momentary 'blip' in another golden season, one that earned him the Player of the Year award today.

We were in a pickle at 57-5, but Harvey Hosein once again came in and underlined his growing credentials. Getting out towards the end of the day took his average down to a piffling 128, but he has laid down the gauntlet to whoever comes in as wicket-keeper that there is battle ahead for that first choice role.

For me, that was part of the appeal of Daryn Smit. He is a good enough bat to just play in that role, or as a spinner to offer valuable options - a Wes Durston-type player as Wes was a few seasons back. If Harvey needed a break, Smit could then have taken the gloves. It would - could - be a very handy utility signing.

I had a few messages today asking if I thought Steven Davies might be headed our way on leaving Surrey, My answer was simple - no.

Davies is on a seriously good contract at The Oval and wants to leave for a county where he is guaranteed keeping wicket. Unless we plan  shooting ourselves in the foot with a twelve-bore, we don't want to block Harvey's path, merely have an adequate plan B in place and competition for the role. If that player is good enough with the bat to play as a specialist if required, so much the better.

Let's hope for that win tomorrow, to end the home season on a high.

Finally tonight, in the light of the decision to introduce a city-based T20 made today, I have brought in a poll for the first time in a while. Maybe I am alone, but I'm just curious how many people are actually interested in this. If there's money coming to the county as a consequence that's fair enough, but I remain to be convinced that it will attract the support that it will need.

So will you travel to Nottingham (I assume) to support a city franchise team of some name or another?

I'll leave it up for a week and see how it goes.

1 comment:

  1. Here's hoping today brings a first Championship win of the season for Derbyshire. It's been a long time coming.

    Whilst on the subject of the championship I think the ECB are in danger of taking it for granted. Since the move to two divisions the last few weeks of the season have usually been very exciting and close; and surely there must be a correlation between the improvement of England as a test side and the strong championship.

    Reducing the number of Championship games doesn't bode well.

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