Middlesex v Derbyshire Day 2

Middlesex 433 (Higgins 163, Chappell 3-69,  Dupavillon 3-104)

Derbyshire 308-4 (Reece 123*, Madsen 49, Donald 43*)

Derbyshire trail by 125 runs

A delightful century by Luis Reece, with good support down the order, saw Derbyshire make their best four-day batting effort of the season at Lord's today.

Despite taking two early wickets, the Derbyshire attack was frustrated by the excellent Ryan Higgins, who was last man out for 163, well supported by Ethan Bamber in a last wicket stand of 71. The bowling was a little ragged this morning, but these have been two hot days and the players will have been glad to get into the pavilion after fielding for 115 overs.

433 was a challenging total to chase, but the ease with which Bamber had batted as number eleven suggested there were no real devils in the pitch. One assumes the home side opted to bat in the hope that spin would come increasingly into the game, but it didn't work out as they had planned, as Derbyshire batted well in reply. 

Reece was superb. He never looked in any real trouble and progressed serenely to a century with delightful strokes around the wicket. Lloyd and Guest didn't last as long as they would have hoped, but Madsen shared in a stand of 111 for the third wicket, before being caught behind from a delivery that lifted nastily from a length. 

Lamb played some nice shots, although his manner of pushing at the ball with hard hands can get him into trouble. It did here, when he edged Higgins to be well caught by wicket keeper Davies, standing up. 

Middlesex had an opportunity to break through when Bamber, a bowler I really like, induced an inside edge from Donald which was inexplicably dropped by Davies when the bowler was in mid-celebration. The Derbyshire batter, who made half centuries in 19 and 21 balls in the T20, only made one scoring stroke in his first 21 deliveries here, yet thereafter he got into his stride and was scoring at around a run a ball by the close, when he was unbeaten on 43. 

Reece remains on 123, an innings of style and class. Watching him bat today made me think we missed a trick in not having him in the middle/late order for the T20. I suspect a couple of ineffectual run chases might have had a better conclusion, with his class and overall nous to lend greater substance. 

That horse has bolted, however. Perhaps it is something to think about for the remaining games, but there is more four-day cricket to be played before then.

For Derbyshire there is an opportunity here. If they can bat on tomorrow, establish a reasonable lead, then get Alex Thomson onto a fourth day pitch, maybe - just maybe - we could press for a win. It is a very good pitch, with something in it for the bowlers, yet one that enables those good enough to play their strokes. More sun tomorrow will be good for batting, yet dry it out quite nicely as the day goes on.

I would love to see a couple more hours of Reece and Donald in the morning, that's for sure. But you can never tell with Derbyshire..

In closing tonight, the news that Aneurin Donald has been selected for The Hundred as a wild card pick is no real surprise. 

Players who can hit with his ability are worth their weight in gold in the 20 over format. In a shorter game still, his talents were always going to be in demand, once he showed what he can do. 

He is a very fine player and I hope he goes on to a big score tomorrow. It will be a loss for Derbyshire in the 50 over competition, but such is the way of the game. It affords an opportunity for someone else and it is up to them to take it. 

More from me tomorrow, but after too many evenings when there has been a need to be critical, we have done pretty well in this one so far. 

Hopefully we can build on it now.