du Plooy hits century on Day Two

Nottinghamshire first innings: 324: Hameed (68), Cohen (3-47). Second innings: 84-3: Hameed (30*), Conners (3-19).
Derbyshire first innings: 239: du Plooy (130), Critchley (45). 

Leus du Plooy struck a brilliant century for Derbyshire on Day Two of the Bob Willis Trophy fixture against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge. 

The left-handed batsman scored 130, 69 of which came during a record-breaking tenth-wicket partnership with Sam Conners (five not out), as Derbyshire posted 239 from their first innings.

Conners (3-19) took all three wickets as Nottinghamshire end the day 84-3, leading by 169, with Haseeb Hameed (30*) and Steven Mullaney (27*) to resume tomorrow.

Billy Godleman (18) and Luis Reece (0) survived the final four overs of Day One, but both were dismissed within the first five on the second morning, caught behind by Tom Moores off Jake Ball.

Wayne Madsen (0) was the next to go when he was caught by Nash as Ball continued to make an impact, leaving Derbyshire 26-3, but the arrival of Matt Critchley to the crease, joining du Plooy, set in motion a turning of the tide.

Critchley scored 45 as the pair added 93 runs before lunch, but the all-rounder fell five runs short of his half-century on the first ball after the interval, ran out by Mullaney.

Du Plooy’s final act of the 2019 season was to score a century against Middlesex, and he picked up where he left off at Lord’s with a scintillating knock that combined raw power with watchful strokeplay, although he was forced to take command of the Derbyshire innings after Harvey Hosein (1),  Fynn Hudson-Prentice (8) and Mattie McKiernan (0) all fell in quick succession.

Michael Cohen and Ben Aitchison added seven and eight respectively in their first innings for the club, before Conners came out to bat with the score 159-9 in the 52nd over.

The scoring accelerated for du Plooy as he approached three figures, something which was epitomised when he cracked Ball over the rope for six, bringing up his century in 144 balls, including 15 fours and that one six.

He was able to add a further two fours and two sixes before he was caught by Joey Evison off the bowling of Samit Patel, bringing Derbyshire’s innings to an end on 239..

While du Plooy took most of the strike, Conners had to negotiate 55 balls during his innings, and 21-year-old was equal to the Nottinghamshire attack, as he contributed five runs to the partnership of 80, the largest tenth-wicket stand for Derbyshire against Nottinghamshire.

The youngster showed no signs of fatigue after his time with the bat, making the perfect start with the ball as he bowled Chris Nash for a duck with just the second delivery of the innings.

12 overs later, Conners was at it again as he strangled Ben Duckett down the leg-side for 23, ending a second-wicket stand of 39, before he pinned Joe Clarke (2) lbw.

Hameed and Mullaney added 43 runs before the close of play, meaning that Nottinghamshire will resume on Day Three 84-3, leading by 169.

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