Derbyshire v Gloucestershire day 2

Gloucestershire 498 (Hammond 145, Williams 98, Brookes 89, Middleton 46, Bashir 3-116)

Derbyshire 144-3 ( Madsen 62*, Jewell 28, Montgomery 28, Andersson 12*)

Derbyshire trail by 354 runs

It was another of those days that started well for Derbyshire, then petered out into something rather nondescript.

Muhammad Abbas quickly found the edge of Hammond's bat and Ben Aitchison took a one-handed blinder, low to his left. Probably ten times harder than the one he put down last night, but he is such a good slip fielder that the drop came as a surprise.

Soon afterwards, Ben bowled Middleton, who left one that came back a long way. He did a good job for his side, but how often, once a big partnership is broken, do we see both participants out? 

It happened again, 45 overs later, when Williams followed Brookes back to the pavilion, but by that stage they had added 191 for the ninth wicket, to put their side firmly in control. 

In all honesty, they didn't look troubled. Both made career-best scores and should have made centuries, before Brookes was dismissed off Bashir. Soon afterwards, Williams rather gave it away when a century was within sight, taking on the arm of Aitchison and losing after acrobatic work from Guest, who kept well over a long time in the field. Thus, an innings that at one time was 167-6 ended up 498 all out, a quite remarkable turnaround. 

Fair play to those involved, but again it owed much to the synthetic pitch, which simply doesn't deteriorate. So at least it does what it promises, but I can only say it makes for rather mundane and one-sided cricket.

I have to confess that the pleading eyes of two terriers wanting a walk won out over watching the early afternoon session, but the scorecard didn't suggest I missed much. On my return, I saw both wickets, but was keeping an eye on the game while watching the Red Roses rugby, which tells a tale, I suppose.

The Derbyshire reply quickly saw the dismissal of Harry Came, leg before after two boundaries in the first over. He will have kicked himself in the dressing room, because there was no change to the batting conditions.

Montgomery and Jewell rebuilt, before the former got one that straightened and was also lbw. He hasn't yet got going as I know he can, but I remain confident that the runs will soon come.

Enter Madsen, the gladiator to the Colosseum once more. It has been a long time since that awkward fall in the World Cup that truncated his tournament, but he was underway with a cover drive as sweet as a honey-dipped Creme Egg and was quickly into his stride, business very much as usual.

Jewell hasn't really looked in touch this year and here, while no one can fault his commitment, he didn't seem himself. He batted two hours for his 28, before seeming to play on against van Buuren's spin. Perhaps his meagre winter is telling on him, but he seems to have retreated into himself and is not playing with anything approximating the freedom to which we became accustomed last year. The bowler enjoyed it, however, taking off towards the covers at a speed not seen in these parts since Imran Tahir spent a summer a-twirlin'.

Madsen progressed to a stately fifty at better than a run a ball. How often have we acknowledged a milestone for the maestro? As the shadows lengthened, the realisation dawned that post-Madsen life will seem very strange indeed. At 42, his is still the wicket most-prized in the team, his range of stroke still the best, his timing and placement still exquisite. Perhaps that shoulder injury took five years off his age - we can only hope.

Andersson, perhaps the heir-apparent, kept him company until the close, by which time Brookes had limped off for the visitors. He will probably be replaced by a 3-D printed Courtney Walsh tomorrow, the way this substitute malarkey is going.

Anyway, Derbyshire closed at 143-3, with the skipper on 62. 

A long way to go to avoid the follow on, but as we have said for the past two decades, where there's Madsen, there's hope.