Cork pleased with effort

Dominic Cork was pleased with Derbyshire’s willingness to battle in the win over Leicestershire Foxes, and hopes it sets the tone for the final two Vitality Blast fixtures.

The Falcons have struggled in the shorter format this season, with the victory at the Fischer County Ground their first in the competition.

Despite having the challenge of defending their total of 147, Derbyshire fought back from the hosts’ strong start to win with the final ball of the match.

Twenty20 Head Coach, Cork, was delighted with the way the side ground out the result, and wants to see similar effort in their remaining fixtures against Notts Outlaws and Yorkshire Vikings.

“I think we’ve seen a Derbyshire side that now knows how to fight,” Cork told BBC Radio Derby.

“I’m a big believer as a coach, that no matter the situation, you fight until the end and perhaps we’ve lacked that killer attitude we had last season, so (the win at Leicestershire) is really good for the fans to see.

“For me, it’s simple, in the last two matches, can we put the batting and bowling together? Our fielding has let us down at times, but against Leicestershire it was better, if we can put all three facets together, there’s not a lot of teams we won’t give a game.

“That’s what I want to see from the Derbyshire side in the next couple of games, and hopefully we get that.”

This season, Derbyshire have mostly relied on a young bowling attack, with the likes of Michael Cohen, Dustin Melton and Sam Conners making Vitality Blast debuts in 2020.

Cork believes that they will have benefitted from regularly facing more experienced players, and hopes it will have a positive effect on their development.

“I’m really chuffed for the guys,” he added.

“I think everybody knows that we have a pretty inexperienced bowling attack and the way that they fought their way through, it could be a springboard not just for the next couple of games, but going into next season.

“These are young guys that are learning quite a tricky form of the game, in Twenty20, they’re coming up against experienced players and I’m delighted for the team and delighted for the fans, I know they can’t be there but I’m sure after last year, they were desperate for us to get a win, and hopefully we can take that confidence into the next couple of games.”

Vitality Blast is back! Derbyshire Falcons return to Twenty20. Follow every game live on our match centre at derbyshireccc.com. Derbyshire Falcons: Underestimated No More.