A close-knit group of youth, experience and ruthless efficiency - Derbyshire cannot be underestimated

T20 BLAST - THE ROAD TO FINALS DAY: A side with a clear-cut plan. The experienced trio of Luis Reece, Billy Godleman and Wayne Madsen have contributed 1,197 runs between them, with both Godleman and Madsen accumulating in excess of 400 each

When Kane Richardson and Billy Stanlake followed each other in withdrawing from stints as Derbyshire’s overseas player, Dominic Cork could have been forgiven for fearing the worst.

Arguably, the T20 Blast has never been in ruder health – the overseas stocks have been packed full of the game’s greatest names: AB de Villiers, Babar Azam, Glenn Maxwell, among a myriad of others.

On paper, where no game of cricket has ever been won or lost, the County Ground faithful may well have entered July with little hope.

Even in 2018, Derbyshire’s T20 roster had greater strength in depth; Lockie Ferguson, Hardus Viljoen and Wahab Riaz gave the bowling unit a veritable nudge, while the experience of Ireland’s Gary Wilson added knowhow to an inexperienced middle order and Scotland’s Calum MacLeod provided some much-needed brutality at the top.

Quite how, therefore, they have built such success in the absence of that quintet merits some serious admiration.

Luis Reece, not a part of the disappointment of last year’s T20 campaign, has shuffled in at the top of the order to tremendous effect, while the signing of Leus du Plooy has given reckless abandon to a middle order full of subtlety and imagination. Logan van Beek has plugged away, while Fynn Hudson-Prentice has proven a terrific acquisition – exactly the type of relative gamble that sneaks under the radar but merits more.

It has all resulted in a tightknit side, existing well above its perceived station. Ten men have played in at least 11 games on their journey, with eight ever-present throughout.

The consequence has been marked: a side with a clear-cut plan. The experienced trio of Reece, Billy Godleman and Wayne Madsen have contributed 1,197 runs between them, with both Godleman and Madsen accumulating in excess of 400 each.

They have laid the platform for those beneath them; only the top three have struck more maximums than du Plooy, with Matt Critchley and Alex Hughes contributing further down the order.

It is with the ball, however, where Derbyshire’s transformation has been at its most stark. The duo of Critchley and Ravi Rampaul contributed 18 wickets between them last year but have more than doubled that total this time around.

Rampaul is the competition’s top wicket-taker; his 22 wickets have come alongside an economy rate of just 6.64. Last year, his contribution came at an cost of 8.58 runs per over.

^{Matt Critchley took an outstanding catch off his own bowling as Derbyshire beat Gloucestershire to qualify for Finals Day}

If the backstory of Rampaul’s dominance is tempered by a successful international career – one that begun under the stewardship of Brian Lara, then Critchley’s has been indicative of Derbyshire’s year.

Highly thought of for some time, the 23-year-old leg-spinner has been taken at fewer than seven runs per over, adding a miserly quality to his 17 scalps.

That his batting has not reached the heights of which he is doubtless capable – he already has three first-class centuries – is a statistic that is bound to shift.

Their route to Finals Day, thus, has been a fine effort. An exercise in efficiency. From the moment that Derbyshire began their campaign by turning the tables on a star-studded Yorkshire side at Chesterfield, Godleman’s men have been a side to be reckoned with. A competent final-over chase overcame the likes of David Willey and Nicholas Pooran – a confidence-boosting occasion to shove belief into the minds of an unheralded side.

Even if a poor run followed – Derbyshire ended July with just a single win in five, there was little in the way of panic. With just 14 individuals taking part on the field throughout the entire campaign, Derbyshire have possessed nothing if not continuity.

Reece and Madsen both passed fifty in a rare televised victory against Northants, topped off by Hughes’ seven-ball 21, while the return fixture against Yorkshire saw du Plooy hammer Duane Olivier for 32 in a single over. In a sense, it was a brief encapsulation of how Derbyshire’s T20 cricket has developed under the guidance of Cork.

The former England allrounder won the competition as captain of Hampshire and, in fact, was Derbyshire’s first T20 captain when the tournament first began in 2003. His side has struck 53 sixes already this year – 12 more than in the entirety of their 2018 campaign.

It represents a fearlessness that, perhaps, had begun to wane as Derbyshire’s struggles in the competition became an annual inevitability. By the time Finals Day arrives, it will have been 5,940 days since the county’s bow in the competition – a heavy defeat at Yorkshire.

Their quarter-final display – a convincing destruction of Gloucestershire – was a performance to open eyes. Gloucestershire skipper Michael Klinger described Derbyshire’s win as “one of the best fielding displays I have seen by an opposition team”.

It all means that Godleman’s team will arrive at Edgbaston full of confidence – a force to be reckoned with, even if others come armed with greater profile, bigger followings, better records.

Essex won’t be taking them for granted; Ravi Bopara told The Cricketer: “I think they’re a very clever side. You’re not a bad side if you get to Finals Day – you’re a very good cricket team.”

That, Derbyshire are. Victory on Saturday would solidify that – the first time Derbyshire have reached the final four of any competition since the 2003 C&G Trophy.

They have a one in four chance.

RESULTS

July 20: Yorkshire (h) - won by 5 wickets

July 24: Birmingham (a) - lost by 49 runs

July 26: Notts (h) - lost by 26 runs

July 28: Lancashire (h) - match abandoned

July 31:  Worcestershire (a) - lost by 2 wickets

August 2: Northants (a) - won by 6 wickets

August 9: Durham (h) - lost by 7 runs

August 11: Yorkshire (a) - won by 55 runs 

August 13: Worcestershire (h) - won by 20 runs

August 15: Leicestershire (h) - lost by 55 runs

August 16: Nottinghamshire (a) - match abandoned

August 23: Northants (h) - won by 9 wickets

August 25: Leicestershire (a) - won by 9 wickets

August 26: Lancashire (a) - won by 11 runs

September 7, quarter-final: Gloucestershire (a) - won by 7 wickets

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