Derbyshire 35-3
Derbyshire trail by 377 runs
It was all very underwhelming from Derbyshire in the field today, as they were hammered to all parts by Essex.
Equally underwhelming was the first sight of Billy Stanlake. Call me old-fashioned, but I like my overseas professionals to know their run ups by that stage of their career. I fully appreciate that at 6'8 your strides are lengthy. I also acknowledge he hasn't played in England before, but he looked undercooked this morning.
As one former professional messaged me at one point, he will need to sort his length pretty quickly, as few balls endangered the stumps. By extension, two modes of dismissal are ruled out for him, which may be fine in T20, but amply illustrated his lack of four-day experience.
The wayward start seemed to disillusion the side and the body language wasn't great. It doesn't take away from some sparkling home batting, in which Lawrence shone, but there was too much poor bowling with no one exempt.
The only control was at the start of the first changes by Melton and Hudson - Prentice, but Essex were away by then. Two wickets for Stanlake in the early afternoon hinted at better, but the carnage started when Lawrence and Westley came together in a fine stand of 221.
Essex batted like it was an RLODC game, but it was all too different when our turn came. Opening with spinners Harmer and Lawrence because of the light, they quickly removed the Derbyshire openers and looked to be bowling on a different wicket. When du Plooy, badly out of touch at present, soon followed, we were in big trouble.
It was all too depressing to watch and promises to be a tough weekend.
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