Houghton looks for swift lift
Source -
thisisderbyshire.co.uk
Beating Lancashire was nothing to get carried away with for Derbyshire as they get ready for their second group game in the Twenty20 Cup.
The Phantom got their campaign off to the ideal start by winning against the favourites to lift the trophy at the County Ground on Tuesday.
But with 2004 winners Leicestershire the next opponents at home tonight (7pm), director of cricket David Houghton wants to see his Derbyshire players lift their game even more.
"It was a very good win for us against Lancashire but it is important that we didn't put all the effort into that one game," he said.
"We need to win a minimum of five out of our eight matches to go through to the quarter-finals and Leicester are a good side. They have been to the finals before and we have not.
"This is a tough group and we have to play above ourselves every time we go out there but this team is pretty focused on success in this competition and we see it as a genuine chance to win a trophy."
The victory against Lancashire was achieved with a performance that went almost exactly to plan for Houghton but there are still areas he says left room for improvement.
"I thought we did bowl particularly well but at times we were a bit predictable in the way we bowled and needed to mix it up a bit more," he added.
"I was also a bit disappointed that having won the game by the 16th over we dragged it out and lost three wickets stupidly to leave it as a bit of a twitcher in the final over.
"The last 10 minutes of cricket was not clever.
"You have to play with a lot of passion and desire in this competition but you also have to play with your heads.
"Having said that, I was very happy overall and our commitment in the field was superb again.
"It went 95 per cent exactly as we had talked about before the game but that doesn't stop us looking to improve that other five per cent."
T20, Twenty20 and Twenty20 Cup are registered trade marks of the England and Wales Cricket Board Limited (the “ECB”).
Products and services on this website are not offered in connection with, or with the endorsement of the ECB
