It’s second against third at the 3aaa County Ground tomorrow as Derbyshire welcome Yorkshire for a pivotal clash in the North Group of the Royal London One Day Cup, with both sides knowing a victory will keep them in pole position to qualify for the knockout stages of the competition. Derbyshire find themselves on six points and Yorkshire on five, although Derbyshire have played a game less.
Derbyshire have made a habit of winning tight and exciting games this year, with two of their victories coming down to the last over and Derbyshire fans will be hoping that their nails get a break from being bitten and for once a comfortable victory is gained. Just as Yorkshire’s two victories have been.
Both sides have shown that they can score big runs, scoring over 300 runs on several occasions coupled with both having match-winning and experienced bowling attacks, if the weather allows it, it should be a real cracker of a cricket match.
The weather does however look as though it could have a part to play, with a good chance of rain forecast throughout the day, meaning an interrupted and shortened game in the offing. With this in mind whoever wins the toss will probably field first as setting a total under DLS is often less beneficial than chasing.
Knowing this, Derbyshire may well have to send out a different captain to toss the coin, with skipper Billy Godleman having lost all four tosses in this competition this season.
Key Men
When playing on good, true tracks you want to make sure that if you create a chance it is taken, so your wicket keeper is vital in doing this. Derbyshire can count their lucky stars that in Daryn Smit they have one who has excellent hands and takes catches for fun, often making a half or quarter chance look like a lob you might throw your child in the back garden.
The quickness of his hands also reduces the number of byes and leg byes in the field too, cutting the target to chase considerably. Then when chasing, Smit bats lower down the order and is skilled enough to either marshal the tail or blast away to give his side the best chance of winning the game.
Its 50-over cricket, you want to see the white ball disappearing to all parts as a spectator and in Tom Kohler-Cadmore Yorkshire have someone who can do exactly that at the top of the order. In the four games Yorkshire have played he has scores 74, 89, 39, and 164, and Derbyshire will be hoping to snare him early on to try and minimise the impact he can have on the game. It is not just with bat in hand that Kohler-Cadmore has impact though, in the field he is exceptional, against Leicestershire last time out he took a superb onehanded catch on the boundary and was also a livewire in the field.If he performs as he has already this season then Yorkshire’s chances improve greatly.
Team News
Derbyshire squad: Billy Godleman (c), Ben Slater, Luis Reece, Wayne Madsen, Alex Hughes, Callum Brodrick, Matt Critchley, Gary Wilson, Daryn Smit (wk), Hardus Viljoen, Ravi Rampaul, Duanne Olivier, Safyaan Sharif, Dan Wheeldon
Yorkshire squad: Steven Patterson (c), Gary Ballance, Harry Brook, Karl Carver, Matthew Fisher, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Adam Lyth, Liam Plunkett, Cheteshwar Pujara, Adil Rashid, Jonny Tattersall (wk), David Willey
Form
Derbyshire: WWLW
Yorkshire: WALLW
Weather and Conditions
The forecast does not look great for tomorrow with rain forecast throughout the day, if we do get to see some cricket I doubt it will be uninterrupted and I imagine Duckworth, Lewis and Stern will be kept busy. The weather leading up to the match has been good though, so the pitch that has been prepared, if it gets out from under it’s covers should a be a good one, as has been the norm at Derby this season, with pace bounce and importantly in white ball cricket, runs!
Date: Wednesday 30th May 2018
Time: 11am
Ground: 3aaa County Ground, Derby.
Odds (SkyBet): Derbyshire 6/5 Yorkshire 4/6
