Houghton upbeat

Given that Derbyshire reached the halfway stage in the season without a Championship win and have carried a long list of walking wounded, it would be understandable if an air of doom and gloom was descending over the Racecourse Ground.

But Dave Houghton, the coach, is as upbeat as anyone on the circuit saying: "Just before the break for the Twenty20 Cup we were having our best spell. The injuries have started to clear up and, although it was a shame we lost Chris Rogers, the other batsmen have performed with a lot of resolution. The guys played some decent cricket towards the end of the first half of the Championship and, if they keep doing that, the results will come."

There are no plans to replace Rogers, the Australian, but Houghton adds: "If we look like being in contention for promotion in either the Championship or the totesport League we might consider bringing someone in and that will be a nice option to have. We've got enough batsmen to get through and there's still a lot of cricket to be played."

Of the long-suffering bowlers only Kevin Dean was injured, but he was not expected to figure much in the short form of the game. The prospect of being in the money come September is not that remote with only 48 points separating six teams in Division Two.