Durham v Derbyshire day 1

Durham 302-7 (Clark 51, Bedingham 49, Robinson 48 Aitchison 4-57)

v Derbyshire 

It was a day of hard graft at The Riverside for Derbyshire today. When the captains tossed the coin at the start of the game I think most people would have hoped that winning it would see the successful side making quick inroads with the ball.

It didn't really work out that way. There was movement but perhaps not to the level that the green pitch suggested might be the case. There have been a few such surfaces like that this year and I suspect that had Durham won the toss they may well have gone the same way as Wayne Madsen. 

Nick Potts was preferred to Rory Haydon, presumably to reinforce his confidence after the T20, but also to offer greater depth to the batting. Rory can consider himself unlucky, but his time will come again and Mickey Arthur is fortunate to have the choices that are available to him. 

Mohammad Abbas was back and his usual metronomic self, but I just wonder if he has lost a little nip in his bowling. He will rarely give much away and he makes the batters work, but his average this summer compares unfavourably with those of previous years. Hopefully he proves me wrong tomorrow and at Chesterfield next week, but eight wickets so far at 45 runs each was not what supporters expected from an attack leader of his reputation.

All of the Durham batters got in and then were dismissed. Derbyshire will be especially pleased to have got Alex Lees and David Bedingham back in the pavilion fairly cheaply, both having good records against them. Yet when rain interrupted play in the final session, Clark and Robinson were well set and Durham looked good for around 400.

Yet the new ball removed both of them, a wicket each for Abbas and Aitchison. The latter owed much to Guest's agility behind the stumps and he had a good day, up until he put down one he would class as routine in the last ten overs. That could yet come back to bite Derbyshire, as Ben Raine, the fortunate batter, is a dangerous lower order hitter, as is Matthew Potts and both were still there at the close.

I would suggest Durham the happier of the two sides at the end of the day. If you are still batting after being asked to you cannot complain too much. Anything over 350 is a decent score on this ground and Ben Raine will hope to continue his excellent record against Derbyshire tomorrow.

Finally tonight, a word for Ben Aitchison. I don't think he has missed a day's cricket this year and throughout he has presented problems for opposition batters. His 32 red ball wickets at 23 represents bowling of the highest standard and he is as good as any on the circuit right now.. 

Add in another sharp catch at slip today - not forgetting that memorable century at Lord's - he will not want this summer to end.

A good day's cricket, then. We will get a better idea of the game's direction by this time tomorrow.