County Championship: Preview of Kent vs Derbyshire

Derbyshire take on Kent in the County Championship

After the disappointment of Friday, Derbyshire return to what has more recently been their best form of the game tomorrow, with a trip down to the 'garden of England' to play Kent.

The game sees a recall for three senior players, Wes Durston, Wayne White and Tom Poynton. With all three fully fit, it is a sensible and understandable move, as it takes some of the young lads out of the firing line.

The squad:

Billy Godleman

Ben Slater

Chesney Hughes

Tillakaratne Dilshan

Wes Durston

Scott Elstone

Shiv Thakor

Tom Poynton

Wayne White

Tony Palladino

Tom Taylor

Mark Footitt

For me, either one of the seamers or Scott Elstone drops out, the latter perhaps more likely to do so after a poor run of scores. When he gets going, Scott is a lovely batsman to watch, as well as a brilliant fielder and useful bowler. The feeling remains that he is vulnerable early, however, and perhaps prone to 'go after' the ball in his quest to get going.

Three youngsters drop out, but all can do so with heads held high. Ben Cotton looks much improved and has bowled delightfully in T20 while Harvey Hosein has done well behind the stumps. It is the right time to give him a breather, however. His time will come again.

Matt Critchley also drops out and the spin department is one of my two concerns at present. With Wainwright out of sorts, Knight short of bowling and Critchley light on experience, we're down to Wes and Tillakaratne for spin and later season pitches could be an issue when it starts to turn. The back supports he tightened in the match against Lancashire suggested Chesney's back is a problem, so I don't see him bowling sometime soon.

Critchley has a big future, but his bowling needs a lot of work at this level. Then again, how many finished articles do you see as spinners at that age? His batting has been excellent though and he will be back.

As someone commented last night, we are missing experience in the middle order, especially in the T20. You look at other counties and they have overseas all-rounders coming in at five or six, or players of experience. The return of Durston will help, but we don't look like we have middle/lower order runs aplenty at this stage. Mind you, a few in the middle of the bat works wonders for a player, just like a Double Diamond used to do...

Kent have lost Sam Billings to England but field a deep batting side, even if the bowling looks a little on the light side. Their squad:

Sam Northeast (c), Daniel Bell-Drummond, Joe Denly, Rob Key, Ben Harmison, Fabian Cowdrey, Darren Stevens, Ryan Davies (w), Calum Haggett, Matt Coles, Ivan Thomas, Adam Riley

They are the sort of team that we have the talent to beat and I'd like to think that the return of some good, experienced cricketers will make a difference for us. With the weather set fair, it is a game we can win.

Just as long as we're not caught on a spinning track on the last day...