Guest, Madsen hit half-centuries, as Scrimshaw takes five

An unbeaten 80 by Derbyshire’s wicketkeeper-batter Brooke Guest frustrated Sussex on the second day of their LV= Insurance County Championship match at Hove, with Wayne Madsen making 51 and George Scrimshaw claiming a maiden first-class five-wicket haul.

Guest, who has yet to score a century this season, came in during the third over and was still there when bad light forced the players off at 5.45pm with his side 212 for three from 60 overs in reply to Sussex’s 402 and trailing by 190.

In the context of the game it was an important contribution from the 26-year-old who has so far shared a fourth-wicket stand of 70 with Leus du Plooy, the second-highest run scorer in Division Two. He has contributed 32.

With rain forcing the team off for an hour during the afternoon it was a frustrating day for Sussex, who have moved back into second place in the table as a result of Leicestershire’s inactivity against Glamorgan by claiming five bonus points so far, but who are desperate to claim a second win of the season and enhance their promotion prospects.

The hosts, dismissed earlier in the day for 402, had to be patient on a slow pitch with little sideways movement.

Harry Came, having taken three boundaries off Henry Shipley in the first over of the reply, was caught at square leg off a mistimed pull in the New Zealander’s second over, but Guest and Luis Reece progressed carefully either side of lunch as Sussex employed five seamers and off-spinner Jack Carson in search of a breakthrough.

Reece had his share of luck. On three a thick edge off Shipley dropped just short of third slip and then on 20 Ari Karvelas, diving forward at fine leg, couldn’t hold on to a mis-timed pull. But after adding three more runs he drove at Shipley’s away-swinger and edged to slip.

Either side of an hour’s delay for rain in mid-afternoon Madsen accumulated busily and when he reached 23 he passed Denis Smith to become Derbyshire’s second highest run-scorer in all formats on 20,520, although Kim Barnett’s club record of 36,212 looks safe for a while yet.

But two balls after reaching fifty for the fourth time this season Madsen was out in unlucky circumstances when a full-blooded sweep at Carson bounced off short leg Dan Ibrahim’s pads and rebounded to Karvelas, who took a simple catch in the covers.

With the floodlights on and the light poor Sussex would have fancied making further inroads but Guest, who has so far faced 176 balls and hit 12 fours and a six, and du Plooy stood firm before the players went off with 22 overs not bowled.

Earlier, Sussex had been dismissed for 402 with beanpole seamer George Scrimshaw picking up the last three wickets to finish with a career-best 5 for 49 as he took the 1000th five-wicket haul by a Derbyshire bowler.

Karvelas was caught in the gully and Carson edged his second ball to second slip with Sussex still 20 runs short of a fourth batting point.

But last man Shipley hit a six with the ball lodging on the pavilion roof to bring up the 400 before he was caught at point to give Scrimshaw his fifth wicket. Fynn Hudson-Prentice was left unbeaten on 63, his fifth half-century of the season.

Derbyshire batter Wayne Madsen, who made 51, said: “The record [becoming Derbyshire’s second highest run scorer] is a nice accolade to have and I was glad to make a contribution to the cause today in terms of us trying to win this game.

“We weren’t anywhere where we needed to be with the ball yesterday but Scrimmy [George Scrimshaw] set the tone this morning by finishing their innings off quickly and we were able to bat and put ourselves in a position to try and hopefully win the game. There is still a long way for us to go before we’re ahead but if we can bat until mid-afternoon tomorrow we could be in a position to see how the game unfolds.

“Sussex showed us how to bowl with the new ball up front but we were eventually able to put some pressure back on them. Brooke Guest has batted really well and with good intent and hopefully he can push on tomorrow.

“I tried to put Jack Carson under pressure and I’d nailed a couple of sweeps so it was unfortunate what happened with my dismissal but it’s history. It’s a shame because Brooky and I were batting well.”

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