Billy Godleman was pleased to hit his maiden List A century and help his side secure a vital Royal London One-Day Cup victory over Northamptonshire at Derby on Friday night.
The left-handed opener carried his bat throughout the Derbyshire chase, scoring 109 not out, as the Falcons chased down their target of 232 with seven wickets in hand and 10 balls remaining.
Godleman was quick to highlight the important contributions from the other batsmen but admitted it was a great feeling to reach three-figures in a one-day game for the first time.
“It feels great to have got my maiden List A century,” Godleman said. “I’m really pleased that I was able to be not out at the end of the game and that we have got over the line.
“My role and responsibility is to be there at the end. We broke the innings down into three parts; the first ten-over powerplay being, in my opinion, the easiest time to score. It was about keeping composure and rotating the strike in the middle part and then keeping my nerve towards the back-end.
“I wouldn’t have been able to carry my bat if I wouldn’t have had the support of the guys that batted around me, I couldn’t have done it without their help.
“Wes [Durston] got us off to a great start and then Club Captain, Wayne [Madsen] played an amazing innings with some really high-quality strokes. Chesney Hughes then came in and saw us over the line and it’s really difficult to do that in that situation.”
#INTERVIEW: Billy Godleman talks about his maiden List A century and #DCCC's vital win over Northants #DERvNOR #P2bDhttps://t.co/bUHzXEqi0R
— Derbyshire CCC (@DerbyshireCCC) August 1, 2015
There were also more good performances from Derbyshire’s bowlers. Matt Critchley secured his first wicket in List A cricket on the way to returning 4-48 whilst there were two wickets apiece for Mark Footitt and Ben Cotton.
“I thought we bowled excellently,” Godleman added. “We showed really good discipline and I think we were high quality in the field today. We were really good in the outfield, we took our catches and we backed the bowlers; skilful line and lengths.
“We’ve got four points now so we take good momentum and good confidence down to Surrey for Sunday. They are a very good one-day team but we know that we must concentrate on what we do well and on our plans.
“We must then go and show our skills and we believe we can beat anyone we come up against.”
Leicestershire Foxes are the next visitors to The 3aaa County Ground on Tuesday 4 August. Kids go FREE to all of Derbyshire’s home Royal London One-Day Cup matches whilst Adults can save £4 on their admission by purchasing in advance.
[ticketbuttons]
