Derbyshire Falcons Vitality T20 Blast at County Ground Derby Win 4 pts Report

 

OUTLAWS POWER-ON TO VICTORY

after blackout farce as the lights go out in Derby

Notts won the local bragging rights in strange conditions at the County Ground last night. They beat Derbyshire by 7 wickets with 7 balls to spare via the DLS after a localised power cut delayed the action for 51 minutes and cost five overs. Notts at the time were 15 ahead of the DLS par score. 

Notts won the toss and inserted Derbyshire on the same pitch that Northants had defeated Derbyshire by 6 runs 48 hours previously. The match was not a sell out and the crowd remained very quiet throughout most of the encounter. With Henriques nursing a bad back McCann came into the Eleven. Brooke Guest replaced Zak Chappell in the Derbyshire line up.

 Sams (City End) conceded five off the first over. Jewell (2) departed off Pennington's first delivery, Montgomery catching a steepler at deep square leg; 5 for 1. Three from the second over. Donald hit McKerr for four through extra cover. Lloyd straight drove McKerr for four. Lloyd (7) was caught at backward point by McCann diving forwards off McKerr, 20 for two off three overs. Donald hit Pennington for successive sixes (long leg, square leg). The Welsh man hit the third delivery of the over to the square leg ropes. Two dot balls followed. The sixth delivery sailed over the covers, a third six for Donald, 22 off the over. Donald hit Sams for a huge six over square leg. Derbyshire 53 for two off five overs. Donald smashed McKerr for six over extra cover and then four through the covers off the following delivery. A single off the next ball saw Donald to a rapid 50 off 21 balls; 12 off the over. Derbyshire 65 for 2 at the end of the powerplay.

The home side was well placed to score a huge score but lost their way only adding a further 97 to their total. Donald (50 off 22 balls, 3x4, 5x6) fell to Patterson-White's first delivery caught by McKerr at wide long off, 65 for 3. Two off the 7th over. Madsen hit McKerr for four through backward point. Patel (1) was caught by McCann off McKerr, 72 for 4. Six off the 8th over. Andersson (3), moving forwards, was bowled by Patterson-White, 77 for 5 off nine overs. Derbyshire had lost their way having lost three wickets for 12 runs in three overs. The experienced pair Madsen (35 off 35 balls, 1x4, 1x6) and Whiteley did their best to steady the sinking ship whilst adding 44 in 5.4 overs for the sixth wicket. McKerr (4-0-30-2) conceded three plus a leg bye off his last over. A welcome return for McKerr after conceding 84 runs in five overs the previous weekend. 

Patterson-White went for five off the 11th over. A wild throw from Harrison saw Derbyshire gain four overthrows after Whiteley took a single off Pennington. Derbyshire 95 for 5 off 12 overs. Whiteley hit Harrison for four through fine leg and then for six over square leg off the last delivery of the over; 14 off the 13th over. James went for four off his sole over of the match. Whiteley hit Patterson-White for six over mid-wicket. Three balls later Whiteley (31 off 21 balls, 1x4, 2x6) trying to repeat the shot was caught by Harrison on the mid-wicket ropes, a third wicket for Patterson-White (4-0-20-3). LPW the stand out Notts bowler on the night. Derbyshire 121 for 6 in the 15th over. 

Harrison went for three in the 16th over and Sams for seven in the 17th over. Madsen switched hit Harrison (3-0-26-0) for six over cover, nine off the 18th over – the lone shot in anger for the subdued South African who could not quite get going. Madsen was dropped on 32 by James at third man off Sams. Guest hit Sams (4-0-34-0) for consecutive lofted boundaries. Guest guided Pennington for four through extra cover. Guest (25 off 19 balls, 3x4) skied Pennington (4-0-40-3) to Patterson-White who took the catch in the covers. Aitchison fell first ball caught by Haynes on the third man ropes. Ghazanfar went for a single off the last ball but Madsen (35 off 35 balls, 1x4, 1x6) failed to complete the run being run out by keeper Moores via a pea-roller. Derbyshire 162 for 9 off 20 overs – a below par total. Notts had bowled well as a unit and pleasingly gave no wides nor no balls away. Only three Derbyshire players got going, crucially Jewell went in the 2nd over.

Derbyshire suffered a major blow before Notts had started their innings with Samit Patel unable to field due to a calf strain. Not only did it mean Derbyshire had lost a major cog in their bowling it also seemed to demoralise them. The home side putting out a poor performance with the ball and in the field in front of a near silent crowd.

Clarke (1) was caught at slip by Madsen off Aitchison (Racecourse End) , 2 for 1 after 4 balls. Any hope for the Falcons was extinguished when James and Haynes added 81 in 9 overs for the 2^nd wicket. Haynes hit Ghazanfar for six, 11 off the 2nd over. Haynes lofted Aitchison (2-0-10-1) for four over square leg, seven off the third over. James smacked Brown for four through mid-wicket and then guided the former Pear for six over long leg, 14 off the 4th over. Ghazanfar, who looked dangerous against the Steelbacks,  conceded five singles off the 5th over. Haynes hit Andersson for four through mid-wicket. Notts looking good at 48 for 1 off 6 overs – but 17 behind the Derbyshire powerplay score.  

James hit Whiteley for consecutive fours through extra cover and backward point. Haynes then hit the left-arm seamer for four through the covers, 15 off Whiteley’s sole over of the night. Andersson went for six off the 8th over. Haynes hit a wide leg side delivery from off-spinner Lloyd for four through fine leg, nine off the 9th over. Haynes (43 off 29 balls, 5x4, 1x6) hit Brown for four through extra cover, but fell next ball slicing to Madsen at mid-off, 83 for 2. Six off the 10th over.

Moores hit Ghazanfar (3-0-28-0) for four through the covers. Moores got a two off a no ball and then hit the free hit for four through extra cover, 12 off the 11th over.  James (43 off 28 balls, 3x4, 2x6) deposited Andersson (3-0-25-1) for six over mid-wicket  but fell in identikit fashion to Haynes slicing the bowler straight to Madsen at mid-off, 102 for 3 in the 12th over. Moores hit Andersson for four through mid-wicket, 11 off the over. Then came the pure comedy, a localised power cut meant the floodlights failed at 21:19. The County Ground plunged into near darkness as dusk approached.

Notts stood at 108 for 3 off 12.3 overs with Moores on 15 and McCann on 2. 

Most of the crowd had gone when the floodlights unexpectedly came back on at 21:55 and after a farcical 15 minute delay with the umpires and match referee trying to work out the DLS target play eventually restarted at 22:10. Notts needed 12 off 15 balls with Lloyd (2-0-15-0) having three balls left in his uncompleted over. It took Notts six minutes to finish off the job. McCann reverse swept the North Walian for 4 off the last delivery of the over. Notts now needed seven off two overs. Brown returned, Moores ran a single off the first ball, two dot balls followed until McCann pushed a single off the fourth ball. Moores pulled Brown (2.5-0-27-1) for four to the backward square leg boundary. At 22:16 a legside wide followed off the next delivery and Notts had got over the line. The wide symbolic off the poor fare Derbyshire had delivered throughout the Notts innings. The talismanic Samit badly missed. Notts 120 for 3 off 13.5 overs with Moores on 21 and McCann on 7. Their second win from three games which leaves Notts fourth in the standings. Montgomery for the second time in a week had been on the winning side without either batting or bowling. MAG

No change to the squad of 15 for the third consecutive game:

Joe Clarke

Freddie McCann

Ben Martindale

Jack Haynes

Moises Henriques

Tom Moores

Daniel Sams

Sammy King

Matthew Montgomery

Lyndon James

Liam Patterson-White

Calvin Harrison

Rob Lord

Conor McKerr

Dillon Pennington

It totally by-passed me but the Incora, Pattonair, 3 AAA County Ground is now sponsored by the Central Co-op - see what's in store

If Silver Fox is proposing to talk tactics and address failings so far whilst on the shortest coach journey to this game*, as he said he was going to do ahead of the Old Trafford stumble, then he's in luck as he'll have additional time owing to A52 diversions through Lenton.

Falcons lost their opener last night to Northamptonshire at this venue, but Samit Patel still eyes this game as the one to win and the one to launch their campaign proper*.

This is Derbyshire's big game, the one with the draw to bring the casual supporters in at premium prices. Historically Derbshire have feared two players at these fixtures, Samit Patel and Alex Hales, one they turned native and the other has gone into tax exile. The pathetic Outlaws of 2024 can measure how poor they were by the ease of the Falcon's victory in the corresponding game last year. Notts supporters will be expecting an improvement, and even Samit concedes*, that Notts have now "got some experience".

For Outlaws, nothing has been learnt at Worksop College this week apart from need to bring Freddie McCann into the Vitality Blast XI, but will the Silver Fox heed that lesson.

So will the squad be a carbon copy of last week's where we only had one win from two attempts? The need to tighten up our bowling is paramount, with the same bodies or with additional ones.

* reference to post match interviews on the respective counties media