Derbyshire hit their highest ever first-class score against Leicestershire as the Specsavers County Championship match at The 3aaa County Ground ended in a draw.
The hosts closed their first innings on 533, their 24th highest score ever in first-class cricket, before Harry Dearden (78) led the visitors to 217-3 when they declared shortly after tea, setting Derbyshire 304 to win off 33 overs.
Ben Slater (28 not out) and Billy Godleman (six not out) shared a 42-run opening stand, before the players shook hands on a draw shortly after 5pm. Both teams take 11 points from the fixture.
Tony Palladino said: “It was a pretty good deck, we were obviously hoping to win the toss and then get Jeevan involved later, but I think we showed a lot of character after going for 600 to reply with 530.
“There are a lot of games where you see teams blow up in the first innings so I think we’ve got a good hard earned draw out of the game and we’ve got to try and build on that but the wicket was probably a bit too flat and didn’t break up and spin as we anticipated.”
Derbyshire lost their final two wickets inside the first two overs of the day as Rob Hemmings (19) was caught behind off Clint Mckay (3-78), before Tony Palladino gloved Chappell (4-108) behind without scoring to close on 533, trailing by 86 runs.
Paul Horton (56) and Harry Dearden opened the second innings for the visitors and shared a 125-run opening partnership, until the 34th over when Horton was caught behind off Tom Taylor (1-45).
Dearden went on to make 78, before Jeevan Mendis (2-79) took his first of two wickets in the innings, thanks to a remarkable juggling catch from Billy Godleman at long-on.
The spinner struck again shortly after as Mark Cosgrove was caught, on the boundary again by Godleman, for 15. It was the all-rounder’s eighth wicket in the match, finishing with figures of 8-283.
Colin Ackermann (33 not out) and Ned Eckersley (17 not out) added an unbeaten 51 before Leicestershire declared on 217-3, setting Derbyshire 304 to win off 33 overs.
The hosts reached 42-0 after 10 overs before the players shook hands with the match ending in a draw.
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