Billy Godleman believes that Derbyshire’s break from white-ball cricket will benefit the squad ahead of Finals Day.
Since beating Gloucestershire in the Vitality Blast quarter-final, Derbyshire have played two Specsavers County Championship matches, before preparing for Finals Day.
The Falcons are now fully-focused on Edgbaston, but Godleman says that playing the longer form of the game has prevented players from feeling too much pressure ahead of the semi-final against Essex.
“I haven’t had that much time to think about it,” Godleman said.
“There have been two back-to-back championship matches with quite a bit of travel in between which I personally think is a good thing.
“We’ll get back into the white-ball format on Friday and have a strong training session and then go and take on Essex on Saturday afternoon.
“It will be a special occasion and a special achievement for the club and everyone connected with it. It’s our first Finals Day, it’s the flagship day on the domestic cricket calendar and for Derbyshire, we intend to ruffle some big counties’ feathers.”
Essex are the only south group side to qualify for Finals Day this season, with Worcestershire Rapids and Notts Outlaws joining the Falcons at Edgbaston.
The Derbyshire captain says that he was not worried about who the Falcons faced on Finals Day, as it will be their own performance that decides the result as they aim for a fifth-straight win.
“I personally wasn’t bothered, when I don’t have any control over things I try and not waste too much energy on them so for me, we are just relishing the chance to play anyone in the semi-final,” he added.
“We have got nothing to lose, no one expected us to get to the quarter-finals let alone Finals Day but we know what we are capable of.
“We knew we had to play consistently within 90 to 100 per cent each game to qualify which we did. We needed to play around 95 per cent minimum to beat Gloucestershire in the quarter-finals which we did so the same applies to Finals Day.
“If we can play somewhere in and around that in two games of Twenty20 cricket, anyone can turn anyone over.”
Finals Day! Derbyshire reach their first Vitality Blast Finals Day on Saturday 21 September. They take on Essex Eagles in the second semi-final at Edgbaston. Good luck, lads!
