Yorkshire v. Derbyshire day 4

Yorkshire 450 and 59-1

Derbyshire 447 all out (Madsen 103, Donald 97, Chappell 78, Guest 75 Fisher 4-96)

Match drawn

A little bit of faith was restored in Derbyshire, over the past couple of days. 

Led by the evergreen Wayne Madsen, the county got within three of the Yorkshire first innings score, with Aneurin Donald and Zak Chappell playing fine innings.

I had mentioned yesterday that the first hour could be tricky and Brooke Guest didn't last long, being bowled one that came in and kept a little low. That brought in Nye Donald and he kept Madsen company as the veteran reached his 44th all-format century for the club. This one will rank highly, given the circumstances when he started to bat, combined with the hand injury he sustained in the field. At 40 he remains a tremendous asset to the side and we can only hope he doesn't miss too much cricket as a result of the knock. 

Donald batted splendidly. There is always a chance he could go early, because he goes for his shots, but today he mixed them with sound defence and good judgement. It was disappointing to see him fall just short of his century, edging behind off Joe Root, but by the time he was out, the job was done from a Derbyshire perspective. 

At the other end Chappell indulged himself in 'humpty' of Olympic magnitude. Not too many of his shots would have featured in the old MCC coaching manual, but he hit with remarkable power and considerable skill in making 78 from just 61 deliveries, including four sixes. I am not sure how he managed to keep hitting bouncers over mid-on, but he again illustrated what a fine cricketer he is - and what a very good eye he has. 

Dal, Tickner and Brown also played their part and few would have expected Derbyshire to get within three of the home side's first innings. 

After that it was all largely academic, Yorkshire batting out time with the only novelty value David Lloyd removing Finlay Bean while bowling offspin. 

Looking around the country, there was only one positive result again. For what it is worth, if the 4-day game is to remain confined to the bookends of the season, perhaps we need to do a couple of things to encourage positive results. 

Certainly I feel that eight points for a draw is too many. I'm not referring specifically to this game, but there is no real incentive to risk losing if you can still get eight points for getting a draw. I would like to see them maximise the win and perhaps make it two points for a draw. We might then see counties take a risk in going for a result. 

It might also be worth considering an over limit on first innings, as we did back in the '70s and '80s. Back then it was a hundred overs in the first innings, which was an opportunity to play proper cricket and meant the game could move on in the course of two days. 

If a team bats for a day and a half to make 600, then the weather intervenes as it has this year, there is greater entertainment value in one-on-one basket weaving than the rest of the game. 

My opinion, those of others may differ, but I saw some cracking cricket with such restrictions in place and the way that the game is played today, I cannot see it would be in any way to the detriment of the county or national game. 

Anyway, we move on to the Sussex game on Friday, still unbeaten and in better fettle than we were at the end of the Leicestershire game.

That in itself is progress.