Derbyshire head coach Mickey Arthur defends decision to play for the draw at Northants
Derbyshire head coach Mickey Arthur says playing for the draw at Northants was the right decision for his side.
Promotion hopefuls Northamptonshire’s hopes of pulling off an historic Championship victory over Derbyshire were denied by bad light and rain with victory looking certain.
Chasing 349, which would have been the fifth-highest successful run chase in their first-class history, Northamptonshire were 326 for six, needing 23 more in 22.2 overs
It saw Derbyshire close down the hatches as the bad weather closed in – a decision which Arthur is confident was the right one to make.
“It's kind of a bit of a hollow feeling because this morning I thought we’d bowl them out,” he said. “As the day progressed, we knew there was a bit of rain coming in, so we obviously tried then, when we felt we couldn't get over the line, to get the draw points. Not how we want to play, not how we like to play, but it was inevitable.
“When we took the second new ball our intention was to take wickets to try to win the game and we did get a couple of wickets there, but then it got really dark. We knew that we were going to come off for light if we ever got within a whiff of bowling them out, so then it was a matter of just kind of defending our lead, if you like.
“You don't play to draw, and we'll never, ever play to draw. But it's a damn sight better than losing. So, we protected our lead and did what we thought was important to us in terms of coming away with the draw points.