Godleman and Reece pile on runs as Derbyshire dominate

Billy Godleman and Luis Reece scored their first county championship hundreds of the season to put Derbyshire in a commanding position on the second day of the LV=Insurance match against Leicestershire.

On a day of records at the Incora County Ground, Godleman, 158 not out, and Reece, 116, shared an opening stand of 251 to severely dent Leicestershire’s chances of ending their winless run in the championship.

The bottom club in Division Two endured three tough sessions in the field, taking only two wickets as Derbyshire closed on 356 for 2, a lead of 107.

Leicestershire went into the day knowing they had to make early inroads with a ball that was only 16 overs old but a limited attack rarely looked like taking a wicket.

Even Chris Wright was out of sorts by his standards and the lack of pressure on Godleman and Reece allowed them to settle in and accumulate steadily throughout the morning session.

The closest Leicestershire came to breaking the stand was when Godleman, whose previous highest score in the championship this year was 43, tried to hit Callum Parkinson over the top but the ball dropped just out of reach of the fielder running back from mid on.

By lunch, Derbyshire had added 89 runs in 32 overs to move to 146 without loss, only the fourth century stand between Godleman and Reece in six seasons of opening together.

Although a dry, hot summer has favoured batting, the pair have struggled in the championship but on a good pitch and faced with increasingly threadbare bowling, they made sure of ending the season on a high.

Reece pulled Ed Barnes for six to bring up the 200 stand in the 62nd over which was Derbyshire’s fifth double century partnership of the season, a record for the county.

Five overs later he reached his century which came off 205 balls and Godleman needed one ball fewer to complete his which gave the pair another entry in the county record books.

It was the 16th instance of both openers scoring 100 in the same innings, the third time they have achieved the feat, equalling the Derbyshire record held by Kim Barnett and Peter Bowler.

The next milestone passed was Derbyshire’s highest first wicket stand against Leicestershire of 233 set by Denis Smith and Albert Alderman at Chesterfield in 1937 and it came as a surprise when Reece was dismissed two overs before tea.

He chipped back a return catch as he went to drive Rehan Ahmed’s leg spin but there was no respite for the visitors as Brooke Guest joined Godleman to set another record.

When Derbyshire reached a third batting point, they had scored 300 in the first innings of every championship match at Derby this season for the first time in the club’s history.

When the light improved enough for Leicestershire to claim a second new ball, Roman Walker had Guest caught behind for 40 but Godleman reached his 150 before the close on the day he passed 10,000 first-class runs.