Madsen hits 171 as Derbyshire recover well

Wayne Madsen became only the third Derbyshire batsmen to score three consecutive hundreds against the same county as his side enjoyed a good first day against Sussex in the LV= Insurance County Championship at Hove.

Sussex, seeking their first Championship win since April 2021, had the better of the morning session when they reduced Derbyshire to 83 for four, but Madsen didn’t offer a chance on an easy-paced pitch as he progressed serenely to his 34th first-class century for the county. Only Kim Barnett (53) has scored more.

By the close Madsen was 171 not out – the highest score by a Derbyshire batsman in Sussex – as they closed on 336 for five from 97 overs.

Derbyshire elected to bat first but lost Billy Godleman and Brooke Guest during a lively opening spell by left-armer Sean Hunt. Godleman offered a low catch to slip after Hunt found some late away movement while Guest lost his middle stump off a big inside edge attempting an expansive drive.

At the other end, Shan Masood became the first player to lodge 1,000 first-class runs this season when he reached nine and the prolific Pakistan batsman looked in the mood to make another big contribution, especially when he was badly dropped by wicketkeeper Oli Carter on 43 in Tom Haines’ first over.

Fortunately for Sussex it did not prove an expensive miss. Masood had added three more runs when he was pinned on his crease during an excellent spell down the slope by Steve Finn, who was making his first Championship appearance since the meeting at Derby in April. In his 12th innings Masood did become the quickest Derbyshire batsman to reach 1,000, beating the previous record by Peter Kirsten of 16 in 1980.

Haines was rewarded for his accuracy when he went round the wicket to Luis du Plooy and uprooted his leg stump as the batsman offered no shot.

Haines should have been celebrating again when Luis Reece, with just a single to his name, drove to mid on but Hunt failed to hold onto the catch as he dived forward.

On this occasion it was to prove a costly drop as Reece and Madsen added 120 in 36 overs. Sussex’s seven-man attack plugged away but there was little assistance once the ball went soft and it took a misjudgement on Reece’s part to end the stand shortly after he’d reached his fifty, when he top-edged a sweep at Delray Rawlins and lobbed up a simple catch to Carter.

Madsen drove Archie Lenham through the covers shortly after tea to bring up his 40th hundred in all formats for Derbyshire – only Barnett (66) has scored more – and Derbyshire’s 999^th first-class century.

Sussex took the new ball immediately it became available, but the remorseless Madsen soon had Sussex back on the defensive again as he was joined in another productive partnership by Anuj Dal, who has contributed 45 to a stand of 136 in 40 overs.

Madsen said: “Hove is a great ground to play and for the last couple of years we’ve had good wickets to bat on. I’ve gone past John Morris in terms of hundreds for Derbyshire today and I know he’s got a bottle of champagne waiting for me when I get back to Derby, so that is something to look forward to.

“We were in a bit of trouble early on. When the ball was harder it nipped around a touch and when Sussex got it in decent areas it was pretty hard work. So it was nice to fight back with [Luis] Reece and Anuj [Dal] to get us into a decent position. We’re pretty happy but we’ve got a lot of hard work in the morning to get us to the score that we want, then hopefully later on in the game the wicket will bring our spinners into play.”

ends

Vitality Blast 2022 – Tickets on sale now!

Tickets for Derbyshire’s final Vitality Blast North Group fixture against Durham on Sunday 3 July (2.30pm) at The Incora County Ground are on sale now.

Buy now to guarantee your ticket and save over 20%