Derbyshire: Up where they belong

Shivnarine Chanderpaul of Derbyshire

Two games to go and there is one sure thing about the county championship relegation issue.

It is going to go to the last game.

Just as last year, when, while we were playing Hampshire at Derby, we were keeping an eye on Yorkshire‘s game against Essex, Wednesday’s game against Durham will see the supporters keeping an eye on the one at Taunton, where Somerset and Surrey face off.

We could have had an easier game, for sure, but the game at the County Ground pits the two form teams of the country against one another. How many thought we would be saying that a month ago?

Durham will start favourites as their form in the past month has been extraordinary, rising through the table like a phoenix from the ashes. They are a strong side, as befits one at the top of the table and there are similarities with Derbyshire.

Durham have no overseas player and have based their campaign on a batting line-up where everyone contributes and a strong seam attack that has produced the goods, time and time again. They beat us easily at The Riverside, although our batting line-up of that day of Hughes, Johnson, Madsen, Chanderpaul, Durston and Redfern is some way removed from what will take the field on Wednesday. Chesney may be back from paternity leave, but Karl Krikken may stick with the pair who gave him good starts at Taunton in a side that I expect to show few, if any changes.

Their win in the earlier game was largely due to a big stand between Jennings and Borthwick, when we didn’t bowl especially well and missed an opportunity or two. For us to win this one, we need the bowling to maintain discipline and be backed up by razor-sharp fielding. We’re going to need the same resolution down the order that has been shown throughout the last month and a big innings from one or two players.

Confidence should be high though and whatever happens, the key will be results elsewhere.  If we beat Durham, I expect Somerset to be too strong for Surrey and it will then come down to the last game, when we host Warwickshire and Somerset play our near neighbours, Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge. Given that after a tricky trip to play Middlesex, Nottinghamshire have to go to Durham themselves, the relegation issue could yet prove to be a four-horse race.

Nottinghamshire have had a poor summer and theirs is not a happy camp, with Michael Lumb and Alex Hales at odds with the club, wanting to play IPL next year while the club says no. They would appear to have too much talent to go down but not enough to be embroiled in a battle to avoid the drop. A squad that looks better than any in the country on paper continually fails to deliver, much in the same way as Surrey.

Both sides lack a major factor in the recent success of Derbyshire and Durham. Team spirit. That mentality was strong for us last year and the on-field ‘chirpiness’ of the side is evidence of its return. Opponents know they are playing a team, not a disparate group of individuals where the failure of the big names causes the collapse of the side.

I don’t know if we will stay up any more than the rest of you, but we will go down fighting. If we stay up it will be as great a feat as any in the club’s history, given the radical shift in the club’s fortunes from August onwards. It augurs well for next year if we stay up, while a repeat of this form would have division two sides wary of a (hopefully strengthened) Derbyshire side next summer.

Let’s not think about that though. At The Riverside we bowled them out for 253 on the first day. In their second innings, nine of their players made only 91 runs between them. We simply batted very badly, with the exception of Chanderpaul and Poynton and had a couple of bad sessions that characterised our earlier season with the ball.

If we can keep recent form going, they are beatable.