Warwickshire vs Derbyshire - Day 1 review

On a day on which every county captain who won the toss asked the opposition to bat, Derbyshire cannot be entirely unhappy with their first day in the top tier.

I don’t think many eastern betting syndicates would have lost money on that happening, and it was equally expected that most of the sides struggled. We did too, but Karl Krikken will have been as heartened as the rest of us that the side continued to battle down the order.

At 105-2 we were looking good, but eight manic overs saw us reduced to 117-7. There have been many times when that would be a prelude to a sub-150 score. but this side is made of sterner stuff. 226 all out from there was good going, and special mention has to be made of Tony Palladino, one of the most admirable of cricketers and men.

His batting last season came on in leaps and bounds, and he put his new bat to good use with an excellent 68 full of powerful shots, well supported by the later batsmen. Credit too to Mark Turner, a much improved batsman who amply illustrated that this side doesn’t really have a ‘tail’ – just later innings batsmen.

No one should be concerned. Had the toss gone the other way, I suspect the result would have been similar. There are lessons to be learned from the careless loss of some mid-innings wickets, but that will have been discussed after the day ended.

The BBC’s much vaunted launch of county coverage was, however, shockingly poor. I’ve had several comments and emails today about the ‘ineptitude’ of Radio Derby’s commentary, and it really isn’t good enough. I’m sorry, but if you don’t know enough about your subject than to come out with some of the nonsense Charles Collins did today, you really should not be doing the job. To suggest that Palladino and Groenewald are only number elevens, is indicative of someone with minimal cricket knowledge. Indeed, it is insulting to two very good professionals.

I followed the game on the BBC website at work, where the match scorecards failed to work all day, only the summary page, while the BBC cricket pages on TV text, or whatever they call it these days, are an absolute disgrace. They don’t display even half of the scorecard and if it wasn’t so poor it would be laughable.

In conclusion? For Derbyshire, there appear to be bright days ahead. The BBC? Looks like a relegation struggle. D minus, must do better…