Derbyshire v Northamptonshire RLODC

Derbyshire’s Wayne Madsen

Sorry about the lack of blog last night and it’s just a short note from me this morning.

We can win this game, with a squad that is rightly unchanged. There was little wrong with the performance or personnel at Bristol, aside from a manic last four overs that cost us the game. As I wrote then, credit the opposition for the courage of their convictions, but the wheels came off and we would have won that game 99 in a hundred times.

It was good to see Wayne Madsen admit team culpability over the last ball error because it was. Someone should have been 'switched on' enough to notice that we had too many fielders on the leg side; if two umpires can spot it, eleven players should be able to. 'Commitment, attention to detail and professionalism' was, as several people pointed out yesterday, what I noted as crucial - and exactly where we fell down. A very good side can fall down in some areas and still win, but a developing one needs to get most things right, or will struggle. Just as we saw, really.

Our visitors have won the two T20 games between the sides so Derbyshire will be wanting to get into the winning column between the sides.

There's enough in the tank to win this one.