Godleman targeting positive end to season

Billy Godleman says Derbyshire will be doing all they can to pick up a victory at Hove in their final LV= County Championship fixture of the season against Sussex next week. 

Having ended their home campaign with a heavy defeat to Kent, Derbyshire face Sussex still chasing their first red ball win, while their opponents next week currently sit bottom of Division Three.

Derbyshire have often started games strongly with the ball this season, Durham (A)  and Middlesex (A) being prime examples, but have so far failed to turn that momentum into a winning position, something Godleman wants to put right in the team’s final outing of 2021.

“We’ll be doing everything we can to start the game well at Hove,”

“If you start a game well, you always give yourselves a chance to win it, and everybody is desperate to win a game of first-class cricket. Looking too far ahead isn’t always helpful, so we’re focussing on getting a good start.

“Whether we’re batting or bowling, it would be nice to have a solid start, because then we can use that to push on for the win further down the line.”

While their new ball bowling has often caused the opposition problems, Derbyshire’s top-order batting has been less effective this season, with injuries leading to a total of five opening partnerships in the County Championship, and just two half-century partnerships between them.

The captain refuses to hide behind the injury issues, but says the lack of consistency in both form and the options for selection has been a huge problem for the side in first-class cricket.

“I wouldn’t want to use the injuries as an excuse, but it’s important to recognise that context,” he added.

“We have a relatively small staff as it is, and we’ve been hampered, we don’t have that many experienced players, but we have a lot of really promising young players who are doing all they can for Derbyshire.

“I’ve had two stints out with injury, so has Luis Reece, we’ve got Harry Came opening the batting, he’s really promising but hasn’t yet played a lot of first-class cricket, Brooke Guest has been in the top three, as has Tom Wood, so perhaps part of the reason [for our form] is not having a consistent opening partnership.

“Without a doubt, us guys at the top of the order haven’t played consistently well for any period of time in first-class cricket this season, and that obviously doesn’t help either.”