Guest wants to build red ball momentum

Wicketkeeper-batter, Brooke Guest, believes momentum will be key in turning Derbyshire’s red ball season around, and hopes that can start with the game against Durham. 

Despite coming close against Leicestershire, Worcestershire and Sussex, Derbyshire are without a win in the LV= County Championship Division Two this season, but there has been plenty of positives to take from the last two fixtures.

A strong all-round performance at New Road last month was only thwarted by a strong Worcestershire rearguard on the final day, while Derbyshire had to settle for a draw just 19 runs shy of an unlikely fourth-innings chase at Hove last time out.

As the squad prepare for a return to first-class cricket at Derby for the first time since May, against the table-topping Durham, Guest says a positive result this week could give the team a boost heading into the final five four-day matches of the campaign, with everything still to play for in a tight league.

“Durham have a good team, but they’re human and there’s no one we can’t beat on our day,” he said.

“There’s no team that’s unbeatable, Durham have had a very good season but on our day we can beat anyone, if we put it all together and make sure we’re consistent, avoid the bad sessions we’ve had this year, then I think we can do that.

“Cricket is very much a game of momentum, as soon as we get that first win, we can get on a bit of a roll and anything can happen. There’s still six games to go, if we can win four of those, we’ll be there or there abouts.

“There’s still a hell of a lot to play for and even promotion isn’t out of the equation if we play to our potential, because the division is so tight, from second place.”

Guest struck his first century of the season against Sussex last week, and the wicketkeeper-batter is hoping it can spur him onto a strong showing with the bat between now and the end of the season.

“Obviously, it’s been a frustrating season for me in red ball,” he added.

“It’s not gone how I planned it to, but there’s still an awful lot of cricket to be played and it was nice to tick that one off and set myself up for a good second-half of the competition. Hopefully, I can get close to what I showed last season.”

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