Mark Footitt claimed three wickets, to take his tally to six in the match, to ensure Derbyshire remained firmly on top after Day Three against Gloucestershire at Bristol.
Harvey Hosein completed his maiden first-class half-century before Derbyshire declared on 545-9 midway through the morning session, a first innings lead of 270 – thanks largely to Martin Guptill’s career-best 227 on Day Two.
Despite stubborn resistance from the hosts, Wayne Madsen’s side claimed wickets at intervals throughout the day, with Footitt (3-34) the pick of the bowlers for Derbyshire claiming three wickets including one with the penultimate delivery of the day.
He was ably assisted by Tony Palladino who took 2-43 and Tom Taylor who has 1-61 as Gloucestershire closed on 253-6, still trailing Derbyshire by 17 runs with four wickets remaining going into the final day.
Elite Performance Director, Graeme Welch said: “The pitch flattened out a bit, but I was proud of the lads for the way they kept going out there. If you do the right things you get the rewards. Martin Guptill took two great catches and with six Gloucestershire wickets down, we are still in a great position.
“You’ve got to get wickets in different ways and we threw the dice in the last over. We put a short leg in and a man around the corner at leg gully and, thankfully, we got a wicket.”
Having decided not to declare overnight, Hosein was given the chance to bring up his maiden half-century in first-class cricket and went onto make a career-best 61, at which point Madsen declared with the score on 545-9 and a lead of 270.
Gloucestershire were left a tall order with the best part of two days still to play, especially when Footitt had Chris Dent caught behind for two in just the seventh over of their second innings.
Will Tavare and Gareth Roderick composed themselves and steered Gloucestershire to 47-1 at lunch, but Tony Palladino removed both Tavare and Peter Handscomb after the break for 45 and 14 respectively, after the former had put on 115 for the second wicket with Roderick.
Roderick was well-set on 75 when Tom Taylor castled him via an inside edge just before tea to give Derbyshire a vital breakthrough and leave the hosts on 156-4.
After his heroics with the bat, Martin Guptill was keen to stamp his mark on the game even further and took a sensational catch at second slip to remove Geraint Jones when Footitt enticed his edge.
Hamish Marshall batted well late on to finish unbeaten on 47 but lost his partner Keiran Noema-Barnett for 31 in the final over when Guptill took yet another exceptional catch at leg slip off Footitt to leave Gloucestershire on 253-6 and Derbyshire closing in on their first win of 2015.
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Photography: David Griffin
