Mickey Arthur on Durham defeat

Head of Cricket, Mickey Arthur, says Derbyshire must bounce back from their innings defeat to Durham in the LV= County Championship. 

Derbyshire struggled to limit the flow of runs with the ball, as Durham declared on 452-9, but it was Derbyshire’s start with the bat that saw them hand momentum to the hosts at Seat Unique Riverside, falling to 6-4 at one point, before eventually being all out for 165 in the first innings, while they began Day Three on 92-5, after another tough start to the second innings.

A 149-run parternship between Matt Lamb (99) and Luis Reece (66 not out) for the sixth wicket provided some resistence in the second innings, but ultimately Derbyshire could not force Durham to bat again, being bowled out for an innings defeat before tea on Day Three.

Derbyshire have now tasted defeat in two of their opening three games, with a rain-affected draw against Leicestershire accounting for the bulk of their 17 points in Division Two.

Arthur was disappointed by the performance as a whole, but in particular the showing on Day Two, and has said the squad must look to bounce back and kickstart their season with back-to-back home fixtures against Leicestershire and Gloucestershire coming up.

“We 100% lost the game on the second day. The only thing we can take out of this game was the fight on the final day with the partnership between Matthew Lamb and Luis Reece,” he said.

“We can’t concede 400 runs on day one like we did and you can’t be rolled out like we were on day two. You’re never going to come back into any game like that. You’re not going to come back from being six for four. It was really disappointing, I thought it was a disappointing performance.

“We’ve got to be able to bounce back. It’s easy when you’ve got the wind in your sails, but it’s tough when things are not going your way. You make your own luck, so we’ve got to keep going. I said in the dressing room I think there is something missing altogether. I got the feeling that we needed something to kickstart our season. We got a little bit of a spark from Lamb and Reece.”

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Buy tickets for any of the six Falcons Vitality Blast fixtures in Derbyshire before Thursday 4 May to be in with a chance of winning a signed shirt and bat. 

The Early Bird window for Vitality Blast tickets closes on Wednesday 3 May, with supporters able to secure the best price during this period, and now you could be in with a chance of winning a bat and shirt, signed by the likes of Mickey Arthur, Ian Bell and Haider Ali.

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