Mark Footitt and Ben Cotton both took five wickets in the day as the Derbyshire attack bowled superbly to blow away Northamptonshire and put the visitors in control at Northampton.
Footitt secured the 14th five-wicket haul of his first-class career in the first innings, while Cotton returned figures of 3-26, as Derbyshire dismissed the hosts for 116 shortly after lunch, trailing by 245.
In total, 15 Northamptonshire wickets fell on Day Two after the visitors enforced the follow-on, with Tony Palladino picking up four wickets in the day, including two just before stumps.
At the close, the home side had reached parity thanks largely to a brilliant century by Ben Duckett who is 132 not out in his side’s 245-6, but the day firmly belonged to Derbyshire’s bowlers.
The Derbyshire seam attack dominated the Northamptonshire batsmen from the moment Footitt had Duckett with the second ball of the innings right up until the hosts were bowled out for 116. The first wicket to fall in the day was to Palladino when he bowled Stephen Peters for 13 and that was followed up soon after when Alex Wakely shouldered arms and was bowled by Footitt for eight.
Night-watchman Olly Stone was dismissed in Footitt’s next over when the left-armer had him caught and bowled for 19 with Northamptonshire on 51-4.
Playing in his first LV= County Championship match since the fixture between the two sides at Derby, Cotton had his first wicket of the match when Rob Keogh was caught behind for nine.
Richard Levi played aggressively in the face of the fired up Derbyshire attack but could only make 33 when Thakor bowled him after the hosts had brought up three figures, on 104-6.
Yet another five-wicket haul for @footitt_mark, @englandcricket… #FootittForEngland #P2bD pic.twitter.com/x7eT5Wgv2A
— Derbyshire CCC (@DerbyshireCCC) July 19, 2015
Whilst the total stayed the same, the hosts lost their seventh wicket as Cotton had Adam Rossington lbw for 17 with the last ball of the last over before lunch to round off a sensational morning for the Derbyshire seamers.
Footitt took his fourth wicket of the innings with his first ball after the interval when Hamish Rutherford took the catch of Rory Kleinveldt without scoring. Footitt then cleaned up Maurice Chambers for one in his next over to complete the 12th first-class five-wicket haul of his Derbyshire career.
It was left to Cotton to finish off the Northamptonshire tail with Billy Godleman taking the catch of Ben Sanderson for two as the final five wickets fell for just 12 runs.
In a devastating display by Derbyshire’s four-pronged seam attack, Northamptonshire were bowled out for 116 and Wayne Madsen wasted no time in enforcing the follow-on with his side 245 runs ahead.
Northamptonshire opener Peters fell for the second time in the day when, on 12, he spooned Footitt into the air for Thakor to take a simple catch. Wakeley and Duckett, however, put on 40 for the second wicket before Cotton had the hosts’ skipper caught by Palladino for five.
Duckett played resolutely for Northamptonshire to reach a half-century from 75 balls and shared a 46-run stand with Keogh for the third wicket until the latter was bowled by Palladino for 11 as the third second-innings wicket fell for exactly 100 runs.
Levi was in at five for Northamptonshire and once again attacked the Derbyshire bowling, taking three fours from a Cotton over before the bowler had his revenge, trapping Levi lbw for 22 at the end of the same over.
Duckett eradicated any memories of his first-ball dismissal in the first innings to score a fine century from 134 balls during a partnership of 98 at 6.91 runs per over with Rossington that helped the hosts get towards parity.
Palladino picked up the wickets of both Rossington (39) and Stone (3) late on as Northamptonshire closed on 245-6 with the scores level going into Day Three.
Click here to view scorecard>>
Derbyshire welcome Australia to Derby in the Bell & Co Tourist Fixture. Buy your matchday tickets in advance & save £4 per adult ticket purchased. Watch international stars including Mitchell Johnson, Michael Clarke, Steve Smith and David Warner in action at Derby.
[ticketbuttons]
