Madsen hits century on Day Two

Leicestershire first innings: 199: Dearden 70, Melton 4-22
Derbyshire first innings: 408: Madsen 103, Hosein 66*

Wayne Madsen struck 103 on another good day for Derbyshire against Leicestershire at the Fischer County Ground. 

The batsman’s 172-ball century is his fifth against Leicestershire in first-class cricket, and he was ably backed-up by half-centuries from Harvey Hosein (66 not out), Luis Reece (56) and Leus du Plooy (55) on the second afternoon.

The innings ended on 408, before Leicestershire’s opening duo of Callum Parkinson (yet to score) and Hassan Azad (yet to score) saw off a sole over to end the day 2-0, trailing by 207.

Having begun the day on 101-1, the pairing of Madsen and Reece set about continuing their impressive run-scoring from the previous evening, but they could only add 15 between them before the latter was run-out by Dieter Klein.

This brought du Plooy to the crease, and he quickly struck four boundaries as he raced to 26 from his first 24 balls, while Madsen himself brought up his half-century in 73 deliveries, with a glance off his pads to the rope.

Du Plooy followed suit, and his eighth boundary in 70 balls took him to 50, with the fourth-wicket partnership standing at 93 when they departed the field for lunch.

However, he could not replicate the kind of innings that saw him smash 130 in the opening fixture at Trent Bridge, when he nicked one through to Harry Swindells off Klein for 55.

Madsen drove Will Davis down the ground to reach three figures, the 17th time he found the rope in 172 balls.

After Matt Critchley saw off a maiden over from Callum Parkinson, Madsen fell when a delivery from Davis kept low and took his off-stump, bringing Alex Hughes out to the middle.

Hughes (27) and Critchley (24) enjoyed entertaining innings, but both were caught off the bowling of Colin Ackermann, while Anuj Dal (25) was trapped lbw by Klein.

Hosein accelerated his scoring, and he smashed six fours and one six on his way to his 50, while Sam Conners hit 21 from just 25 balls, his highest first-class score, as Derbyshire secured maximum batting points.

Conners and Dustin Melton (0) fell with consecutive deliveries from Parkinson, as the visitors’ innings ended on 408, with a lead of 209 at The Fischer County Ground.

Parkinson faced the first over of the Leicestershire innings, and saw off Reece’s over to end the day 2-0, thanks to a no ball, with the hosts still trailing by 207 heading into the third morning.

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