KARL Krikken's call to the barricades was meant to be heard by all but appeared to be heeded by only a few.
Wayne Madsen's willingness to roll up his sleeves and scrap has never been in doubt and the skipper did all he could to lead from the front with a century yesterday against Yorkshire at Chesterfield.
Tom Poynton sent back a few bullets of his own with a defiant 63 not out late in the first innings and by sticking by his captain in a seventh-wicket stand of 111 in the second. Richard Johnson also deserved an honourable mention in dispatches with knocks of 46 and 23.
But that was not enough. Rather like the battered British forces trying to hold off the Zulus at Rorke's Drift, Derbyshire were facing overwhelming odds and there was no relief column in sight.
They almost made it to the end of the third day of their LV County Championship match at Queen's Park but were bowled out for 269 with 2.4 overs remaining in the day and lost by an innings and 113 runs.
It is the first time since 1928 that Derbyshire have lost both Championship matches against Yorkshire in a season by an innings and was a seventh defeat of the season out of 10.
That is nowhere near good enough from Derbyshire. Too many players are giving the impression of feeling sorry for themselves and that was a weakness ruthlessly exposed by Yorkshire in this match.
The only points of mitigation for Derbyshire are that this is a good Yorkshire side, with victory enough to take them back to the top of the Division One table, and it was a very good toss to win.
Derbyshire were also missing their best batsman, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, and their best bowler of the last two seasons, Tony Palladino, through injury but the sympathy runs dry there.
Derbyshire's last five wickets in the first innings got them through to lunch, with Johnson holding out for 72 balls and hitting eight fours before being caught at short midwicket and Poynton deciding he was not going down meekly as he struck eight fours and three sixes off 37 balls.
They were finally dismissed for 235 for a deficit of 382 and, not surprisingly, were asked to follow-on.
This was a chance for a few batsmen to redeem themselves on a good batting strip but if head coach Krikken was unable to contain his anger at a "pitiful" collapse to 94-5 in the first innings, he must have been incandescent at 38-4 second time around.
Three of those to go were the ones most in need of a long, reviving stay at the crease but Chesney Hughes, Wes Durston and Dan Redfern managed only 20 runs between them. Collectively, they are at as low an ebb as it is possible to be.
Johnson and Peter Burgoyne tried to stick with their skipper but neither could make it through to tea, with Johnson caught behind off a lifting Steve Patterson ball and Burgoyne bowled by Ryan Sidebottom for 18, offering no shot in the final over before the interval.
It was left to Poynton to help Madsen build the only substantial stand of the match for Derbyshire and it was a good effort by the wicketkeeper, in a less aggressive mode than in the morning. It looked as if the pair might see in a fourth day but when Poynton was caught at short extra cover for 29, Yorkshire tasted blood in the water again.
Madsen was the last man out, caught and bowled by Liam Plunkett for 141. He got them off only 195 balls and included 26 fours and it was his 14th century for the county, as well as a second for the season. It was a real chest-out show of character from the captain and did not fit in so abject a losing cause.
Derbyshire might reflect that in both innings, they were outscored by 20-year-old Yorkshire opener Alex Lees and as well as a sobering fact, that also illustrated the gulf that now exists between these two sides who came up together from Division Two last season.
