Ey up,

There are subtle differences between Derbyshire and Holland that the experienced traveller will soon pick up on. For a start you can still smoke in Dutch cafes and restaurants – a nod of the hat to a more civilised era that I happily took full advantage of over the previous weekend.  For another, the journey back from Chesterfield today seemed much longer than the twelve hour ferry ride from Zeebrugge we faced the previous Sunday, as for me that crossing passed by in a blur of giggles and extreme craving for Monster Munch.  Although to balance that out, at least today’s trip didn’t end in interrogation from Mrs Len over why I’d returned home with a t-shirt proclaiming, ‘Tatiana danced round my pole’. I can’t for the life of me remember buying that or understand quite why the customs dogs at Hull ferry terminal took such an intense interest in my old brier. I wonder if some of the Dutch tobacco my granddaughter Jocasta recommended I try on the trip, contained aniseed?

Thankfully nothing was sniffing round my pouch today; although you can never be too sure at Chesterfield, as at times the outer reaches of county cricket can attract some oddments of humanity that would have Darwin re-examining his working out in the margin.

Instead a brilliant near run-a-ball century from Jacques Rudolph once again proved that Yorkshire can ill afford him to be the missing link in their batting line-up next season. That, sadly, is a possibility, with suggestions that the South African selectors have him in mind for an international recall. This is a disappointment for two reasons. Firstly, it’d mean an end to his Kolpak status, and possibly his career with us, and secondly that would mean losing a player without being able to blame it on either England or our own piss-poor man-management.

I can’t remember when that last happened – a player leaving on good terms, after several seasons of top performances for us. If it happens now we should really find a way to commemorate his time with the club. Given our current financial situation a framed Costcutter gift voucher would seem appropriate, although he’d have to promise not to cash it in until the new Pavillion’s paid for. In practical terms that probably means one day Jacques grandkids will get a free shop if they come to Yorkshire on holiday…

Anywho, I almost forgot, we won the game today. That means seven wins out of eight but still an excellent chance that just one more defeat could see us fail to quality from the group, thanks to the CB40 competition missing out on quarter-finals this year and going straight to semi’s.

Something we most definitely can blame the ECB for…

Si’thee later,

Len

Result: Yorkshire won by 8 runs

My Man of the Match: Jacques Rudolph

[Scorecard]