Derbyshire v Worcestershire day 4

Derbyshire 625-8d 

Worcestershire 312 and 314-7 (Waite 66*, Hose 52, Lategan 49, Abbas 2-31, Andersson 2-42, Aitchison 2-65)

Match drawn

Somewhat like the Big Bad Wolf, Derbyshire huffed and puffed throughout the final day, bowling with great persistence and no little skill, yet couldn't blow down the resilient Worcestershire house and eventually had to settle for a draw.

The visiting batters showed commendable concentration and a willingness to fight for their cause. At the end of it all, there were insufficient demons in the pitch to offer anything other than gentle help to a willing home attack. It got no better for Derbyshire than a wicket with the first ball of the day, quickly followed by another for Ben Aitchison. I thought he bowled splendidly in this match and lost little in comparison to Mohammad Abbas, who himself bowled quite beautifully in the second innings. Credit also to Martin Andersson, who followed his double century with some intelligent bowling today.

There was also a very impressive, controlled spell by Shoaib Bashir, who will have benefited from a lengthy bowl in the afternoon and evening. He is a very watchable cricketer and I suspect a few young Derbyshire supporters will be copying his run-up and action before the summer is out.

There was a glimmer of hope for Derbyshire when Adam Hose was dismissed with still fifty overs of the game remaining, but Waite - an admirable cricketer - and Brookes dug in to prevent any further alarms. The latter did especially well to subjugate his natural, aggressive game and used up 123 balls for his 34, while Waite followed intelligent bowling with a priceless unbeaten 66 from 141 deliveries of resistance 

There were a few moral victories, some edges and a number of false strokes, but the players shook hands as shadows lengthened in the sunshine and there were fielders around the bat. Not a bad start to a cricket season and an excellent advert for red ball county cricket 

It is frustrating that a very good pitch, one that was probably perfect for international cricket, didn't break up a little more on the fourth day. Yet the new ECB guidelines on what constitutes a pitch of appropriate standard will need to be carefully observed.

Any pitch rated "below average" in this year's County Championship will result in the home side being awarded zero points from the fixture, regardless of the match result.

A "below average" pitch is the fourth of six ratings that can be attributed to a surface in the County Championship, above "poor" and "unfit".

Yet the county can be proud of the start that they have made to the cricket season. They controlled this game from start to finish and if they apply themselves similarly throughout the summer, they will enjoy their share of success.

Both Abbas and Bashir look to be a considerable enhancement on the options available last year, while the batting unit carried on in similar vein to 2025. When one considers that the talents of Wayne Madsen will soon be added to the squad, we should be a match for most sides in red ball cricket this summer.

In closing today, a few words about Harry Came. He took on the captaincy for the first time and I felt he did a very good job. He set the tone with the bat on the first morning, then switched his bowlers and set intelligent fields for the remainder of the game, as well as setting the standard in the field. He could not have done more to force victory and can feel proud of his efforts tonight.