Billy Godleman praised his side’s attitude and determination after Derbyshire beat Northants Steelbacks by 51 runs to go top of the Royal London One-Day Cup North Group table with two games to play.
Bouncing back from a narrow defeat to Yorkshire Vikings in midweek, the Falcons made contributions throughout the side in a well-managed and professional performance, a mentality which pleased the Captain.
Godleman said: “I think in every discipline we showed our skill, but most importantly the attitude and determination which we’re building at the Club.
“We’ve played enough cricket now to know when there’s a difficult surface. If you’re unable to consistently strike the white ball then the alarm bells ring and you realise that 250 is going to be a competitive score.
“Its really pleasing and it showed again that we have a variety of options that are able to play a role.
“I thought Ravi [Rampaul] bowled excellently in the first powerplay and Duanne [Olivier] has been phenomenal all year. Whenever you give him the ball he’s hungry to bowl and makes things happen.
“The spinners also did a solid job, as well as Alex [Hughes]. He could have easily had 3-40.”
Godleman himself was an instrumental part of the win, hitting an unbeaten 125 in a Club-record opening stand of 182 with fellow opener, Ben Slater (94).
The 29-year-old was pleased with his own performance, but highlighted Slater’s innings as equally important as the Derbyshire batsmen got the team off to a good start by setting a platform for the final overs.
He said: “It was a great knock. Ben [Slater] played excellently and he lifted the gear one or two levels. We needed to make sure one of the batsman made the most of the restrictions so we had a platform to get to the 275 that we were looking for. He played selflessly and very skillfully.
“It’s nice to play with consistency for the team and it’s everybody’s aim as an individual is to do their role as best as they can to get the team in the position to win games of cricket.”
The win leaves Derbyshire in a strong position heading into the final week of group stage matches, starting with the visit of Lancashire Lightning to The 3aaa County Ground on Sunday 3 June, starting at 11am.
Godleman hopes the Falcons can continue improving and execute their skills to get closer to a knockout place with victory over the Lightning.
He added: “Hopefully we can do it in this next game. We enjoy playing cricket at home and have had a couple of good wins at home.
“We enjoy the games coming thick and fast and the guys will recover then come strong on Sunday.
“Not just this season, but over the last 24 months in white ball cricket, we have proven we’re a dangerous team and can beat anyone on our day.
“We need to play somewhere between 90 and 100 per cent and thankfully we’ve been able to do that and that’s the plan again for Sunday.”
Royal London One-Day Cup is back at The 3aaa County Ground! Derbyshire will host four 50-over fixtures in May and June. Buy your match tickets in advance & save.
Derbyshire vs Lancashire Lightning – Sunday 3 June
