Derbyshire v Warwickshire day 1

Chris Woakes (File Photo)

All things considered, not a bad day for Derbyshire, though it could have been better.

Chris Woakes‘s century left the game well-poised, though runs on the board, as in any cricket match, are the most valuable of commodities. We will rue one or two chances and close opportunities that went begging, but as with any other game of cricket, you simply cannot tell how this is going to go until we take our turn to bat.

Woakes enabled our visitors to go from a nadir of 148-7 to a closing score of 285-8. To be honest, we’d probably have taken that before the toss, but would have hoped to conclude their innings by the close, with expectations – no, a need – to do so promptly tomorrow.

The bowlers appear to have stuck to their task well and our batsmen will be hoping that the post-tea session is indicative of a wicket that has eased from a little early movement.

One thing appears clear at this stage. Barring our making a shambles of our first innings, we’re likely to face a last day run chase, bringing back memories of last year against Hampshire. My guess would be that the target will be considerably greater though and we’re going to have to pull out the stops to get to a win.

Nottinghamshire overcame early travails at Trent Bridge to earn a healthy closing position of 378-7 and Somerset may well be the most concerned of the bottom three at this stage. Our guys might well be the most disappointed, as a day where we looked to be totally dominant ended up as one where we did pretty well, but no more than that.

Time will tell.

Elsewhere, the first player who I thought “yes please” with regard to signing came on the market today.

Will Smith is that player and the very compact, organised Durham batsman, who can either open or play in the middle order is the sort of cricketer I would welcome at the club. He made a very composed and well organised 80-odd against us last week and has had a steady, if not spectacular season.

Whether he is lined up by a county at this stage it is hard to say, but his experience at Durham, a side he captained to the county championship in 2009, would be more than useful. He’s had his share of injuries and he played for Nottinghamshire, but I’d be prepared to forgive that faux pas. He has a proven ability to score runs on northern wickets – not a formality, as many have found over the years – and would be an asset, not just to us but to a few sides.

Worth keeping an eye on that one.