Lancashire 367 and 406-6d (Turner 121*, Balderson 82, Jones 63, Aitchison 3-64)
Derbyshire 261 and 138-3 (Madsen 39* Came 32, Wagstaff 25, Guest 20*)
Derbyshire need 375 runs to win
It is little more than they deserve, after an insipid performance on this lovely ground. Only one of these teams has looked like it had an unbeaten record going into this match and it hasn't been Derbyshire.
Despite an admirable opening burst by Ben Aitchison today, the visitors pretty much scored at will and a fine century by Ashton Turner, with good support from George Balderson and Michael Jones, took them to a lead of 512 before Jimmy Anderson declared.
He must expect the forecast showers throughout the day tomorrow to come to little, because they surely didn't need that many runs to be safe from defeat, against a county that has never once made 400 to win in the final innings in 150 years and counting. It was unnecessarily cautious, but if they end up winning it will matter not. If they don't...
When the Derbyshire 'chase' began, it again looked a different pitch. Lancashire were again more consistent in line and length and when Jewell went to Anderson for the fourth time in four red ball innings, the writing was, if not etched upon the wall, at least outlined large in permanent marker.
Wagstaff and Came resisted well in an attritional half century stand for the second wicket, but neither suggested permanence. There were numerous appeals from a county whose motto should really be 'Plures appellationes quam Dr. Barnardo', but the former eventually drove loosely at the excellent Balderson, who has had a good game here, and was bowled. When Came's resistance ended in the next over, flicking at Bailey, there were even concerns the game might not make the final day.
Jennings spilled a routine catch offered by Madsen soon afterwards, his third of the match, prompting a witty message to me from a friend that 'he should cop them in his mouth, it's usually open..' But it really shouldn't matter, unless the collective overnight Derbyshire rain dance reaps rewards. Guest was also put down, by Turner at slip, otherwise the stout lady might already be working on her scales.
With a few balls now keeping low and the odd one lifting, home hopes rely on that weather preserving their unbeaten record this summer. Madsen remains, having gone past a thousand all-format runs for the fourteenth time (courtesy David Griffin) as does Guest and they need to bat long tomorrow for home hopes to last long into the day.
Yet only the most partisan of supporters would feel it was justified, after a below par and disappointing performance here.
What a pity that our worst red ball performance of the season had to be against Lancs and in the sylvan setting of Queen's Park. A heavy defeat seems inevitable tomorrow but where there's Wayne there's hope!
ReplyDeleteA warm welcome to the returning Derbyshire 2024. I don't think anyone really thought you had made a permanent exit.
ReplyDeleteIf you wouldn't mind making yourself scarse for the rest of the season how grateful we would all be.
I can't help but think Thomson should have played, both for his batting and knowledge of the ground. We are a little unbalanced without Reece. I think we would have a good chance of a draw, with Reece and Thomson to lengthen the batting. Kris
ReplyDeleteI felt that Came was batting very well until Lancs started bowling dry and frustrating him and Wagstaff. You knew that one of them would get out trying to force a shot. The wicket only really started to look spicy after the 2 wickets fell quickly, but fair's fair, Lancs bowled well. The appealling and foghorning however by the keeper and slips in particular. Dear Lord.
ReplyDeleteMr Pleasant
We have performed very badly in both batting and bowling throughout the match. The batsman have played at balls they didn't need too and lost their wicket. Surely they realised the need to apply themselves. Yesterday I think it was 3 batsmen failed to play a shoot and lost their stumps. The wicket only seemed to change when we batted. I saw Alan Hill at the ground today. Boy did we need his type of application. Come on Derbyshire you can do much better than you have shown in the match and letting yourselves and supporters down.
ReplyDeleteBeen such a disappointing performance this where we've been pretty much outplayed on every day with a defeat inevitable. Just hope the rot doesn't set in now and we can maintain a promotion push
ReplyDeleteIt has looked a rather jaded performance. It should certainly be a very close league table come the end of the season with not much difference in the quality of the sides from the top to the bottom really. Apparently the ECB don’t even know if there will be promotion or relegation at the end of the season because they don’t know the format of the divisions or how many matches will be played
ReplyDeleteSorry that was Ian from Suffolk
ReplyDeleteI would love to be a fly on the wall of the changing room and listen to what the batting strategy is for today. Will we see another batting collapse, and the game over by the middle of the afternoon? Or might we see some exceptional batting? My head says the former; my heart says the latter.
ReplyDelete