Leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal starred with career-best match figures of nine for 99 as he bowled Northamptonshire to a Vitality County Championship victory inside three days against Derbyshire.
The experienced India white-ball international followed up his five-wicket tally from the first innings with four for 54 to bowl out Derbyshire for just 132 second time around at Wantage Road.
Chahal plugged away in tandem with off-spinner Rob Keogh, who took five for 45 – a season’s best of eight for 110 in the match – through most of the final session after the entire afternoon had been lost to rain.
The visitors, whose defeat keeps them at the foot of Division Two, never looked likely to mount a convincing challenge to their target of 266 despite bowling Northamptonshire out for 211 earlier in the day.
Resuming their second innings on 178 for five, Northamptonshire managed to stretch that total by a further 33, with Keogh completing his third half-century of the season before he was last man out for 63.
Derbyshire spinner Jack Morley (three for 69) extracted some turn, having both Justin Broad and Ben Sanderson caught at slip before Martin Andersson sent Dom Leech’s middle stump flying.
Andersson finished off the innings with figures of three for 23 after bowling Keogh around his legs, leaving Derbyshire to chase 266 – and they stumbled to 26 for two during the 40 minutes before rain arrived.
Harry Came was first to depart as Broad brought one back to trap him lbw and Brooke Guest, having punched his first delivery to the cover fence, was foxed by the final ball of the session from Chahal.
Guest was followed off by partner Luis Reece as well as the Northamptonshire fielders, with rain prompting an early lunch interval and a further heavy shower put paid to the afternoon session.
Chahal accounted for Reece, playing for turn to a ball that kept straight on and struck his off stump, soon after the resumption – and he might also have removed Wayne Madsen with an edge that eluded the slip fielder.
The veteran Derbyshire batter led a charmed life at times, attempting to late cut a couple of deliveries from Chahal that whistled just past the stumps before almost playing on to Keogh with a reverse sweep.
Madsen’s presence in the middle became ever more vital for the visitors as sharp glovework by Lewis McManus, stumping David Lloyd and then snapping up a leg-side catch off Keogh to dismiss the dangerous Aneurin Donald, plunged them into deeper trouble.
Andersson was bowled swinging across the line at Chahal, while Keogh continued to drive nails into the Derbyshire coffin, removing Zak Chappell lbw before Alex Thomson and Harry Moore were caught close in.
Morley held Northamptonshire up for almost five overs before he was bowled sweeping at Keogh, who completed his second five-for of the season against Derbyshire and left Madsen on 48 not out.
Derbyshire’s Head of Cricket, Mickey Arthur said: “We missed opportunities to dominate and, once we got into the last innings, chasing 266 was always going to be a tall order in those conditions.
“We knew an international quality leg-spinner, someone that’s RCB’s highest wicket-taker and decorated by India numerous times, was going to be a handful.
“What we saw from him was an exhibition in skill that was probably unseen by everyone in our dressing-room. Because he doesn’t give anything anyway, it makes the spinner at the other end a lot better.
“He didn’t let us off the hook and created pressure throughout the whole innings, whereas I felt yesterday we didn’t get enough balls in the right area and create pressure. But I thought Jack Morley came out this morning and bowled exceptionally well.
“We went through phases in the game where I thought we were very, very good but just not good enough in this game with the bat. It is that consistency of sessions – if you lose three sessions in a row, you put yourself under the pump.
“I back our dressing-room 100 per cent, and the talent we’ve got and I’m prepared to let this one slide – but at some point we’ve got to nail it.”
