Gloucestershire 222 and 128-3 (Charlesworth 77*)
Derbyshire 391 (Madsen 118, Came 83, Chappell 61 de Lange 3-31)
Derbyshire lead by 41 runs
A magnificent stand in the morning, between Wayne Madsen, who progressed to a wonderful century and Harry Came, who batted with considerable charm, took them almost to lunch, before the latter seemed to misjudge the length and was leg before to Ollie Price
It signalled a post-lunch collapse of true Derbyshire proportions, as 271-2 became 290-7. Guest seemed unhappy to be adjudged caught behind, but others fell to a combination of insipid strokeplay and better bowling. de Lange bowled especially well and quite quickly, several times ending prone on delivery with the effort.
Truth be told, Gloucestershire were unlucky in the morning, edges falling short or evading the slips or stumps, while on the occasions the ball carried, the catches were put down. Yet Madsen and Came batted in resolute fashion to add 177 for the third wicket, a stand that should have allowed their side to push on to a winning situation.
They still took a first innings lead of 169 thanks to some fine later order hitting by Zak Chappell, who made an excellent 61 and, in company with Madsen and Morley, ensured that one hundred runs were added for the eighth and ninth wickets. But there will be disappointment when considerably more was on the cards at lunch.
When the visitors batted again, Charlesworth, who interested Derbyshire last season, anchored the innings but played some fine strokes. There was less help in the pitch but three wickets fell by the close, with the visitors still 41 runs behind.
While Derbyshire hold the advantage, they require early wickets tomorrow, as well as more astute captaincy from the incomparable Madsen. Price flicked one to leg gulley two balls after he had set one and he couldn't have done more on his return to the 'throne'. It is still hard to imagine a Derbyshire side without this remarkable cricketer.
Finally, I must commend the quality of the stream over these two days. The angles, editing and replays are really something and those concerned deserve all the plaudits.
Nice job guys!
Now let's see if our lads on the pitch can finish it off tomorrow.
Early cloud cover would be nice, wouldn't it?
Disappointing that we couldn't reach 450 plus today but the normal middle order collapse happened again. That middle order does concern me, Guest and Reece had poor seasons last time and it's not a good start for them. Dal looks better with the ball and Andersson might turn out to be no better than any other all rounder we've had in previous seasons. We are so lucky to have Wayne Madsen, into his 40th year and still scoring centuries, what a legend he is, dreading the day he calls time on his Derbyshire career
ReplyDeleteBit harsh after one innings, CB. Especially on Guest, who was second top scorer and the only one other than Wayne to average 30 last year.
DeleteThe collapse today was like many over the last few seasons when we get into a really good situation (Jewell, Madsen and Came did all the hard work), and then we threw it all away. We should have been looking at 500 plus. Credit to Chappell, supported by Morley. But the concerning pattern in our batting is still there. Hopefully, this was just a blip. Time will tell.
ReplyDeleteI'm in the positive camp and, although we can do without the collapse, we still have enough to crack on and win this one
ReplyDeleteLet's see how it develops
Andy
Wayne Madsen - superlatives exhausted. Enjoy this Derbyshire CCC legend while we still can....
ReplyDeleteAs for the game, really need to nail this now. Missing their 2 overseas, no interruptions due to weather, it's a good opportunity to get our season up and running. Can we do it? Let's hope so.
jasper
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