When Hardus Viljoen took 7-80 and 8-90 in Derbyshire’s 45-run win over Sussex at Hove last week, the big South African broke many records.
Heritage Officer, David Griffin, looks at this stunning performance.
Cricket is a game of numbers, amongst other things, so let’s take a look at the statistics first;
They were also the best innings and match figures of the season for Derbyshire and Viljoen’s 8-90 in the second innings was only the 85th time that a bowler had taken eight wickets in an innings in the Club’s history.
But beneath these astonishing statistics lies a tale of almost 43 overs of fast, accurate and sustained hostility spread over two innings against the pre-season favourites for promotion from the second division.
With a good record over recent years at Hove, Derbyshire batted first and posted a respectable 338 all out with five players scoring between 38 and 51, before Sussex began their first innings on a blustery but sunny second morning.
Harry Podmore made the initial breakthrough before Viljoen, changing ends and operating from the Sea End, took the wickets – all clean bowled – of Wells, van Zyl, and Nash.
Progress was steady and Wright and Wiese added a patient 80, but Viljoen steadily worked his way through the innings as Sussex closed on 271, a deficit of 67.
Viljoen’s figures of 7-80 were a just reward for 17.5 overs of pace and hostility and ensured that Derbyshire went into the second half of the game scenting a second championship win of the season.
Three players made fifties in the second innings, including Harry Podmore who passed his previous career best of 21 in making an unbeaten 66, while Ben Slater added 45 to his first innings 48 as Derbyshire declared on 322-8 before the start of play on the final day, leaving Sussex to chase 390 for victory.
Sussex’ previous highest successful chase against Derbyshire was 311-3 at Horsham in 1937, but with a powerful batting line-up, and a short boundary towards the pavilion, the odds were on an exciting final day.
Robson fell almost immediately to Viljoen, Critchley taking the first of two good catches in the innings, before Wells and van Zyl added 128 for the second wicket, making largely untroubled progress.
After lunch, Wells continued his good form, hitting Viljoen for three consecutive fours, before the former was trapped lbw, and Chris Nash followed in Viljoen’s next over, caught in the slips by Alex Hughes.
The match continued to ebb and flow as Luke Wright, a real Sussex favourite, batted fluently alongside van Zyl to take the score at tea to 236-3, needing just 154 more runs from 36 overs. The mood amongst the handful of Derbyshire supporters present was one of resignation – Sussex’ batsmen were in control, the pitch looked flat, and progress towards the victory target appeared straightforward.
Hardus Viljoen, however, had other ideas. First, he had van Zyl caught at third man and then dismissed the Sussex captain, Brown, caught at slip, again by Hughes.
? Stumps everywhere. Stunning catches. Record-breaking. @Hardus_Vilj was on ?? this week at Hove. Watch all 1️⃣5️⃣ wickets…#P2bD pic.twitter.com/RQrWs6xysT
— Derbyshire CCC (@DerbyshireCCC) September 16, 2017
The match continued to ebb and flow as Luke Wright, a real Sussex favourite, batted fluently alongside van Zyl to take the score at tea to 236-3, needing just 154 more runs from 36 overs. The mood amongst the handful of Derbyshire supporters present was one of resignation – Sussex’ batsmen were in control, the pitch looked flat, and progress towards the victory target appeared straightforward.
Hardus Viljoen, however, had other ideas. First, he had van Zyl caught at third man and then dismissed the Sussex captain, Brown, caught at slip, again by Hughes.
But it was his next wicket which swung the match in Derbyshire’s favour. Running in from the Sea End, arms pumping, he removed Wright’s middle stump with a fast yorker before setting off on a celebration run as Wright stayed in his crease, bat hung out to dry, surveying the damage all around him.
Robinson and Archer added 31 for the seventh wicket but Viljoen removed them both, and with the score on 318-8, the big South African stood tantalisingly on the brink of becoming only the third ever Derbyshire bowler to take 10 wickets in an innings.
Harry Podmore, however, dismissed both Wiese and Garton to secure a 45-run win and cue wild celebrations as the players dashed around the outfield, congratulating each other.
Viljoen grabbed a stump – and the ball – and walked off to a tremendous ovation from the supporters of both sides.
There were significant contributions from the entire Derbyshire side – some fine catches were held, and runs were scored at crucial times, and the other bowlers all played their part, but Viljoen’s performance will stand as one of the finest in the county’s history.
Derbyshire has a great heritage of fast bowlers, and the lineage from 1870 reads like a “Who’s Who” of fast bowling including Mycroft (who still has the best match figures of 17-103 in 1876), Hulme, Warren, Bestwick, Morton, Copson, Pope, Gladwin, Jackson (Les and Brian), Rhodes, Ward, Hendrick, Holding, Mortensen, Malcolm, Bishop, Cork, DeFreitas, Dean and Footitt.
This writer has had the pleasure of watching more than half of the above-named over almost half a century and I can think of no other comparable sustained fast bowling performance for the county than Viljoen’s.
Michael Holding’s 8-21 – also at Hove – in a NatWest Trophy game in 1988 was frightening to watch, but the bowler himself didn’t overly rate the performance; Ian Bishop took 7-34 at Southampton in 1992 and bowled quicker than anyone I’ve ever seen; but over the course of two innings, for sustained pace, accuracy, the ability to hit the stumps (Viljoen clean bowled six batsmen in this match), and in dominating the opposition in a winning cause, this must rate as the finest example I’ve seen.
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