RLODC Preview: Derbyshire v Nottinghamshire

RLODC Preview: Derbyshire v Nottinghamshire

Nottinghamshire arrive at the 3aaa County Ground for the East Midlands derby looking for their first victory in the Royal London One Day Cup, having played two and lost two leaving them bottom of the Northern Group. Derbyshire, however, welcome their rivals from just down the A52 brimming with confidence on the back of their victory over Northants, a victory that saw them chase down 308, their highest ever List A run chase with eight balls to spare.

That win, and a point picked up from their abandoned match with Durham, sees them sitting third in the group behind Yorkshire and Worcestershire, who they will leapfrog to top the table for a day at least, if the prevail over Nottinghamshire in this match.

Last season the sides met in this competition in a high scoring affair that saw Nottinghamshire rack up a mammoth 340 for 7 in their 50 overs, with Derbyshire falling for 275 in reply. Derbyshire’s side is much changed since then. It has added experience in the batting order, with Gary Wilson arriving from Surrey and Daryn Smit from South Africa, and a high quality overseas international in Sri Lankan leg spinner Jeevan Mendis. They should prove a much tougher prospect for the boys from Trent Bridge.

The ECB have been kind to Nottinghamshire and have made their England players available for this game, so Jake Ball and Stuart Broad will be lining up at the 3aaa Ground and strengthening an already impressive Nottinghamshire side. A Nottinghamshire side that will start as favourites on paper, however cricket matches aren’t won or lost on paper, they are won or lost on 22 yards of turf.

Derbyshire will go into this game confident following their last game and will be hoping for a similar result against their closest neighbours.

Key Men

Derbyshire: With the strength of Nottinghamshire’s attack, all of Derbyshire’s batsmen will need to be key if they are to vanquish thieir east midlands rivals. Captain Billy Godleman at the top of the order, however, will be key most of all. Facing an attack of Pattinson, Gurney, Broad and Ball with a new ball at each end will be tough, but Godleman is in form having scored 95 in Derbyshire’s victory over Northants. His ability to score quickly, yet sensibly will be vital to give Derbyshire impetus at the start of the innings whilst not giving early wickets away.

Nottinghamshire: You could pick any of the Outlaws’ nine international players as key. If the pitch is as dry as expected, however, then Samit Patel as their main spin option will be vital for the visitors. He will be looking to give them control in the middle overs, whilst also offering a wicket threat. Patel will also bat in the top four, looking to dominate Derbyshire’s attack and score quickly to either set a total or chase down whatever the Falcons have set.

Team News

Derbyshire have named the same eleven players who won their last match, plus Luis Reece and two spinners in Matt Critchley and Hamidullah Qadri coming into the squad. Critchley has plenty of first team experience, but Qadri is a name that will be unfamiliar to most, as he has no first team experience. If he does make his debut in this game, then he could not ask for a bigger game to play in.

Nottinghamshire name an unchanged squad from their previous match, which boasts nine players with international experience. Captained by the ever reliable Chris Read and an opening bowling attack of Broad and Ball, Derbyshire’s openers will know they are in a fight at the start of the innings.

Derbyshire squad: Billy Godleman (c), Ben Cotton, Matt Critchley, Alex Hughes, Wayne Madsen, Jeevan Mendis, Tom Milnes, Hamidullah Qadri, Luis Reece, Ben Slater, Daryn Smit, Shiv Thakor, Tom Taylor, Gary Wilson (wk)

Nottinghamshire Squad: Chris Read (c,wk), Jake Ball, Stuart Broad, Luke Fetcher, Harry Gurney, Alex Hales, Samit Patel, Michael Lumb, James Pattinson, Billy Root. Greg Smith, Brendan Taylor, Riki Wessels.

Form

Derbyshire: WAALL
Nottinghamshire: LLLLL

Weather and conditions

The weather looks decent for the day in Derby, but don’t forget your coats and umbrellas. The chance of some rain later in the afternoon, between three and four pm, means we may need our good friends Duckworth and Lewis. With Derbyshire selecting three spinners in their squad we can presume the pitch will be dry, but with the high temperature forecast as 14 degrees, whether their fingers will be able to extract some turn is another matter.

Date: 2nd May 2017
Time: 11:00am
Ground: 3aaa County Ground, Derby
Umpires: Mallendar and Lungley
Odds (SkyBet): Derbyshire 6/5, Nottinghamshire 4/6

NO COMMENTS

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.