Derbyshire vs Durham, VITALITY T20 BLAST 2020, Today Match Prediction 02 Sep 2020

derby vs dur Match Prediction & Analysis

This match is extremely crucial for both the teams in order to keep their chances alive this season hence the encounter is expected to be fierce with no team making any room for errors.  While Durham have struggled and looked clueless this season, they have had some promising individual performances specially from their opening batsman Alex Lees.

They need to click as a team if they wish to win. Ben Stokes’ unavailability has proven to be fatal for Durham. On the other hand, Derbyshire will be a little more confident as they seemed well on track and lost their most recent game in a last over thriller against Lancashire with a margin of mere 4 runs.

Both teams have struggled with their bowling having their bowlers concede a lot of runs, hence it is safe to say that the team that will be more economical with their bowling will have a fair chance at winning the contest.

TEAMS PREVIEW

Derbyshire Preview

The only positive thing to happen for Durham is opener Alex Lees’ consistent form who is also their highest run-getter with two half centuries so far. Things haven’t looked too good for the camp otherwise with their bowlers leaking runs and getting brutally tortured by the opposing batsmen. Two centuries have been hit against Durham’s bowling attack in their three matches with them conceding almost 50 runs in the last 5 overs in every match that they played.

Other than Lees, only Graham Clark has showed some promise with the bat scoring 60 runs against Nottinghamshire. Brydon Carse has proven to be useful with the bat having scored two 30+ scores. If Durham wants to win this encounter its important for its middle order to step up and score big runs. The bowling has a lot of concerns and it is important for Rimmington to lead by example and bowl tightly in the death overs.

Mark Wood and Matty Potts need to make good use of the new ball and take some early wickets in the powerplay to unsettle Derbyshire.  If Durham wants to win this encounter, the key players have to step up and fill the loopholes in the team. As the match is in Emirates Riverside, Durham need to bank on the advantage of playing at home.

Derbyshire Predicted Playing XI:

Alex Lees, Scott Steel, David Bedingham, Graham Clark, Sean Dickinson, Stuart Poynter(wk), Brydon Carse, Paul Coughlin, Liam Trevaskis, Matty Potts, Nathan Rimmington (c)

Durham Preview

Having their first game washed away, Derbyshire had a horrendous start to their campaign when they lost to Yorkshire by a huge margin of 99 runs.It was a mad run-fest for the Yorkshire batsmen and the only bowler to have his economy in single digit was Matt McKiernan who finished with figures of 2/22 in 3 overs. It sure was a night to forget for the Derbyshire camp.

However, in their third game they somewhat made a comeback but ended up as the losing side in a final over thriller against Lancashire. The batting looked way more stable as compared to the shameful collapse in their 99-run defeat with important contributions from Reece, Madsen, Plooy and Critchley but the bowling once again was shaky and left a lot of questions for the side to answer.

The side has had hardly any positives to take home in their campaign so far and in a pitch that favours batting, especially in the first half, the bowling could raise a lot of concerns if Durham were to bat first.

Durham Predicted Playing XI:

Matt McKiernan, Billy Godleman (c), Luis Reece, Wayne Madsen, Leus du Plooy, Matthew Critchley, Alex Hughes, Anuj Dal, Harvey Hosein, Edward Barnes, Samuel Conners

PITCH AND WEATHER CONDITIONS

Weather Conditions

The forecast for the match day is not very encouraging with 65% chances of precipitation. It will mostly be a cloudy and an overcast day. As for the pitch, Emirates Riverside is a moderately high scoring ground with average first innings score in T20Is being 163 and highest score here being 195/5. The team batting first here had more advantage than the team batting second in the past. The overcast conditions suggest that the pitch will favour the swing bowlers.

Venue Details

The Emirates Riverside is an international stadium set up in 1995, home to Durham County Club with Finchale end and Lumley end. It hosted two world cup matches in 1999 and rose to test status in 2003 when England faced Zimbabwe making it the first new test venue since 1902. The capacity of this stadium is 17000 for international matches.

Toss: To Bat

Both the teams have struggled chasing in the tournament. Also, keeping the weather conditions (that suggest the possibility of rain) in mind it is only fair to assume that the team winning the toss will most likely bat first. Teams batting first have won more matches at the Emirates Riverside in the past.