Arthur says Glamorgan fixture was a great advert for county cricket

Mickey Arthur believes Derbyshire’s dramatic draw with Glamorgan was a brilliant advert for LV= County Championship cricket, but admits Derbyshire have things to work on ahead of their next fixture against Worcestershire. 

In a game where all four innings were above 300, it was wicketkeeper-batter, Brooke Guest (109 & 138), who outshone number-one ranked Test batter, Marnus Labuschagne, by scoring a century in each innings, the first Derbyshire gloveman to do so since Bill Storer in 1896.

Wayne Madsen (70 & 135 not out), also continued his good form with the bat, while Suranga Lakmal (7) and Ryan Sidebottom (4) shared 11 wickets in the match.

Derbyshire had set Glamorgan a total of 331 to win from 55 overs, and despite losing a wicket with the fourth ball of their innings, the visitors accelerated after tea to the point they needed eight an over from the final ten overs.

Tight bowling from Sidebottom and Anuj Dal late in the day saw Derbyshire over the line, in a game where all results were in play up to the final over of the match.

Arthur said the pressure and excitement of the final day is what first-class cricket is all about, but the Head of Cricket also says Derbyshire have work to do before their game against Worcestershire, starting Thursday 12 May.

“It was a great final day of cricket, when we made the declaration, I didn’t expect us to be in the position we were at the back end,” Arthur said.

“It’s been a wonderful game for us, for so many reasons, with the bat, but our skills with the ball and crucial catches let us down, that’s something we’ll work on, but we batted exceptionally well this game.

“I would rather us, as a developing team, put ourselves under pressure looking to win games, than settle for mediocre draws. We need to see our players under pressure.

It’s a testament to county cricket, nobody can say that wasn’t great value, seeing two evenly-matched sides throwing it all at each other, that’s what cricket’s all about.”

With more than a week to wait until their next fixture, Derbyshire’s players will be given a few days to rest and recover before returning to training later this week.

Arthur said he could see the effects of an intense period on the squad in the lead-up to the Glamorgan game, as is happy to see how the player kept fighting to earn 14 points from the match.

“It’s really important, because this game was a little bit of a red flag for me,” he added.

“We’ve been working at such a high intensity, I look into their eyes every morning and a couple were starting to glaze over before this match, so there’s some signs of fatigue creeping in.

“So I’m really pleased we’ve dug deep and the players have earned a couple of days off to rest, before our preparation for Worcestershire starts.”

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