DER vs LAN 1st Match - North Group Prediction

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Derbyshire

Derbyshire made a good start to their Vitality Blast campaign last year registering a couple of wins and a single loss from their first 3 matches. But they lost their next 3 games to find themselves short of their target of reaching the last four stages of the competition. But unlike their opponents in this game, Derbyshire succeeded in winning 7 out of their remaining fixtures in the league stages. This meant they set a quarterfinal clash with Somerset. They lost this by a massive margin of 191 runs.

However, the Derbyshire team is entering this game on the back of a decent season last year. They ended the group stages of the competition on level points with the Lancashire outfit. During the season, they went on an impressive run of 7 victories from 8 matches that confirmed their position in the knockout stages. After a heavy defeat against Somerset in the quarterfinals their season was over and done with. They had to chase a massive total of 265 runs in this game. This pressure was too much as they crashed to 74 all out.

One of the top batters in the competition for Derbyshire is likely to be Wayne Madsen. Although their season ended on a low note, Wayne Madsen played well even in that game. He was one of the more consistent batters for Derbyshire during the last season as he ended the year scoring 498 runs with an average of 38.31. He hit one hundred and 2 fifties during the season and scored runs at an average of 164.90. the top bowler for Derbyshire last year was George Scrimshaw who picked up 23 scalps. He did pick up 4 wickets against Lancashire in the couple of games against them although he was a bit expensive in the process.

Lancashire

Lancashire made a great start to their campaign last year by winning 6 out of their last 7 games. The opening match they played against Yorkshire was one of the better games played in the competition and it ended in a tie. After this wonderful start to their campaign, they were expected to move on with the momentum and provide a great finish to their campaign. But they managed just a couple of wins in their last 7 games. This allowed them to finish in a second spot on the points table together with Derbyshire.

Although they had to endure a disappointing end to their campaign in the league stages, they succeeded in putting behind the series of losses to beat Essex first and Yorkshire next en route to the final of the competition. Hawks set a target of 152 runs in the finals. Lancashire required 11 runs from the last over and they had a couple of new batters to the crease. The Hawks bowler Nathan Ellis managed to hold onto his nerves to bowl an excellent last over and the Hawks registered a famous win. The loss was nerve-wracking for Lancashire as this match was well within their reach but they fell short by a whisker.

Lancashire had a terrific campaign last year as they ended up in 2nd position on the points table with 8 victories from 14 matches. They entered the finals by registering back-to-back wins over Essex and Yorkshire. However, they lost the final to Hampshire when they could chase a modest total of 152 runs. Steven Croft had a terrific campaign last year. He takes a bit of time for settling down and it was observed that he failed to convert the starts into big scores. He also did well against Derbyshire last season.