Stylish Middlesex dodge wind and rain to achieve yet another 10-wicket win

Middlesex 121/0 (18.4) beat Derbyshire 124/6 (39.3) by 10 wickets (DLS method)

“When the clouds shake their hyssops, and the rain

Like holy water falls upon the plain,'

Tis sweet to gaze upon the springing grain

And see your harvest born.” 

(A rainy day in April, Francis Ledwidge (1887-1917))

The early season chill was as evident as ever beneath the slate grey skies of Derbyshire’s County Ground. A brisk breeze added bite to the cool, damp morning and sent endless sooty cumulonimbus scuttering across the panorama from the soulless Travelodge, over the squat, red brick Boundary Bar, towards the wooden-clad Élite Performance Centre.

Élite performance has been somewhat lacking from Derbyshire’s women’s cricket team since the formation of the new county system twelve months ago. Nine defeats out of nine in last year’s Metro Bank One Day Cup was a chastening experience for the Falcons, as better resourced teams often with a revolving door of Tier One loan players, put them to the sword week after week.

Could 2026 be different for them? Their first opponents were the mighty Middlesex, who last year won all nine of their Metro Bank games, in fact seven of those nine with a bonus point. It seemed a highly improbable challenge for the team from the Peak District.

Derbyshire won the toss and decided to bat. A brave and positive move from Adrianna Darlow on such a cold, damp morning. The Middlesex players are an energetic and nimble fielding side, diving hither and thither to prevent singles, to cut off boundaries and to turn twos into ones.

This, together with some tight and accurate bowling, especially from the metronomic medium pace of Lauren Turner and the beguiling leg spin of Hannah Davis, restricted Derbyshire to no more than three runs per over until the rain came in the 40^th over, with Derbyshire on 124/6. 

Lauren Kenvyn, from Staffordshire, was the pick of the batters, sending the ball to the boundary five times in her decent innings of 35 from 61 balls before she was deceived by Saskia Horley’s quicker ball, which skidded and fizzed into her leg stump. 

Rebecca Duckworth, who will play this season for Derbyshire when not needed by Yorkshire in Division 1, scored a painstaking 3 from 22, whilst Ella Porter used up almost ten overs of dot balls to accumulate her 18 runs from 72. These innings illustrated that the most pressing agenda for Derbyshire in this game was to bat out their full allocation, playing low risk, low reward cricket. It did not get anyone’s pulse racing.

Play restarted at 4.10pm, after a three-hour delay. Middlesex were set a target of 119 in 26 overs. Opening for Middlesex were Riva Pindoria, only 19 years old and recently selected for the South Asian Cricket Academy and Abbie Whybrow, the former Cheltenham Ladies’ College and Durham University student, who scored a century at Lord’s Nursery Gound three years ago in the Women’s Club T20 Final.

Both batted like seasoned professionals, starting cautiously and then accelerating through the gears after the tenth over. The impressive and powerful Whybrow reached her 50 with a delightful drive through mid-off, and it was no surprise to see her despatch Ria Fackrell over mid on for her 10^th four of the innings to bring Middlesex up to the required total of 119 with over seven overs to spare.

For Middlesex it was another demolition of their opposition by ten wickets, with stand out performances by Hannah Davis and Lauren Turner with the ball and the very impressive Abbie Whybrow with the bat.

For Derbyshire, a chilling reminder of the toils of last season, but not without some hope. Lauren Kenvyn had a decent match with both bat and ball. And one suspects that Rebecca Duckworth and Ria Fackrell will strengthen this team with runs, wickets and experience.