Derbyshire 306 and 214-9
Durham 223 and 176-5 (Trevaskis 42, Maddinson 32, Watt 2-37
Match drawn
I was a little surprised to see us continue our innings in the light of the forecast. I felt that with breaks expected the overnight lead was sufficient. As it turned out, those extra overs probably wouldn't have changed the result, but we erred on the side of caution and pretty much eliminated any slight possibility of defeat in batting on.
The known fragility of the visiting lower order would have made the gamble worthwhile for me, but their top order did enough on the day to ensure plenty of time was taken out of the available play.
There was a brief moment, when the players came back for a short session after the first break for rain, when I thought we might just have a chance. Mark Watt took two quick wickets and with five men out Durham were rocking. But a 2-hour break gave them time to recalibrate and that was as good as it got for Derbyshire.
I was impressed with Liam Trevaskis in this game. I thought he bowled cleverly and played a crucial innings for his side when they could quite easily have folded this afternoon.
I would have liked to see Ben Aitchison given a go from the Racecourse end. A few short weeks ago I watched Ben bowl quite brilliantly against Hampshire from that end and saw him bowl to equal effect a time or two last season.
But it was not to be. Very much a draw with us in the ascendancy, but you don't get extra points for that. More's the pity.
At the end of the day it was nice to see umpire. Nick Cook leading the teams off the pitch on his final appearance at Derby. He gave a couple of contested not outs today, one when everyone seemed convinced that Dickson had edged Dal behind, the other when Trevaskis was given not out, after the ball appeared to ricochet from Madsen to Guest in the final over.
In the end it didn't matter. Cook can reflect on a fine life and career in the greatest of games, both as player and umpire.
Here's wishing him a long and happy retirement.
The rain almost certainly cost us victory. After the two hour interruption I presume the wet ball hampered our bowlers' ability to maintain length and line and the result was that the sixth wicket pair were able to survive with relative ease. Now for Glamorgan and Leicestershire but with Autumn creeping in we might need to keep fingers crossed for good weather.
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