Derbyshire 307 (Guest 91, Madsen 89, Reece 36, Broad 4-60, Procter 3-61, Guthrie 3-74)
Northamptonshire 236-3 (Procter 97*, Vasconcelos 82)
Derbyshire lead by 71 runs
As is often the case at Derby, wickets fell in the first session, too many of them for home comfort. Guest added only four runs to his overnight score before being bowled and while Reece, not in his best touch, battled hard, it was left to Tickner, with a few lusty and at times unorthodox strokes, to take his team to a second batting bonus point. Broad bowled well and got considerable swing, but the engine room wasn't running at its peak capacity today.
Morley was out on the stroke of lunch, which meant the visitors batted in the afternoon. They got through to tea unscathed, after a somewhat insipid home bowling performance. Vasconcelos and Procter batted well, but there were enough loose deliveries to prevent pressure being built and they could have been made to work harder for the runs.
The partnership had reached 143 when Tickner removed the former for an excellent 82, but the admirable Procter, fresh from 21 overs and three wickets, held an end down with gritty determination, judicious leaves and an occasional stroke of flamboyance. He is a good player and they are lucky to have him, the sort of professional, no-nonsense bloke that makes the county game.
Chappell got Bartlett, like Broad formerly a target for Derbyshire, to nick behind and Reece bowled Sales after an underwhelming stay that never suggested permanence.
Yet by the close the game seemed to hang on tomorrow's first, often bowler-friendly session. Derbyshire must make better use of conditions than they did today, or could face a deficit of 100-200 runs, maybe more. For all the fight being shown so far this summer, I would suggest that might not end well.
Having said that, the forecast for Monday suggests they will be on and off all day, so it is important that we keep the visitors in check - and ourselves battling - tomorrow.
Finally tonight, thank you to all who got in touch to congratulate me on the blog award. Your kind words are very much appreciated, as is your continued support and interest.
I only watched a bit on the livestream today but it did look like quite a subdued performance. If there’s not much rain around Monday we will be hard pressed to get a draw out of this match. Lloyd or came are due a big innings so you never know. Very well played to proctor so far who as you say is a very reliable county pro
ReplyDeleteWe lost every session today, and maybe it has checked our expectations a little bit. Still a fight back tomorrow will renew belief, and if it occurs, will see us back in the game. It was clear that we bowled with less threat than Northants, and the ball rarely swung to any degree needed to trouble the Northants batsman.
ReplyDeleteI think you're pushing it to say today was "average" To me it was somewhere between "poor" and "very poor" I'm hoping for a major improvement tomorrow, something we are well capable of.
ReplyDeletePoor would have been bowled out for 270 and them being 80 ahead by the close. Early wickets tomorrow and we are still in the game.
DeleteBUT we need to bowl much better as a unit, then bat better second time around
From the position we were in, 350 should have been attainable. Then, by all accounts, we didn't bowl consistently well enough to exert any pressure.
ReplyDeleteBad day at the office, but given the forecast for Monday, we should be able to draw the game, and move on.
Looks like Derbyshire are back to previous seasons levels. Been a poor performance so far and a big defeat looking highly likely
ReplyDelete