View on the opposition - Derbyshire Falcons
Thu 26 Jul 2018
In the sixth of a series of views on the opposition from the ECB Reporters Network, we gain some insight on Derbyshire Falcons.
T20 record: Derbyshire have never appeared at Finals Day. Last season's quarter-final was only the second time they have reached the last eight.
Last season: Second in the North Group with eight wins and 17 points from 14 games.
Captain: Gary Wilson.
Overseas Players: Wahab Riaz (Pakistan) and Lockie Ferguson (New Zealand)
Big hitter: Luis Reece hit 14 sixes in last season’s Blast but he will miss most of this summer’s tournament with a broken foot. So the Falcons will hope Calum Macleod can repeat the form he showed in his brilliant century for Scotland against England - while Wayne Madsen could again deliver batting pyrotechnics after his record-breaking run in 2017. He scored four half centuries in making 522 runs, the most for Derbyshire in the competition, and his background as a former hockey international helps him improvise strokes.
Key bowler: Wahab Riaz has an impressive pedigree and he may also have a point to prove after Pakistan omitted him from their recent tour of England. The 32-year-old left-arm paceman was the leading wicket-taker in the Pakistan Super League with 18 victims at an economy rate of 6.9 and in 167 T20 matches, he has claimed 197 wickets at an average of 21. He is available for the first 10 Blast games before leaving at the beginning of August to play in the Caribbean Premier League.
Wild card: Matt Critchley announced himself to a wider audience with a blistering 64 from 37 balls for the North against the South in Barbados earlier this year and the 21-year-old all-rounder from Wigan could be an ace in the Falcons pack. A clean striker of the ball, Critchley also has the X factor a wrist spinner brings to one-day cricket and Derbyshire will be hoping he will have benefited from playing alongside Imran Tahir in last season's tournament.
