A century from Billy Godleman helped give Derbyshire a healthy first innings lead after Day Two of the Specsavers County Championship match versus Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge.
Godleman top scored with 121 and Wayne Madsen scored 56 on a good day for the visitors as Derbyshire posted 363 in their first innings, a lead of 134 runs.
The visitors then made two early breakthroughs before stumps to reduce Nottinghamshire to 67-2, trailing by 67 runs going into Day Three.
Madsen said: “We’ve competed well yesterday and today and we are happy that we are now in a position where going forward we have got a decent chance in this game if we play some good cricket tomorrow and on Monday.
“We knew we wanted to start well and get as close to their score as possible but if we could get through the first hour with no damage, then good – and that’s what we did. So our partnership set us up for the day and we were able to take it past them.”
It was a near-perfect morning session for Derbyshire as Godleman and Madsen took their side from 52-2 to 177-3 at lunch to put the visitors in the ascendancy.
Madsen was the only wicket to fall, lbw to Hutton, shortly before the interval for 56 off 107 balls, including 10 fours.
Two wickets fell soon after the restart, Alex Hughes for 13 and Gary Wilson for 12, but Derbyshire moved past 200 and was closing in on Nottinghamshire’s first innings total.
The score was surpassed in the 66th over, at the same time as Godleman brought up his third century of the campaign, off 155 balls and including 11 fours. It was his 10th first-class hundred for Derbyshire as he became one of only 28 batsmen to achieve the feat for the county.
Godleman shared a 58-run stand with Daryn Smit to take the lead over 40, before the latter was the sixth man out for 32, with Derbyshire 275-6.
Captain Godleman reached 121 when he was finally dismissed just after tea as the visitors passed 300. The final three wickets then added 67 runs to put Derbyshire in a good position.
Jeevan Mendis hit 20, Tom Taylor scored 32 and debutant Conor McKerr added 16 not out as the visitors posted 363 all out to secure a 134-run first innings lead.
After a fast start to their innings, two great catches by Smit behind the stumps helped Derbyshire make early in-roads into the Nottinghamshire line-up.
First McKerr had Jake Libby caught behind for 15, before Taylor removed India Test batsman Cheteshwar Pujara for 13, this time to a one-handed grab by Smit, as Nottinghamshire closed on 67-2, still trailing by 67 runs.
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