Lancashire v Derbyshire Yorkshire Bank 40

Ashwell Prince (L) of Lancashire plays a shot during the Yorkshire Bank 40 match between Lancashire Lightning and Derbyshire Falcons at Old Trafford on August 13, 2013 in Manchester, England.

There was no real surprise in losing to Lancashire at Old Trafford tonight, nor any disgrace.

They are to all intents and purposes a division one side and should be again next season. With Ashwell Prince and Simon Katich in their batting lineup they have international quality, and we had no one of that experience in our ranks in the absence of Shivnarine Chanderpaul.

Wayne Madsen once again was to the fore, leading from the front as he has done all summer, then chipping in with a decent bowling spell and the prize wicket of Simon Katich. There was little support though, until David Wainwright helped him add 80 for the seventh wicket and Derbyshire‘s total, though reasonable, never looked likely to challenge Lancashire unduly unless they lost early wickets.

For Wainwright it was a welcome return to batting form. When he joined from Yorkshire, I had high hopes that he would make a genuine all-rounder, having a couple of centuries to his name for the white rose county. It hasn’t happened and despite a couple of doughty knocks last summer he remains a bowler who knows how to handle the willow in most eyes.

His bowling has been the major concern this summer and again tonight there were a couple of expensive overs as he was outbowled by Tom Knight, in a welcome return to the side. I just wonder how much his winter back problems have affected his bowling this summer, when he certainly seems to have had more issues with keeping a length than in the past.

Knight will be pleased with seven overs for thirty runs against a good batting side and the control offered by him, in conjunction with Wes Durston, took the game a lot closer than might have otherwise been the case.