Derbyshire Falcons have named an unchanged 14-man squad for their Vitality Blast fixture against Worcestershire Rapids tomorrow, starting at 5pm.
Luis Reece scored 61 against Notts Outlaws and he continues in a top-order that also contains Billy Godleman, Wayne Madsen and Leus du Plooy, who is Derbyshire’s leading run-scorer in the competition with 127.
All-rounders Alex Hughes, Fynn Hudson-Prentice, Darren Stevens, Anuj Dal and Matt Critchley are named in the squad, as are Daryn Smit and Tom Lace.
Ravi Rampaul has taken six wickets in the competition so far at an average of 14.00, and he is named in a bowling attack alongside Logan van Beek and Mark Watt.
1. Billy Godleman
10. Luis Reece
77. Wayne Madsen
27. Tom Lace
76. Leus du Plooy
18. Alex Hughes
20. Matt Critchley
3. Darren Stevens
65. Anuj Dal
11. Daryn Smit
33. Fynn Hudson-Prentice
37. Logan van Beek
51. Mark Watt
14. Ravi Rampaul
Reigning champions Worcestershire Rapids are currently second in the table, after picking up five points from four games this year.
Martin Guptill smashed 86 from just 31 deliveries as the Rapids beat Durham by nine wickets inside 13 overs last time out. The former Derbyshire batsman is the only Worcestershire player to have made 150 runs in the Vitality Blast this season.
With the ball, Moeen Ali, Pat Brown and Wayne Parnell have also taken four wickets, with averages of 4.50, 18.00 and 21.50 respectively. Dillon Pennington has also taken three wickets for Rapids at an average of 23.33 this season.
Leus du Plooy says that the Falcons are looking to turn their positive individual performances in the Vitality Blast into results.
The batsman has scored the most runs for Derbyshire in this year’s competition, compiling 127 over his three innings at an average of 42.33, although the Falcons have picked up just one win.
Du Plooy says that it is nice to be scoring runs, but says that picking up results is the most important thing as Derbyshire look to build momentum.
“It’s good to contribute, but at the end of the day it doesn’t help if you can’t get your team over the line,” said du Plooy.
“If I am being critical, none of those innings have really got us over the line, I would like to be getting runs in a winning effort, that will be my goal in the upcoming games.
“Momentum is so important in a competition like this, if you win a few in a row you can suddenly find yourselves in the driving seat. A couple of wins this week would put us in good stead for the remaining fixtures.”
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Vitality Blast is back! Derbyshire host a hat-trick of Twenty20 matches at The Pattonair County Ground in August. Buy in advance to save. Call 01332 388 101 or buy online.
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