County Championship: Yorkshire vs Derbyshire - Day 1 Review

Ladies and gentlemen, looks like we have found an opener.

Chesney Hughes

What a magnificent innings it was from Chesney Hughes today! An unbeaten 171 gave us our first genuine excitement on the batting front this summer and the big Anguillan showed remarkable powers of concentration, the likes of which we haven’t seen since he first burst on to the scene a few summers back.

“He hits the ball as hard as anyone on the circuit,” said Andrew Gale, “but I haven’t seen him play with that discipline before. Karl Krikken attributed it to both Dave Houghton and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, though one has to give credit to a player who has battled his way back from what appeared a crisis of confidence. Last summer he was barely recognisable, but pre-season some technical adjustments seemed to have helped him rediscover his mojo.

Failures at Lord’s were a setback, but Hughes dropped into the second team and responded with runs, which is all any player can do. I hope we see the same from Ross Whiteley, a very good cricketer who hasn’t got going yet. He is too good a player for this to be a permanent, or even long-lasting issue and I’m sure it won’t be long before we see him back in the side.

It was a good day for Krikk. Elevating Chesney to the opening position paid off handsomely, while the return of Wayne Madsen to the middle order saw him make an admirable 93. There are few cricketers more worthy than the Derbyshire captain, a player who offers total commitment whether he is in or out of form. He fell short of a fifty against Nottinghamshire and just short of a deserved century today, but it is good to see the skipper back among the runs.

I hope we see him stay in the middle order. As anyone who has played regular cricket will tell you, there is a substantially different mindset between opening and batting at three. Even if an opener goes quickly, going in first wicket down feels different. If you’re not convinced, think about the likes of Bradman, Kallis, Richards, Worrell and many more. You didn’t see them open many times, did you?

Our middle order looked more substantial today, even though it was a somewhat lopsided innings. Two players score 264 runs between them and three others contribute a total of nine, one of them our overseas star. Mind you, Shivnarine could be excused as he’d probably seized up, waiting 68 overs with his pads on. Durston is another player struggling for his best form and fell before the close, but Dan Redfern seems to be getting to grips with this level and accompanied Hughes to the close. Those two players, 23 and 22 respectively, offer massive potential for our future.

There is a lot of work still to do, of course. I’d like to see us make 450 minimum, and then the work of bowling out a lengthy batting side begins. We may or may not win this game by Thursday evening, but we have already gone some way towards restoring self-respect and boosting confidence.

Whatever happens this summer, good or bad, this is a young team and they will make a comeback. If it transpires that relegation and another summer in the second tier are needed before they reach maturity, then so be it. Let’s think about that in due course though and celebrate a very good day today.

It’s a funny old game. As notoveryet also points out, James Taylor struggled last year, having been a stand out at Leicestershire. Likewise, Jack Brooks and Liam Plunkett presumably cost Yorkshire serious money in the close season and they’re not yet pulling up trees.

Here’s hoping they don’t tomorrow. Onwards and upwards lads, onwards and upwards.