Derbyshire v Kent day 3

Derbyshire 300 and 352-8 (Guest 75*, Reece 53, Came 51, Andersson 50, Mahmud 3-52)

Kent 219 and 3-0

Kent require 431 runs to win

There was another impressive performance by Derbyshire at Derby today, as they set Kent an unlikely total of 434 runs to win in the final innings of the game.

Batting remained challenging, but fifties from Martin Andersson, Luis Reece, Harry Came and Brooke Guest saw them to 352-8 before the declaration came.

All batted well, but it was especially nice to see Guest return to form, in a typically busy innings full of wristy strokes. Ben Aitchison lent some bucolic late support and I suspect Mickey Arthur would have declared earlier,  had the light not meant they would have had to open the bowling with spinners.

As it turned out they did, but only briefly, before bad light and rain took them off for the day.

Andersson went past 1600 runs for the summer in all formats, again highlighting his importance to the side. His development since his arrival from Middlesex has been quite remarkable and I am surprised that there hasn't yet been a call up for either The Hundred or England Lions. Maybe he is seen as too old for the latter, but the selection of Nye Donald for the Lions this weekend and subsequently the full side should encourage him to keep going. The ability is certainly there and I always enjoy watching him.

So Kent will go into tomorrow needing a further 431 runs to secure the win that would boost their promotion hopes. 

I don't think they will get there and if Derbyshire play as they have throughout this game, the win points that they fully deserve will be theirs.

It would be the fourth of the summer, all but one of them against teams higher in the table. As I said in my latest interview with James Sadler of North Derbyshire Radio today, the losses to Gloucestershire and Lancashire have been the season-breakers.

Had they produced anything like their best form in those matches, a genuine promotion challenge would have been possible.

Until the gap between their best and worst narrows, it remains a pipe dream.

But there's always next year, eh? 😉

PS I will post a link to that interview, where we discuss the latest results, individual players and winter planning, when it is available tomorrow