Pre-Match Pack: Nottinghamshire

Derbyshire have named a 14-man squad for tomorrow’s Royal London Cup fixture against Nottinghamshire at The Incora County Ground (11am start).

Captain Alex Hughes will be looking to bounce back with the bat, alongside Harry Came, Mitch Wagstaff and Tom Wood, as they line-up against their local rivals in Derby.

Brooke Guest and Fynn Hudson-Prentice put on 106 for the fifth wicket against Northamptonshire, and the pair will be aiming to carry that form into tomorrow’s game.

George Scrimshaw has recovered from a foot injury and is named in the squad, while Ravi Rampaul and Mattie McKiernan have recovered from illness ahead of this game.

Harvey Hosein remains sidelined through concussion protocol, while fast bowlers Michael Cohen, Sam Conners, Dustin Melton and Nick Potts are all currently out through injury.

Derbyshire Squad: 

22. Mitch Wagstaff
4. Harry Came
29. Brooke Guest
24. Tom Wood
65. Anuj Dal
33. Fynn Hudson-Prentice
18. Alex Hughes
15. Alex Thomson
5. Connor Marshall
53. Nils Priestley
21. Mattie McKiernan
9. George Scrimshaw
14. Ravi Rampaul
11. Ben Aitchison

Bite-sized Stats

These two counties have met on 62 occasions in List A cricket, Derbyshire winning 20, and Nottinghamshire 40, with two abandoned.

They first met at Queen’s Park, Chesterfield in 1969 in the inaugural Sunday League, known as the Player’s County League, since when Derby, Heanor, Ilkeston, Trent Bridge, Welbeck and Worksop have hosted matches.

Mike Hendrick’s 6-7 remains the best bowling figures against Nottinghamshire and the third best for Derbyshire in List A cricket.

Click HERE to read the full stats preview.

Pre-Match Talk

Head of Cricket, Dave Houghton, admits Derbyshire’s form has not been good enough, but hopes the young squad can take lessons from facing experienced players into their development. 

Aside from Ravi Rampaul and Alex Hughes, the side is currently made up of players with limited List A experience, with the likes of Ben Aitchison, Connor Marshall and Nils Priestley among those making their first appearances in the 50-over format.

Injuries both before and during the competition have decimated the squad, while the loss of three key players in Leus du Plooy, Matt Critchley and Luis Reece to The Hundred has meant there’s regularly been between just 12 and 14 players to choose from.

Derbyshire have lost four of their opening five matches in the Royal London Cup, with the other against Glamorgan being a washout, and Houghton says they simply haven’t matched the more experienced players when facing them, but he believes there are huge opportunities for the youngsters to learn and grow.

“The last thing you want to be doing is showing your youngsters how to lose,” he told BBC Radio Derby.

“It’s important that the guys learn how to play positive cricket and learn how to win. We’re struggling at the moment, because the other sides are playing better than us. Northamptonshire batted and bowled better than us.  As long as we’re learning every time and getting better each time, there’s progress, but it’s not going to get any easier now.

“We do a lot of work behind the scenes on growing as a side, but getting the experience is one thing and putting it into practice is another. So learn from anything you’ve done wrong today and put it right next time.

“There’s no point saying ‘we need bowl a better line and length up front next game’ and then not doing it. Fix that and then maybe you find something else to improve, but you slowly learn in that way.”

How to follow

Derbyshire’s Royal London Cup fixture against Nottinghamshire will be Live Streamed on the club website through our improved Match Centre, delivered in partnership with Purpose Media.

Multi-angle replays put you at the heart of the action, while our Match Centre also includes in-play scorecards, ball by ball commentary, clips and statistics, everything you need to stay up-to-date, no matter where you’re following from!

Clips and updates will also be provides via our social media channels, so make sure you’re following us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, so you never miss a moment of the action.