THERE will be a recall for Billy Godleman as Derbyshire head straight from Chesterfield to the start of a LV County Championship match against Gloucestershire at Cheltenham today (11am).
Out of the Championship side since the end of April, Godleman takes the place of Paul Borrington at the top of the Derbyshire batting order.
His opening partnership with Ben Slater will be the fourth Derbyshire have used in the competition this season.
Godleman lost his place following the defeat at Worcester, the third match of the campaign, after scoring only 58 runs in five innings as he struggled to overcome an ankle problem but he has come back into better form of late.
With two unbeaten half-centuries against the Indians at Derby and a good 39 in the t20 at Northampton, the 25-year-old has made a good case for another chance and Borrington, despite an unbeaten 86 in the win at Leicester, has struggled of late.
"We have given Boz a good run in the team," said skipper Wayne Madsen.
"Billy has done well in the twos and got some runs against India as well, so he will be given a go at the top of the order to see what he can do.
"I think there is still a lot of opportunities for guys to perform and show what they can do, so it is still an important stage of the season.
"We played some good cricket against Essex this week at Chesterfield, so we are going to Cheltenham with a bit of confidence."
Godleman for Borrington is the only change to the Derbyshire line-up, which means that Wes Durston has recovered from the blow to the head he took against Essex and that Shivnarine Chanderpaul is fit, despite the knee injury he picked up in the third Test for the West Indies against New Zealand.
The players headed straight for the south-west yesterday from their t20 defeat at Queen's Park against Yorkshire, with the Vikings' Alex Lees again proving a thorn in their side with an unbeaten 67.
"That changed the game, it really did," added Madsen. "He hit the ball hard and straight and though it's not nice to be on the other end of it, it was good to watch.
"Both teams had a similar start in the first six overs but the middle period when Lees was in was probably the difference.
"We saw the wicket last week and it was more of a 140-160 pitch and we were looking in that area. We weren't really in it after they got such a big total."
