Derbyshire: what to expect in tomorrow's game

With no team news on tomorrow, my thoughts on the game stand as I aired them last night. I am delighted that we have a sell out crowd for the game and, irrespective of the result, that can only be good news for the club.

I’d love to predict a home win, but I look at the Nottinghamshire batting of Lumb, Hales, Taylor, Hussey, Patel, Read and so on and it is hard to do so. Logic suggests that, no matter how well Derbyshire are playing at present, our visitors are the team to beat in the group and, as the most affluent side with a clutch of international players, will start as favourites.

This is Manchester United travelling to Derby County, if you like your football analogies, but as any football fan will tell you, giant-killing can happen if the bigger team underestimates the opposition.

I don’t think our rivals will do that, so I expect them to win. The manner in which they do so, however, will be important. If we give it a good go and make them work, fans should be happy with that, before we go on to other matches where there will be a greater expectation of a positive outcome.

For what it is worth, I think our best chance of a win comes in batting second, hoping that Nottinghamshire overreach in going for the unattainable score. If everyone was fit I would make two changes to Monday night, with Alex Hughes in for Jon Clare and Tom Knight for Mark Footitt. We would then hope to ‘strangle’ the opposition with spin and leave us an attainable run chase.

We’ll see soon enough, but with the weather set fair, it is going to be a terrific night for T20 and for the club.

I wish them well and will be there to cheer them on, every step of the way.

Good luck lads!