Oh what a night! Now Cork wants to back it up
WHEN cricket does finally get under way this summer, Derbyshire will no longer be regarded as the nearly men of T20 cricket.
Up until last September, Derbyshire was the only county never to have reached Finals Day at Edgbaston and had only ever emerged from the group stages twice.
But, on a Saturday evening in Bristol, the Falcons erased the bitter memory of a chastening defeat to Hampshire in 2017 by beating a strongly-fancied Gloucestershire side by seven wickets.
Supporters can again savour the victory on Friday when Derbyshire are streaming the Vitality Blast quarter-final on the club’s website from 7pm.
And, ahead of that, T20 head coach Dominic Cork looked back on a night to remember.
“It was a massive game because since I’ve been back, we’d been involved in one quarterfinal and unfortunately, whether it was down to nerves or being outplayed by Hampshire or not executing plans, we didn’t go through,” he said.
“So it was important because a lot of people would have looked at us and, maybe, teams in the quarter-finals mix-up would have wanted us with our record, so the one thing I tried to take away from the guys was stop worrying about whether we’ve ever done it before, just go out and don’t have any fear.
“After the first two overs, there was one little misfield in front of a big Gloucestershire crowd and you just thought then as a coach, would that affect us, would that give us more trepidation?
“But what impressed me throughout the game was how they stopped worrying about little things that may go wrong and instead thought about how we played good cricket to get here.”
The team had already displayed character in the way it responded to adversity in the group stages, which gave Cork a good feeling going into the match.
“I think after the two mishaps, the Leicestershire and Durham games both at home, where we let situations get to us, it was the way we bounced back from that,” he said.
“When I saw what we did at Leicester, which is never an easy place to play, and then went to
Lancashire and played against that sort of team and dominated them, I suppose deep down you think this could be the time.
“As a coach and a player, I’m always positive so I was quietly confident but we were always underdogs because we hadn’t reached Finals Day, although I could tell that inwardly the side was confident, I could see it.
“I think five overs into our chase, that’s when I knew because I just sensed a calmness and a determination. So I was confident once we got ourselves over that first six overs that we were in a position to go on an win it.”
Gloucestershire had started well but the discipline Derbyshire showed in the field throughout the tournament gave them control they never relinquished.
Cork said: “Even though they got off to a good start, the one thing we did in that middle period was we dominated. We took some good catches and the energy we showed made it for me our best fielding performance.
“From start to finish, we looked hungry and ready.
“It wasn’t just down to one person, it was a really solid team performance.”
The formats and schedule for when the season starts on August 1 have yet to be announced but Cork wants to build on that momentous night in Bristol.
“That’s the carrot now, whatever happens this year, can we do it again, can we back that up? Hopefully, it’s a springboard.”