Billy Godleman says says that he was proud of the effort that Derbyshire put in to earn victory over Worcestershire at Kidderminster.
Godleman’s side secured their third Specsavers County Championship win of the season, with Ravi Rampaul, Fynn Hudson-Prentice and Tony Palladino sharing ten wickets in the second innings.
After 20 wickets fell on Day One, both sides found dismissals harder to come by on Days Two, Three and Four, with Tom Lace top-scoring in the match with an unbeaten 132.
Derbyshire came into the final day of the match at Kidderminster still needed five wickets, and the sixth-wicket pair of Callum Ferguson and Ben Cox spent much of the opening session in.
However, once Rampaul made the breakthrough, Derbyshire moved into a commanding position and eventually won when Tony Palladino dismissed Joe Leach.
Godleman believes that the patience and effort showed by the team is a huge positive, and something that he was very pleased to see from the side.
“Today patience was the key, making sure we controlled the scoreboard and the scoring rate of the opposition,” said Godleman
“We knew if we could get into their nine, ten and eleven then things could move quickly in the game. Their guys played really well the first hour this morning, made it really difficult for us, but I’m so proud of the guys, the bowling unit, and everyone as a team for how they stuck to the task and gave 110 per cent out there.
“We still had the buffer for the majority of the time of 100 plus runs and on this wicket it was a lot of runs to get.”
Godleman praised Lace for his century in the second innings, which also saw him put on a near-hundred run stand with Palladino (58) for the ninth wicket.
“It was a remarkable first day (when 20 wickets fell) and the match defining contribution on day two and three was Tom Lace’s 132,” added Godleman.
“On that wicket, the amount of balls he faced, to bat for eight hours, to remain undefeated was excellent and it was a match-defining 99-run partnership with Tony.”
Vitality Blast is back this month! Tickets for all seven home matches on sale now, including the big clash against Notts Outlaws on Friday 26 July. Buy online or call 01332 388 101.
[twentyticket]
