v Derbyshire Falcons NWT20 Blast at The County Ground

AN INDIFFERENT NOTTS STILL TOO GOOD FOR OVERLY GENEROUS DERBYSHIRE

A typical aggressive 63 off 32 balls from Alex Hales saw Notts to a comfortable 5 wicket victory over rivals Derbyshire at the County Ground.

Wayne Madsen won the toss and decided to bat on a typical Derby surface. After an injury scare during the warm up, when he trod on the ball, Gurney replaced Fletcher in the previous eleven. Derby were without Chanderpaul.

Below clear blue skies and a good sized crowd, Gurney’s fitness was tested on the first ball of the match when Stephen Moore was fooled by the pace of the ball and gave Gurney a return catch on the run and in front of the batsman.  

On a grudging surface Derby were struggling to time the ball and in the fourth over of the innings and the score on 15, Durston had his off stump removed by Carter. Pinch hitter Tom Knight 12-ball six came to end when he was caught at mid off, Shahzad the bowler. The end of the power play saw Derbyshire on 32 for three. Danger man Marcus North was then dropped by both Patel and Mullaney on nine on 12 which was indicative of an indifferent performance in the field which involved a few fumbles and too many extras being conceded.

Madsen (36) took a liking to Patel and hoisted him for a six but tried the shot again but only succeeded in finding Hales, 71 for four. Former Notts man Scott Elstone got to 17 before becoming another victim of the Hales-Patel combination, 102 for five. North survived a stumping chance and then was very badly dropped by Carter at fine leg. Notts bowling in the closing stages was poor as Derbyshire got to 164 for seven off their 20 overs. Groenewald smashed 19 out off just seven balls as Carter lost his rhythm. North got to 57 before holing out off Carter, his innings came off 47 balls with six fours. Derbyshire appeared to have a total 20 or 30 runs over par. Gurney with 4-0-24-2 and Patel were the pick of the bowlers but seven wides and four no balls were conceded and too many catches were dropped. More competent opponents would have taken advantage of the ragged performance.

Hales and Lumb got Notts off to a dream start in the reply against a bowling attack which was even more generous in giving Extras away than Notts, a grand total of 14 wides and eight no balls. The buffet offered meant that 57 runs were added in the first 26 balls of the innings as Madsen tried to shuffle his pack but no avail. Lumb on 21 top edged Palladino to third man. Next over captain James Taylor was caught and bowled for two. Patel then to fell to another catch at third man as Notts were now 76 for three. Hales was still putting bat to ball and added 36 in four overs a massive six sailed over the sightscreen at the City End but trying to repeat the dose was bowled by Hughes for a man of the match 63 an innings which contained 11 fours and one six. Wessels hit a six and one four in his 22-ball 26 before becoming another batsman to hole out. Mullaney (18*) and Read (78) saw Notts over the line with 19 balls unused.

 A welcome win but you get the feeling that Notts are still not firing on all cylinders in this competition; let’s hope for another improvement in performance next week against Warwickshire. MAG