Derbyshire v India practice match - Sides to compete for Royal Crown Derby Trophy on final day

Ben Cotton celebrates after taking the wicket of Virat Kohli on 2nd day of the 3-day practice match between India and Derbyshire

?It must have been another entertaining day at the 3AAA County Ground yesterday, with enough of the Indian batting line up getting going to entertain the crowd, while a young Derbyshire attack stuck to their guns well and maintained discipline throughout the day.

Star turn was Ben Cotton (pictured), whose first eleven overs went for only eight runs while he took two wickets. By any standards that is exceptional bowling, but is remarkable for a bowler in his first senior outing at the age of just 20. It would be unwise to pass early judgement on a young bowler, but he can be very proud of his first day in the senior side and the wickets of Dhawan and Kohli. As scalps go, they don't come much better than those two.

Cheteshwar Pujara and Stuart Binny took the opportunity to make good unbeaten scores and the crowd will have enjoyed the sight of both MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli, even if they'd have liked to see more of them. Yet Greg Cork and Matt Higginbottom also stuck well to their task and joined Cotton in producing disciplined bowling that will have pleased Graeme Welch.

Today sees the two sides bat for 45 overs each and a tweet from the club site said that the sides will be playing for the Royal Crown Derby Trophy. I'd reckon the odds will be very long on Derbyshire winning that one, given our one-day form this summer and the fact that we're up against what is probably the best short-form batting line-up in the world.

Derbyshire & India will be playing for this tomorrow; @RoyalCrownDerby Trophy. Each team to bat 45 overs #DERvIND pic.twitter.com/ZDQ4VcvkfC

— Derbyshire CCC (@DerbyshireCCC) July 2, 2014

Yet it is all about experience and if the young Derbyshire players can continue the positive impression that they have made during this game, Graeme Welch will have few complaints.

As it is, I reckon he's got just about as much out of this game as our visitors.