Pre-Match Pack: India

Derbyshire Falcons have named a 16-man squad for tomorrow’s Aston Lark Tour Fixture against India at The Incora County Ground. 

Having won six of their last seven white ball matches, the Falcons now face the number one-ranked T20 side on the planet in front of a packed crowd at Derby.

New overseas signing, Hilton Cartwright, could make his Derbyshire debut, while Shan Masood and Wayne Madsen will be aiming to continue their impressive recent form.

Seamer Ben Aitchison is named in the squad, he featured as 12th man for the first time this season at Sussex, as he continues his recovery from a spinal bone injury.

Derbyshire Squad: 

94. Shan Masood (c)
10. Luis Reece
4. Harry Came
76. Leus du Plooy
77. Wayne Madsen
29. Brooke Guest (wk)
21. Mattie McKiernan
65. Anuj Dal
18. Alex Hughes
15. Alex Thomson
50. Hayden Kerr
59. Sam Conners
51. Mark Watt
9. George Scrimshaw
11. Ben Aitchison
35. Hilton Cartwright

The Opposition 

India arrive at The Incora County Ground on the back of a 2-0 series win over Ireland, in which a number of young stars shone. 

Deepak Hooda enjoyed two fine knocks, scoring an unbeaten 47 a reduced-overs first T20, before striking 104 from just 57 balls in the second match to set up a dramatic four-run win for his side.

With the ball, promising IPL quick, Umran Malik and the experienced Bhuvneshwar Kumar are expected to lead the attack, with the likes of Axar Patel and Hardik Pandya also testing the Falcons with the ball.

Pre-Match Talk

Mickey Arthur says learning to play under pressure and will risk is crucial to the development of Derbyshire’s squad, after their LV= County Championship defeat to Sussex. 

Having bowled the hosts out for 337 in the first innings, Derbyshire opted not to enforce the follow-on, with the aim of piling on runs in the final session of Day Three to set up a testing chase.

However, the loss of seven wickets for 127, coupled with rain on the final morning eating into the day, saw Derbyshire declare and set Sussex a target of 342 to win.

Despite the disappointment of the defeat, Arthur says the squad will learn from the experience as they look towards the second half of the season.

“I think one bad session can cost you dearly in first-class cricket, so it was disappointing with the bat yesterday.

“I’ve always said that we will risk a loss to get a win, because that’s how you produce cricketers and a team, that’s how you create a culture. It didn’t work out for us today, but I’m proud of the players and I can’t fault their effort, we’ve played some very good cricket again, but for one bad session.

“The lead was significant, but you want your bowlers to have a rest, a couple of them have niggles so we didn’t want to push them straight back out there. One good session of batting would have given us 85-90 overs at them with more than 380. We didn’t bat well enough and it made the chase shorter than we’d have liked.

The brand of cricket we will continue to play is to win rather than draw.  When I arrived, I said I wanted us to be a team which is hard to beat, we’ve passed that stage now. The next stage in our evolution is to put ourselves under pressure to win games.

“It’s worked well for us so far, if we won today we’d be pushing for second, but we’re in the middle of the table with six games to go and that’s reflective of the cricket we’ve played.

“The attitude and consistency we’ve shown in our white ball cricket is because of the standards we’ve set, and we’re always looking for that victory.”

Buy Match Tickets

Tickets are still on sale for Derbyshire Falcons’ Vitality Blast fixture against India, with supporters urged to buy in advance to get the best possible price and avoid queues.

Tickets are selling fast, so buy now to avoid disappointment and cheer on the Falcons this summer!

How to follow

Derbyshire’s Vitality Blast fixture against India will be covered live on the Club website, through our improved Match Centre, delivered in partnership with Purpose Media.

Updates will also be provides via our social media channels, so make sure you’re following us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, so you never miss a moment of the action.

Vitality Blast 2022 – Tickets on sale now!

Tickets for Derbyshire’s final Vitality Blast North Group fixture against Durham on Sunday 3 July (2.30pm) at The Incora County Ground are on sale now.

Buy now to guarantee your ticket and save over 20%