Guest digs in for century on positive opening day

Brooke Guest’s second first-class century gave Derbyshire the advantage on the opening day of the LV=Insurance County Championship match at Derby.

Shan Masood scored 60 before falling to Michael Hogan, who was the pick of the Glamorgan attack with 3-45, but remains on course for the most runs scored in April.

Guest made 109, his second first-class hundred, and Wayne Madsen 70 as Derbyshire closed on 282 for 5 when bad light ended play just after 6pm. 

All the attention was on Masood before the Division Two game with the Pakistan left-hander closing in on Nick Compton’s record tally of 712 in April 2012.

After consecutive double centuries, Masood had 611 runs from four innings when Billy Godleman won the toss and elected to bat on a chilly, grey morning.

The pitch looked a good one although Hogan bowled superbly and could easily have removed Masood in a challenging opening spell.

Michael Neser, on antibiotics for an infected toe, struggled with his line but Hogan was relentless in his accuracy and deserved more than the one wicket he took in a seven over shift from the City end that cost only 11 runs.

The 40-year-old almost had Masood on five when a bottom-edged pull bounced just wide off the stumps before his persistent probing did for Godleman.

Derbyshire’s skipper was undone by one that moved away just enough to take the outside edge in the 12th over but that was Glamorgan’s only success of the morning .

That was down to the discipline and patience of Masood and Guest with the latter emerging from an uncertain start to play with increasing confidence.

Glamorgan thought they had Masood on 30 when he was beaten by some swing from David Lloyd and struck in front but umpire Paul Pollard was unmoved, possibly thinking the ball had pitched just outside leg.

Masood completed his fifth consecutive 50 shortly after lunch and looked to be moving towards another three figure score until Hogan held a smart return catch.

He dived away to his right to grab a leading edge one-handed but the departure of the country’s leading run scorer did not unsettle Derbyshire.

Guest and Madsen picked off the bad balls with Guest completing his hundred from 196 balls while Madsen passed yet another milestone on his way to 50.

He became only the fifth Derbyshire player to reach 18,000 runs in all formats as Derbyshire accumulated steadily in conditions that had deteriorated enough for the floodlights to be used.

To their credit, Glamorgan plugged away and were rewarded when Hogan and Neser claimed three wickets with the second new ball.

Neser delivered his best spell of the day and after going past the bat several times, dismissed Madsen in the gloom, trapping him on the crease as he went half-forward.

That ended a stand of 161 in 47 overs and Guest soon followed, bowled by one that moved away, before nightwatchman Sam Conners was lbw to Neser to take some of the gloss off Derbyshire’s day.

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