Yorkshire CCC in seventh hell as curse continues

The club had lost its last six games at the Queen’s Park ground in T20 cricket.

Make that seven as Derbyshire prevailed by seven wickets, consigning Yorkshire to a sixth defeat in 10 group matches, a potentially fatal blow to their hopes of reaching the knockouts.

Sent into bat, Yorkshire stuttered to 130-9 from their 20 overs, actually a recovery from the wretched state in which they found themselves at 21-5.

Donovan Ferreira led the way with 44, Matty Revis chipping in with 30 and Jordan Thompson with 23, the only batsmen to reach double figures as spinner Alex Thomson took 3-26.

Derbyshire made light work of the chase, racing home with five overs left before a crowd of 5,200.

David Lloyd (50 from 32) and Wayne Madsen (30 not out from 33) shared 76 in 10 overs for the third wicket before Thompson yorked Lloyd five runs from home.

On another cold day for the time of year, rain delayed the start by 30 minutes.

That meant another half-hour of perhaps the loudest PA system heard on a cricket ground, one that blurted out a barrage of Z-list pop tunes to the point where one wanted to rip out the wiring and draft a letter of complaint to Chesterfield Borough Council.

The positioning of a speaker directly in front of the press marquee did not help, the speaker a tad too close to the watching stewards, alas, to surreptitiously spill coffee into it, one tactic that occurred.

It was a relief when the match finally got going and the music was at least confined to sporadic bursts for such as boundaries and wickets, Geoff Miller, the former Derbyshire and England all-rounder, having rung the five-minute bell beforehand - presumably only to himself given the prevailing racket.

After an uneventful first over by Mohammad Amir that cost five runs, an over inappropriately and absurdly described by the matchday announcer as “a brilliant first over”, that superlative more accurately represented the second over from Thomson.

It was an over that brought three wickets - Dawid Malan lobbing the first ball to point, Adam Lyth slapping the fifth to cover and Shan Masood walking past the final delivery to be stumped.

When Amir then trapped James Wharton lbw with an inswinging yorker, Yorkshire were 10-4 after 2.2 overs, ‘The Curse of Chesterfield’ in full and sinister swing.

It should have been 19-5 in the fifth when Ferreira sent an attempted pull off Zak Chappell to short third-man, Llloyd spilling a chance that should have been taken at this level.

Chappell showed how it should be done in the next over when he nonchalantly plucked the ball out of the sky, one-handed at point, when George Hill sliced a delivery from Samit Patel, Yorkshire stumbling to 26-5 at the end of the powerplay.

As Puffin’ Billy tooted mockingly in the background, the miniature train that circles the Queen’s Park lake, Yorkshire’s lowest T20 total, the 68 that they mustered on this ground only last year, looked under threat.

But you don’t give chances to players like Ferreira and not pay some sort of price, the South African leading a mini revival that had lifted Yorkshire to 79-6 when he fell to the opening ball of the 14th over, slicing Luis Reece low to Madsen at backward-point.

It was a tame end to a dynamic innings, Ferreira making his runs from 32 balls with six fours and a six over mid-wicket off Thomson.

Revis played a useful hand, adding 58 with Ferreira before he was seventh out, pulling Amir to Madsen at backward square-leg. Dom Bess pulled a huge six off Chappell before skying the same man straight up in the air, Reece judging the catch, and Thompson thumped two sixes in his short stay before slicing Pat Brown to give Reece another catch at short third in the final over.

Yorkshire’s display was rather summed up when Dan Moriarty threw the kitchen sink at Brown’s last delivery, the bat flying out of his hands towards square leg.

If Yorkshire were to win, pretty much every opportunity had to stick.

Masood grassed one in the opening over, failing with a leaping attempt at mid-off when Aneurin Donald got under a Bess full toss.

Bess was the catcher when Donald skied Revis to mid-on, which left Derbyshire 34-1 in the third, which became 50-2 in the fourth when fellow opener Reece lofted Ben Cliff to mid-off, Masood this time safely pouching the chance.

Derbyshire were more than halfway to their target at 68-2 at the end of the powerplay, “The Curse of Chesterfield” showing no sign of lifting.