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Gloucestershire v Derbyshire Falcons in depth

3 September 2019

Saturday’s quarterfinal match up between Gloucestershire and Derbyshire will be the first T20 match between the two sides since the inception of T20 competition in England.

Gloucestershire advanced to the quarterfinal after what was a much more comfortable run in than one might have expected. The Shire won six of their final eight games incuding impressive victories over Somerset, Kent and Sussex who at the time of playing where all in the top four and in contention to qualify themselves.

Derbyshire were one of the first teams to secure their place in the knockout stage having completed all of their group matches early to facilitate a three-day Tourist Match against Australia. The Falcons found form near the end of the group stages to qualify having only won one of their first five games. Their last three victories came against seventh placed Nortamptonshire, ninth placed Leicestershire and Lancashire who had already secured a home quarterfinal.

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A look at the teams

Gloucestershire

Michael Klinger walking out to bat vs Somerset

Gloucestershire are one of if not the most well rounded T20 teams with contributions coming from a number of players helping ease the pressure on their stars.

Captain Michael Klinger has top scored for the Club with 356 runs, a handful of brilliant batting performances silencing early season doubters after what he admitted was not the best of starts. His single best performance coming away to Kent in a crucial came that sealed a quarterfinal spot for Gloucestershire. He made an unbeaten 102 that included nine 4’s and four 6’s.

Miles Hammond, James Bracey and Ian Cockbain  have all contributed more than 200 runs while Jack Taylor and Ryan Higgins are not far off the same total despite usually batting at five and six. AJ Tye and Graeme van Buuren have proved to be valuable further down the batting order with important knocks coming from both away at Glamorgan and Sussex.

David Payne leads the team in wickets taken with 16 to his name, seventh highest among players in the eight remaining teams. AJ Tye has averaged over one wicket per game while Chris Liddle has been on fire when called upon, averaging a wicket every two overs.

Derbyshire Falcons

Billy Godleman batting for Derbyshire Falcons

The Falcons success has been heavily reliant on captain Billy Godleman and Wayne Madsen making runs. Both players have topped 400 runs in this year’s competition, contributing to just under 50% of the team’s total runs.

In two of their last three matches, the second wicket pair finished the match not out and in the other against Lancashire, they both made half-centuries. Derbyshire have lost each match in which neither man has made 50, a telling fact. Opening batsman Luis Reece and number four Leus du Plooy have chipped in with 200-plus runs each but beyond that, they have struggled to find runs.

The same can be said about their bowling attack which has been lead by former West Indies bowler Ravi Rampaul who has a competition high 21 wickets.

Matt Critchley has shown he can take wickets in bunches which has helped him reach 15 for the tournament. Derbyshire generally use six bowlers a game and utilise a variation consistently as seven players have bowled more than 20 overs this year.

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T20 History

Hamish Marshall batting in the 2007 Twenty20 Cup Final

In the history of the competition, Gloucestershire have been the more successful of the two Clubs having reached the knockout stage on six occasions compared to Derbyshire’s two.

Gloucestershire’s best run in the competition came in the 2007 season when they reached the final after beating Worcestershire at home and Lancashire away before losing out to Kent who won their first T20 title.

In 2017, Derbyshire reached the quarterfinal for the first time since 2005 after finishing second in the North Group. Despite their positive group stage performances, they were dismantled by Shahid Afridi’s Hampshire in a 101-run loss in the quarterfinal.

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