Billy Godleman was left disappointed after Derbyshire’s exit from the Royal London One-Day Cup, but turned his attention to an important run of red ball fixtures, starting on Saturday.
The Derbyshire Captain reflected on a disappointing day for the Falcons, which saw them lose to Notts Outlaws by eight wickets, ending their hopes of a place in the knockout stages.
The Falcons needed to win to have a chance of qualification, but defeat left them on eight points, with four wins and four defeats from their eight group stage matches.
Godleman said: “It was a poor performance today. To win the toss and bat first, albeit it on a challenging and used surface, we would have expected to have made 200 runs.
“It is unacceptable to just make over 100. We were never in the game when we came out with the ball.
“Ben [Slater] and I have spent a lot of time at the wicket in this tournament, but the guys in the changing room are highly skilled and with a lot of experience.
“Whether they’ve had lots of time in the middle, or not much at all, speaking on their behalf that wouldn’t be an excuse for those guys.”
Although the manner of the defeat hurts Godleman, he believes his side are showing progress and the squad will now look ahead to a block of three Specsavers County Championship matches coming up.
“It’s difficult to look at context at the moment after not qualifying, which was our aim, but if we can look at where we were 12 months ago, we are an improving team across the board.
“It’s important we use our reflection time wisely to make sure we improve as individuals and overall as a Club. Human nature means we’ll be reflecting on what should have been, but I am a big believer in trying to stay as level as possible.
“We have no option but to play the next day of cricket and they come thick and fast as a professional cricketer. We’ll recover, travel, then get ready for a game against Durham on Saturday.
“We’ve been playing good cricket in the Championship before we broke for this competition. We’ve got experience with bat and ball and we will be leaning on that in the next few days.
“We’ll break this down into the next block of three games and highlight our skills and tactics, to make sure we give ourselves the chance to play good cricket.”
Luis Reece will miss the trip to Durham with injury, whilst Gary Wilson is on international duty with Ireland, and Godleman hopes younger members of the squad can step up and prove their skills.
He said: “It’s what we all dream of and aspired to be as young cricketers. Whoever gets that opportunity will be thrilled and I’m sure they’ll be looking forward to it.
“It’s a good opportunity for their development, but also an opportunity for us to see their skills and see how they’re doing.”
Vitality Blast is back! Derbyshire Falcons host seven Twenty20 games this July and August. Purchase your tickets in advance and save from £4. Buy online or call 01332 388 101.
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