Durham v Derbyshire day 2

Durham 377 (Raine 63, Aitchison 5-74)

Derbyshire 118 (Jewell 37, Aldridge 5-19, Raine 3-31, Potts 2-27)

and 99-4 (Came 48*, Potts 4-32)

Derbyshire trail by 160 runs

It was Sergio Leone day at The Banks Homes Riverside today.

Sadly the good came from Durham, while the bad and ugly were the preserve of Derbyshire, in a batting display that too adequately defined 'anaemic'.

Let's be honest, in Ben Raine and Matthew Potts the home side has a top tier attack. The latter has England caps to his name, after all, while the former is as good a day-in, day-out bowler as there is in the county game. Both bowled splendidly for their side, which I expected yesterday. Raine has taken over the mantle of Chris Rushworth, who must have looked at the fixtures each year and pencilled in at least eight wickets against the Derbyshire fixture. 

Kasey Aldridge took 5-19 in under six overs, aided by some poor shots and a sizeable slice of luck in the dismissal of Caleb Jewell. He batted as well as anyone, before being given leg before to one that might have had Harry Pilling in trouble, but not someone of normal height. It was a poor decision by Naeem Ashraf, but it summed up a shocking afternoon session in which Derbyshire lost nine wickets.

Therein lies my complaint, really. I can accept being outplayed by a good side and Durham are so much better than the rest in this division. But to be bowled out in a session is not a good look and Derbyshire showed all the resilience of a balsa wood bat today. 

The rot started last night, when Brooke Guest dropped Ben Raine. That would have been 265-8 and this has been no better than a 300 pitch. Yet Durham went on to 377, which on a pitch where the bounce became more idiosyncratic as the day went on - more than you would want from a second day pitch, to be honest - was a total of Everest proportions. Ben Raine got a nice 63, his confidence was up and the ball was soon coming out of his hand in the time-honoured style.

Ben Aitchison took a second successive five-wicket haul to confirm his talent, but the home side should not have been allowed to get away to that extent.

Derbyshire didn't help themselves when they batted. Montgomery shouldered arms to one that came back a long way and bowled him, Madsen played on and Andersson bottom-edged into his stumps from an attempted pull. It was one of those days. The optimist in me could write that Derbyshire scored at four an over throughout their innings, but when it failed to last thirty overs, that would be straw-clutching beyond my compass. 

When they went in again, there was no real expectation of improvement and nor was there for some time. Harry Came played some pleasing strokes, but neither Reece nor Montgomery lasted long and both had the dubious 'honour' of being dismissed in successive sessions. So too Jewell, whose 'played on' dismissal summed up a miserable summer in which he averages only 23. I really do feel for him, but any county needs so much more from an overseas player. If they cannot find someone better for 2027, perhaps they should put the overseas budget into a good domestic player to bolster the batting? 

Durham might consider the same. In conditions that most bowlers would have fancied, Duanne Olivier's four overs for 35 in the first innings were far from impressive, when all around him were striking gold with nigh-monotonous regularity.

Fair play to Came and Wayne Madsen, who eschewed their normal games to finally restore a sense of sanity and respectability to proceedings. To put it into context, their partnership of 55 in 24 overs was only five overs shorter than the team's first innings. Madsen went in the penultimate over, bowled by a ball that pitched and kept horribly low and tomorrow's cricket looks likely to be a session, at best.

Came ended the day unbeaten on 48 from 118 deliveries. The willingness to battle was laudable and his technique was equally strong.

The Derbyshire batting order still isn't right. I prefer Reece and Came to Jewell opening, but I am not yet convinced in Montgomery at three. He has shown himself a fine player at five in white ball cricket, but his inexperience at three shows. Yet if he were to bat five, that is the logical place for Martin Andersson and it is currently occupied by Wayne Madsen. 

Maybe we need a hypnotist to tell them all they really are batting five and we will be grand.

In closing tonight, I remain unimpressed by the concerted appealing of Durham, which long-since irked me. There is no Scott Borthwick these days, whose hands went up regardless of what happened to the ball, but Potts constantly bellowing from his knees is an unedifying, unnecessary and frankly embarrassing sight. He is a good bowler and doesn't need that nonsense in his game.

Final thoughts? People will target Mickey Arthur after such a day, but he didn't make the erroneous shot selections and you do have to give some credit to a very impressive and disciplined home performance. Ten of their players reached double figures on the same pitch and they batted for 120 overs. 

By the end of the day, Derbyshire had batted 69 overs and had lost fourteen wickets.

'Outclassed' doesn't do it justice. Defeat beckons tomorrow, but I hope that at least some pride can be restored.