Cricket: Morris hoping Derbyshire batsmen can hit back

JOHN Morris (left) felt Leicestershire were let off the hook on a tough return to Championship cricket for Derbyshire yesterday.

The away side recovered from 25-2 to finish the day on 341-5 at the County Ground and the head of cricket put that down to inconsistent bowling from his players on a day when the ball swung a lot.

"It's plainly evident we haven't bowled well enough," said Morris.

"It swung around all day and we haven't bowled it in consistent areas.

"When the ball's moving around for you it's about having the control to put it in the right areas on a regular basis and we haven't done that.

"We had a sniff at 116-4 and had them on the back foot and we haven't capitalised.

"We dropped a couple or three chances that cost us as well, so it's probably not been one of our better days."

The onus is now on the Derbyshire batsmen to make good use of what appears to be a good batting wicket but Morris had no regrets in deciding to bowl first after winning the toss.

"I have no doubt it was the right decision to bowl first in the conditions and it's disappointing when you make the in-roads and then don't bowl well enough to cause the later batsmen problems," he added. "There's a lot of cricket to be played in this game and if we bat well first innings, we're back in it."