Derbyshire Falcons Vitality T20 Blast at Trent Bridge Win

 

A HAPPY RETURN FOR CHAPPELL

but it's the batsmen that belatedly click, to the tune of 247 runs

A Notts new record and the Chappell of Rest rises from his slumbers


Notts emphactically returned to winning ways last night by defeating Derbyshire by 94 runs at Trent Bridge. After Hales (55 off 23 balls) bludgeoned the Derbyshire bowlers in the powerplay; the rest of the top order (Duckett, Clarke, Mullaney and Moores) ensured Notts reached a team record T20 score of 247-6. This was 20 more than the previous highest of 227-3 against the same opponents five years ago at Trent Bridge. The margin of victory was the second largest in Notts T20 history, only beaten by the 114 run victory at Edgbaston in 2021. The Derbyshire reply never got going as wickets consistently fell, Zak Chappell (3-28) on his first Notts appearance of the season and Samit Patel (3-32) leading the way.

Derbyshire, who had won their previous five games in the competition, won toss and inserted Notts, who had lost their last three matches. How times have changed!

Harrison and Paterson were dropped from line-up for Budinger and Chappell; the latter temporarily back at Trent Bridge after his loan spell with Gloucestershire. He finally made it out on the Trent Bridge turf despite reporting a side strain.

Notts raced out of the blocks in front of a disappointing 5,000 crowd on a warm but cloudy night. Aussie Hayden Kerr (Radcliffe Road End ) bowled the first over with Hales and Clarke hitting him to the square leg ropes, 11 off the first over. Hales hit Conners first ball to the mid-wicket boundary and the fourth ball was hit by Hales to the square leg ropes. The next ball was caressed for six through long leg and the sixth was a six over square leg, 22 off the over; Conners who started his cricketing life at Attenborough CC did not bowl again. Clarke had a stroke of luck top edging Kerr into no man's land on the offside. Hales hit Kerr for an off side four and then a straight four, nine off the third over. Clarke smashed the Scottish international Watt for a four through extra cover. The 50 partnership came up in 23 balls via straight four off Watt. The next ball was edged by Hales passed the keeper for 4, 56 for 0 after 4 overs, Hales was dropped on 45 at extra cover, a skier to Hughes off McKiernan. Hales hit McKiernan for a straight four and then a six but then was caught off a long hop, skying to Reece off McKiernan. Hales 55 off 23 balls (8x4,3x6), 68 for 1 off 5 overs, for the second time this season, Hales had teed-off against the Peakites with devastating effect. Duckett hit Scrimshaw for four through the covers. Clarke scooped Scrimshaw for successive fours. Then he made it three boundaries in three balls by pulling the left armer for four, 86 for 1 off 6 overs and Notts already looked well on top.

Clarke hit slow left-armer Watt for four through extra cover, 10 off the 7th over. Madsen was lofted for six over square leg by Clarke but four balls later Clarke top edged the off-spinner and was caught and bowled for 38 (off 17 balls, 6x4,1x6), 104 for 2 after 8 overs. Five runs came off the ninth over bowled by leg-spinner McKiernan. Duckett slogged Madsen (2-0-23-1) for successive boundaries through mid-wicket and backward point. Notts 124 for 2 off 10 overs.

Six came off the 11th over bowled by Watt. Mullaney was dropped on 6 by Madsen at backward point off Scrimshaw; a sharp chance which the struggling club captain capitalised on. Mullaney hit Scrimshaw for four through wide third man and followed it up with a six over square leg, 14 off the 12th over. Duckett hit Hughes for four through point and Mullaney hit the same bowler through backward point. Next ball was hooked by Mullaney to the square leg ropes, 13 off Hughes’ sole over of the night. Mullaney blasted brisk right-armer Scrimshaw for three consecutive sixes over long leg, square leg, and mid-wicket, but then departed going for his 4th in a row caught at deep mid-wicket by du Plooy for a 20-ball 45, 178 for 3 after 14 overs. Duckett hit a four through square leg off McKiernan, 10 off the 15th over. Christian (12) hit Kerr for six over mid-wicket but holed out to du Plooy off the same bowler, 198 for 4 off 16 overs. Duckett reverse swept McKiernan (4-0-35-1) for 4., 8 off the 17th over. Patel slogged Kerr (4-0-38-1) for four through mid-wicket, 8 off the 18th over. A no ball from Watt was reverse swept by Duckett for 6, a four followed off the free hit. Duckett was out of next ball caught at mid-off by Madsen for 63 (off 38 balls, 8x4, 1x6), 226 for 5. Moores hit his first and third balls for offside fours off Watt (4-0-51-1), 21 off the 19th over. Patel was out for 6, du Plooy spectacularly parrying the ball back into play on the square leg ropes and taking catch om the rebound, 236 for 6. Moores hit Scrimshaw (4 0-62-2) for four through backward point and he was pulled for four off the last ball. Notts 247 for 6 with Moores on 20 and Budinger on 0. Scrimshaw’s figures were the most expensive against Notts beating Neil Carter’s 4-0-61-2 at Edgbaston in 2011.

Like Notts six days previously, Derbyshire faced a near impossible chase. A short ball from Fletcher (Radcliffe Road End) was hit by Masood for four through mid-wicket, seven off the first over. Masood hit Carter for six over long on. Reece (2) hold out to Carter, caught by Clarke at backward square leg, 16 for 1 after 2 overs. Masood edged Chappell for four but off his second ball he demolished Masood's stumps, 20 for 2. Cue a fist pump Chappell had dismissed Derbyshire’s main batsman, both players are former pupils of Stamford School. Off the fourth delivery, McKiernan hit him for 6 over square leg and the following ball was a 4 over backward square leg, 15 off the over. Patel picked up a wicket with his first ball, McKiernan (11) caught by diving Mullaney at point, 31 for 3. Kerr hit Patel for a straight four and du Plooy hit the slow left armer for a straight six, 13 off the over. Du Plooy hit Fletcher for a straight four and a pulled four off successive balls, 11 off the 5th over. Kerr hit Carter for six over square leg and then for successive fours (long off and long leg), 72 for 3 off 6 overs.

Patel was swept for four by du Plooy, nine off the 7th over. Kerr (24) was stumped off Mullaney's first ball, 81 for 4, four off the over. Du Plooy hit Patel for four through mid-wicket, 10 off the 9th over. Madsen (6) going for a switch hit was bowled by Mullaney, 95 for 5, four off the 10th over.

Du Plooy (35) was caught at long off by Hales off Chappell , 101 for 6, six off the 11th over. Mullaney, having a fine evening, conceded 3 off the 12th over. The bogged down Hughes skied Chappell to Christian at mid-off, 113 for 7 off 13 overs. Mullaney (4-0-17-2) conceded six off his final over. Watt, on the sweep ,was lbw to Patel for 4, 119 for 8. Conners was lbw first ball, 119 for 9. Scrimshaw survived the hat trick ball, a 2-wicket maiden for Patel. Guest (40 not out off 27 balls) and Scrimshaw (5 not out) spent the last 31 balls of the innings repairing Derbyshire’s run rate sharing an unbroken last wicket stand of 34, 12 off the Derbyshire record. Guest hooked Fletcher for successive fours, 12 off the 16th over. Chappell went for 2 off the 17th over. Carter conceded 3 off the 18th over. Fletcher (4-0-38-0) got hit for a straight four by Guest, eight of the over. Matt Carter (4-0-37-1) bowled the last over with the final delivery of the match being a straight six by Guest. Derbyshire 153 for 9 off 20 overs and once again Notts had the better of their opponents.

Notts, in seventh place, head to the North East tonight. Derbyshire meanwhile lie in fourth place with home games against Lancashire (tonight) and Durham (Sunday 3 July) to come. MAG

Secret Squirrel has announced the squad for the next two T20 games, those against Derbyshire and Durham.

Joe Clarke

Alex Hales

Ben Duckett

Tom Moores

Samit Patel

Steven Mullaney

Dan Christian

Calvin Harrison

Matt Carter

Luke Fletcher

Dane Paterson

Sounds familiar eh! Add to those

Sol Budinger

Lyndon James

and (left out of the Glos squad on Tuesday because of a sore side) Zak Chappell

Moores in hope than expectation perhaps

So there's no chance we'll be on Sky against Durham, as the start time has been brought forward (I'm sure you've had your emails), we're not box office viewing this year. Peter Moores would still have us believe that we're not out of it yet, which is mathematically true, if various planets line-up and several favours are done and Derbyshire's winning run breaks down and turns septic, Northants don't get another point, Bears only win one specific game from now on, etc etc. So not impossible, but not likely as the hardest part of this equation is that Notts need to win every game from now on, and they haven't looked like winning a game (T20) since the 10th June.


Changes are needed to start the rebuilding process, but I don't think Peter Moores is able to make changes, as he backs his own previous decisions too much and won't admit to making mistakes. Add that to his mindset where he believes younger players aren't ever consistent enough to trust and we're stuck where we are;
just as we were in the Championship in 2019 and that took a global pandemic to shake-up the coach enough into taking action.

Fear of action?

I've just had another thought. Most of the Outlaws team have got Hundred gigs lined-up and many of them moonlight during the winter in teams around the globe. Anyone dropped from the Outlaws team is likely to get on the phone to get their agent pleading their case or getting their agent to pester Peter Moores about loss of potential future other incomes elsewhere etc etc. Might these facts be influencing Moores tired team selection?

Derbyshire Falcons are on a good run of wins at the moment, they have the form and the desire to continue that run and retain second* position in the table. I hope Alex has another of his evenings against them - we chuffin' well need cheering-up. If Colin's mic breaks down and Sweet Caroline has Covid  more the

 better.

* now third after Bears chased down 212 to win at Wantage Road