Worcestershire v Derbyshire day 1

Derbyshire 108 (Reece 31, Hudson-Prentice 31, Morris 4-26, Leach 3-33)
and 19-0

Worcestershire 113 (Reece 4-30, Hudson-Prentice 3-27)

Derbyshire lead by 14 runs

The one sure thing one could say, at the end of a day where wickets tumbled with alarming frequency, is that those planning to see an exciting finish on the fourth day will be disappointed.

The joy of outgrounds, as seen here, is that you get neither the formulaic bounce or movement of some of the headquarters grounds, so players of both sides have to work out what works best on it. Safe to say the bowlers on each side did that pretty well, with twenty wickets having fallen by the close of an eventful day.

The events started before play began, with Dave Houghton dropping overseas professional Logan van Beek. Only once before, when Hamish Rutherford was dropped in 2016, has this happened but it was both a brave and correct thing to do. Overseas or not, Logan is currently the weakest member of the seam attack and subsequent events proved the decision to be correct.

Billy Godleman opted to toss and won it, then chose to bat first, as he has for most of the season. It looked to have backfired horribly, as we were bowled out in the afternoon for just 108. Luis Reece battled hard for two hours for 31, while Fynn Hudson-Prentice opted for a breezier approach and struck the same score at better than a run a ball.

No doubt there were some moans and groans between the innings, but, as I have said times many on this blog, you should never judge a wicket until both sides have batted on it. Just as the home bowlers shared the wickets around 4/3/2/1, so too did Derbyshire, as they bowled them out for 113 in under forty overs. Once again the leading wicket-taker was Luis Reece, who took 4-30, while the increasingly impressive Hudson-Prentice took 3-27, including the key wicket of Wessels, so often a thorn in Derbyshire sides. Good support came from Rampaul and Palladino, as Derbyshire showed great character and fighting spirit in restricting the lead to only five runs.

Quite a day for Reece, which continued as he went in again with Billy Godleman. Two innings on the same day, with four wickets in between constitutes good work by the all rounder and the pair successfully batted through seven overs to take the score to 19-0, a lead of fourteen runs.

So where does that leave the game? I would say we are currently slightly ahead, by virtue of bowling last on a wicket that is not especially easy for batting. If we bat better tomorrow, then bowl with similar discipline to today, a victory to boost the promotion push is not beyond the realms of possibility.