Derbyshire v Durham day 4

Derbyshire 197 and 334 

Durham 171 and 235 (Harte 69, Lees 59, Critchley 3-54)

Derbyshire won by 125 runs

In a game in which they were all heroes, Derbyshire's match winner today was a man who perhaps was most wanting to impress.

Until mid afternoon, Logan van Beek had enjoyed a tidy, yet not unduly impressive debut. He had  looked useful with the bat and tidy with the ball, though not, it is fair to say, especially threatening.

In the space of fifteen minutes, a spell that was almost Barlow-esque, he held a blinding catch at short mid wicket to remove the dangerous Jack Burnham, clean bowled the dogged Gareth Harte and then had Stuart Poynter caught behind. It was a spell that will give him great confidence and will, I think, let us see the best of him in the games to come.That he can play is patently obvious, and I liked the way he ran in hard, every ball. And that catch...

The game had been drifting at that point and despite two wickets in two balls from Matt Critchley, in his opening over, at 178-3 the visitors looked in no trouble. Indeed there was even the slightest possibility of pushing for an unlikely victory, slim as it had always appeared. Alex Lees batted well, until Critchley dismissed him and Smith with successive balls, while Harte was a model of defiance, until van Beek defeated his forward prod.

After that they imploded, with Billy Godleman's frequent and impressive bowling changes not allowing them to settle. The wickets were shared around evenly, with special mention for some  nice loop from Critchley and another excellent spell from Ravi Rampaul. He looks like an international bowler this year and would appear to be thriving on the responsibility as  leader of the attack. He took thirteen championship wickets last year, when he appeared over the hill and unfit for the first-class game. This year, he looks the business, and five wickets was just reward for fine bowling, where he, like the others, made the batsmen play.

After Trevaskis and Rushworth took the game almost to the tea interval, it was left to Luis Reece to finish things by pinning Rushworth leg before. He had earlier excelled with a direct hit to run out Weighell, and it was all wrapped up in time for supporters to head home before the rush hour.

This was a very impressive display by Derbyshire. They lost the first session of the game and then won them all thereafter. It looks a tight unit and one with very good team spirit. Dave Houghton and his coaching staff are to be commended on that, as is Billy Godleman, who I thought skippered the side very well in this game.

They will face tougher challenges in the months ahead, but with Leicestershire beating fancied Sussex today and Northamptonshire having the better of their game against Middlesex, the suggestion is that the division is wide open, together with the three promotion places.

Success will go the way of the sides who force wins and wickets like this will give Derbyshire a very good chance of making the Pattonair County Ground an unpopular place to visit.

A side that bats long, has plenty of bowling options and has a new batsman en route might just surprise a few people. If the level of commitment, concentration and technique is shown in every game, they will make themselves a tough nut to crack.

Yes, Durham were missing Cameron Bancroft and Mark Wood, but that's what I referred to at the start of the summer, when I discussed luck. Whether it is the opposition missing players, avoiding rain showers or holding a flukey, or brilliant catch, they all contribute to the wins and the points tally.

Played one, won one. Bristol next, and if we can win that, it will make a few people sit up.

Well done lads, that was all very impressive.

And well done to those behind the scenes, for an excellent stream that enabled those of us at a distance to be a part of it all.