Derbyshire face tough final day

Derbyshire are facing a difficult Day Four against Glamorgan, after a batting collapse in the first innings left them with an uphill task at The Incora County Ground. 

After an opening stand of 165 between Luis Reece and Harry Came, Derbyshire lost seven wickets for 44 to be bowled out for 318 but following on, the pair again played well to close on 78 without loss, 125 runs behind.

Reece scored 131, his first championship hundred of the season, and Came 65 but the home side fell apart against the second new ball as Glamorgan secured maximum bonus points.

Leus du Plooy made 41 to complete 1,000 championship runs for the season but his dismissal started the slide with Timm van der Gugten finishing with 3 for 94.

Until that second new ball, Derbyshire had looked comfortable as they accumulated steadily against accurate but mainly unthreatening bowling.

On a rain interrupted morning, Came and Reece played patiently with the former reaching his 50 from 162 balls as the pair recorded Derbyshire’s highest opening stand against Glamorgan at Derby.

The bowlers were getting little out of a slow pitch and after a brief rain break, it was a lapse in concentration that brought about the breakthrough.

Came was tempted into driving at a wide ball from Timm van der Gugten and edged into the gloves of Chris Cooke.

It had taken 64 overs but Glamorgan only had to wait another four balls as Brooke Guest, who scored centuries in both innings of the corresponding match last season, was trapped on the crease and lbw for a duck.

Another shower left Reece on 99 at lunch but he completed his hundred immediately after the resumption with an edge past the slips off van der Gugten for his 12th four.

When du Plooy drove van der Gugten to the cover boundary, he reached 1,000 championship runs in a season for Derbyshire for the first time and although he was dropped at slip off Swepson on 33, the wheels came flying off shortly afterwards.

Reece was caught off the glove sweeping Mitchell Swepson and when the new ball was taken, McIlroy got some late movement to have du Plooy caught behind.

Haider Ali went in the next over cutting at van der Gugten and Anuj Dal failed to make the most of a dropped catch in the slips  before he had scored when he edged Jamie McIlroy behind.

At tea, Derbyshire needed another 63 to avoid following-on but the last four wickets went for only two runs in 19 balls.

Andy Gorvin was getting the ball to swing in the overcast conditions but Alex Thomson edged a big drive before Tom Wood missed a sweep at Swepson.

Gorvin tempted Zak Chappell into a drive which secured full bowling points and when George Scrimshaw was run out, Glamorgan had no hesitation in putting Derbyshire back in.

The good news for the hosts was that the sun was now out and batting became easier as Came and Reece combined again to frustrate Glamorgan.

David Lloyd rotated his bowlers but Derbyshire’s openers played responsibly to bat 33 overs to the close to give their side a chance of saving the match with Reece unbeaten on 53.

Derbyshire opener Harry Came said: “It just shows if you dig in as a team there are wickets out there but we’re going to have to come back hard tomorrow and try and bat really well.

“We knew 200 behind they didn’t really have much of a choice, they had to go and bowl again. We are very pleased to have got through and come back tomorrow with 10 wickets in the shed.

“Reecey (Luis Reece) played exceptionally well all day. It’s good fun batting with him, we try and feed off each other, that right hand-;left hand combination can help us quite a lot and we seem to have some success together at times.

“It definitely seemed to spin a bit more this evening and they’ve got a class leg spinner in Mitchell Swepson so I’m sure that will play a part tomorrow.but we;ve just got to dig in as a batting unit.”

8 for £80 – the flexible bundle to suit you!

All four Metro Bank One Day Cup home games are included in our new 8 for £80 bundle.

Enjoy any eight days of LV= County Championship or One-Day Cup cricket with our new 8 for £80 bundle, designed to suit your schedule.

The 8 for £80 bundle means you can tailor the Derbyshire fixtures to your schedule, so you can visit The Incora County Ground when it suits you.

Juniors can attend all LV= County Championship and Metro Bank One Day Cup fixtures until the end of the 2023 season for FREE, meaning you can introduce your youngsters to county cricket for less this summer!