Derbyshire v Australia day 2

Derbyshire 172 and 53-3

Australia 338-5 (Marsh 74, Khawaja 72, Harris 64, Critchley 2-47)

Derbyshire trail by 113 runs

Australia will almost certainly beat Derbyshire tomorrow, in a game that has been a good run out for both sides, but offered perhaps less time in the middle than Steve Smith might have wanted.

The former Australian skipper was warmly applauded out to the middle by another good crowd, showing themselves more sporting than many that have witnessed the modern great on this tour. Perhaps they were rewarding him for a long time spent signing autographs and posing for photos with all and sundry. To be fair, the Aussies have done a fine job 'schmoozing' at this game, with plenty of adults and children alike going away with their autograph and selfie collections enhanced.

Smith faced only 38 balls, none of them from pace, the last few of which were spent teeing off, before he tried it once too often and holed out in the deep, one of two catches to Hamidullah Qadri. It is a wicket that Matt Critchley will never forget, one of two that he took today, while Qadri was unlucky that a long spell was bowled without reward. Like the other Derbyshire bowlers, he kept his line and length and had a couple of moral victories that are sadly not reflected in the scorebook.

So too did Dustin Melton, who bowled much better today and troubled the batsmen a time or two with his pace. One ball that jagged past the bat of Cameron Bancroft earned him a nod from the batsman, and after seeing him today we can put yesterday's wayward start down to nerves. Enough seen to be worthy of a contract? Only Dave Houghton knows the answer to that one.

For me, the pick of the bowlers was Anuj Dal, whose twelve overs went for just 33 runs and the wicket of Usman Khawaja. It suggested that he might have bowled more this season, but my concern, with his two innings here lasting nine balls and one run, is that he might miss out on a new deal, come season end. At the end of the day, he is a batsman who bowls tidily and fields brilliantly, but with limited opportunities he has perhaps needed to make more of them when they have come along. Still, there's no disgrace in getting out to this attack. It may be their second string, but that just meant that they were all trying their hardest to get into the Test side.

Harris, Khawaja and Marsh all made solid, organised half centuries, without totally dominating the attack. All looked fine players, Khawaja a more organised player, as you would expect, than when he played for us in 2012. Harris was run out by a direct hit from Melton and Marsh looked a good, organised and powerful player in the course of his 74.

The declaration came at 338-5, 166 ahead. Starc's pace accounted for Godleman and Dal, while Reece played away from his body to Siddle and Wade took a routine catch at slip.Thereafter du Plooy and Hughes took us to the close, but there will be a lot of graft ahead of the batting line up tomorrow.