Wayne Madsen hit 45 from 27 balls before Derbyshire’s bowlers took centre stage as the Falcons defeated Somerset by 29 runs (D/L) in a reduced-overs Royal London One-Day Cup opener at Taunton.
With the weather initially reducing the match to 14 overs per side, Madsen hit eight fours in his innings as he was ably backed up by Wes Durston (29) to guide his side to 134-7.
The rain arrived again after one over of Somerset’s chase, with their target revised to 104 from 10 overs, and they subsided to 74 all out with Ben Cotton (3-11), Shiv Thakor (2-10), Alex Hughes (2-15), Greg Cork (2-17) and Mark Footitt (1-17) all amongst the wickets in a fine bowling display.
The victory means Derbyshire make a winning start to their new Royal London One-Day Cup campaign ahead of the county’s home opener against Yorkshire Vikings on Monday; 2pm start.
Having been put into bat, Derbyshire lost Hamish Rutherford for 15 in the second over after the New Zealand batsman was run out by Max Waller as 39-3 after 5.4 overs.
Durston started the recovery for his side but his useful cameo was over at the start of the ninth over as he skied a top edge to the wicketkeeper off the bowling of Craig Overton, after he had hit 29 from 19 balls. Madsen found the boundary regularly and he put on a partnership of 38 with Thakor, who added 13.
#VICTORY! Somerset all out for 74 and #DCCC win the @RL_Cricket opener by 29 runs! (D/L) #SOMvDER #P2bD pic.twitter.com/txSqIyoKL0
— Derbyshire CCC (@DerbyshireCCC) July 26, 2015
Madsen was finally dismissed for 45 from 27 balls off the last ball of the penultimate over. Alex Hughes (15), however, maintained the momentum to hit two fours off Tim Groenewald in the last over as Derbyshire closed on 134-7 from their 14 overs.
Derbyshire got off to a good start with the ball as Footitt removed Jim Allenby in the first over for two, before a rain delay resulted in Somerset’s target being revised to 104 from 10 overs.
The Derbyshire seam bowlers then dominated proceedings. Cotton first bowled Adam Hose for seven in the second over before Thakor took the key wickets of Peter Trego (0) and Tom Cooper (19) in the next over to reduce the home side to 31-4, with 73 runs required from six overs.
Cork then took two wickets in his first over as Gregory (4) and Craig Overton (0) were caught by Rutherford and Thakor respectively with the score on 36-6 and the visitors firmly on top.
Alex Hughes dismissed Hildreth and Groenewald in the eighth over to all but end any hopes of an unlikely Somerset victory, with Durston taking the catch on both occasions.
Cotton then removed Waller and Jamie Overton with the last two deliveries of the match to record career-best figures of 3-11 as Somerset were bowled out for 74 to give Derbyshire a 29-run victory via Duckworth/Lewis and a winning start to the new competition.
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