We hadn’t got a hitter who could put us on the right road in the powerplay, turning a par score of fifty into a seventy that lays the foundations for something special. Nor did we have a bowler for the powerplay and death overs, a Langeveldt or Rampaul if you will, who could bowl tight and keep taking important wickets to slow the score.
To be fair to Mickey Arthur, he has addressed both of those issues, at least potentially, in the signing of two of Pakistan’s brightest young talents. Haider Ali, if he strikes his best form, is capable of brilliance with the bat, while Zaman Khan will threaten toes and nose with the ball.
Zak Chappell adds additional quality with the ball and the side appears, on paper, to be stronger than last year. Always assuming, of course, that everyone finds their form quickly.
With our first two games against Lancashire and Nottinghamshire, it is possible we could still do that and lose. But it is about maintaining form against everyone, not just raising the game against perceived stronger sides, that will determine Derbyshire’s fortunes.
You could stand Reece, Ali, Madsen and du Plooy up against most top fours and lose little. Perhaps the key will be in those middle overs, maintaining an early impetus and pushing totals north of the psychologically damaging 200 mark. Then it is down to the bowlers, setting the right fields and bowling to them. If we do all of that, progression from an admittedly strong group is possible once more.
Zaman Khan has arrived and will come straight into the side tomorrow for the first Blast Off game. Fourteen are in the squad but I would expect Thomson and Aitchison to miss out and leave this side:
Ali
Reece
Madsen
du Plooy
Donald
Wood/Dal
McKiernan
Chappell
Watt
Scrimshaw
Khan
There are eight genuine bowling options, nine including the captain. It should be a good fielding unit and they have the potential to do well.
There is no Buttler, Salt and Livingstone for our opponents, nor Jennings and Gleeson, but still a very strong fourteen, including Kiwis Daryn Mitchell and Colin de Grandhomme:
Vilas, Wells, Bohannon, Mitchell, de Grandhomme, Croft, Bell, Bailey, Jones, Lamb, Mahmood, Parkinson, Wood, Hartley.
It promises to be a good game and I hope that Derbyshire give a large crowd and television audience a better show than they managed at Taunton last year. It was awful and we froze that night, individually and collectively.
Yet they have proven in the past that the talent to win these matches is there. If the game play is right, the skipper handles the match ups well and the players keep cooler heads than their opponents, they can win this.
What do you think?
