Derbyshire v Sussex day 2

Derbyshire 138 and 360-2 (Reece 184, Godleman 106*, Madsen 42)

Sussex 233 (van Zyl 60, Garton 50, Reece 5-63, Hudson-Prentice 3-47)

Derbyshire lead by 265 runs


Today was my last day of 'live' cricket this summer. Fittingly it dawned sunny, if not especially warm and there was a decent crowd of seasoned regulars in attendance, together with some loyal support from the south coast.

It all kicked off early when play began, with Rawlins, who looks like a player who will never die wondering, played a couple of streaky shots for four, then holed out to Melton at wide mid on. Next ball, Brown gave a routine catch to Hosein, and a healthy overnight position was in danger of evaporating.

Luis Reece took both wickets, the second his fiftieth of an excellent summer. Whether he can sustain the workload of being a senior seamer as well as opening bat is debatable, but his importance to this side is undeniable, and was emphasised later. When he followed it with the wicket of van Zyl, who had led a charmed life yesterday, Sussex were in trouble.

Wiese, as he has done so many times, hinted at a recovery with some powerful strokes through the covers, but Hudson-Prentice worked up good pace from the Racecourse End and, beating him for pace, had him caught by McKiernan at long leg. He also had Jordan caught behind in a lively spell, which only ended with the advent of spin at both ends, one assumes to improve the slow over rate. It served to increase the run rate too, as Garton and Robinson clumped away in bucolic fashion.

A merry stand of 33 ended when Robinson assayed a reverse sweep to a straight ball from Madsen, missed and was palpably leg before. The umpire took a long time over what appeared a straightforward decision from behind the bowler's arm on the boundary, but the finger was eventually raised to local satisfaction. Garton continued on his merry way to an excellent fifty, before holing out from an uppercut at third man, a second catch for McKiernan, a first wicket for Melton, a 93-run lead for Sussex.

The feeling at the lunch interval, certainly among the travelling support, was that the lead would be match-defining. Instead, the afternoon and early evening became a masterclass from Luis Reece. He followed on his five wickets and the award of his county cap with a magnificent innings of 184 from 189 deliveries. His batting form has been patchy this summer, mainly on account of his bowling workload, but here he was superb, strong on the drive and pull, excelling on the sweep. His timing was exquisite throughout as good a knock as you would wish to see and he is quite a cricketer, one we are lucky to have.

Only Garnet Lee, in 1926, has previously scored 150 runs and taken five wickets in an innings for Derbyshire in the same match. That puts Reece's feat into context and I doubt Garnet scored a century in a session in doing so, as Luis did here between lunch and tea.

At the other end Billy Godleman eased past a thousand runs for the summer in first-class cricket and two thousand in total, annus mirabilis indeed. The two innings were great contrasts, Billy happy to knock it around in true Godlemanian fashion, but the partnership of 274 was the county highest for any wicket against Sussex. Thanks to club historian David Griffin for the statistics.

Godleman moved to yet another century, his sixteenth in first-class cricket for Derbyshire, but lost Madsen after an attractive 42, caught off a lifter from Reece Topley. He and Dal then saw it through to the close, which was reached, after all that had preceded it, at an extraordinary 360-2.

A special way to end a summer's live cricket watching indeed.

Postscript: it was a pleasure to meet so many lovely people around the ground over the past two days. Some for the first time, others once more. It was a thrill to do so and to hear your kind words.

Winter well, and I hope to see you again when it starts once more next Spring.