Second XI: Derbyshire dominate at Lady Bay

Derbyshire produced a dominant performance to defeat Nottinghamshire at Lady Bay in the Second XI Championship.

Brooke Guest (85) and Tom Wood (77) impressed with the bat, while Alex Thomson’s 5-75 and Suranga Lakmal’s 4-32 helped the visitors to a 10-wicket victory in West Bridgford.

With Day One entirely washed out by a wet outfield, Derbyshire were asked to bat first on Day Two, and after the early loss of Harry Came, Guest struck a run-a-ball 85, following on from his impressive 92 for the first team against Leicestershire last week.

Wood (77) and Mitch Wagstaff (42) provided a crucial middle-order partnership of 76, while 45 between Nick Potts and Ben Aitchison for the ninth wicket allowed Derbyshire to declare on 339-8 early on the third morning.

Suranga Lakmal, who was playing for the Second XI to build match sharpness after recovering from the elbow injury which wiped out much of his 2022 campaign, struck with just his fourth ball of the innings and went on to claim an impressive 4-32 from his nine overs, with Calvin Harrison’s 25 the top score, as the hosts were bowled out for just 131.

The Derbyshire attack would soon be depleted, though, with Anuj Dal withdrawn after feeling a side complaint while bowling, he will undergo a scan to assess the severity this week and work with the Club’s Medical Team.

Asked to follow on, Nottinghamshire started much stronger, with Ben Martindale (27) and Dane Schadendorf (50) putting on 62 for the first wicket. However, Alex Thomson worked tirelessly to chip away at their batting lineup, bowling 28 of the 76 second-innings overs and claiming 5-75 as Derbyshire were set just 17 to win.

Came and Luis Reece guided Derbyshire to a 10-wicket win, which puts Chris Highton’s team third in the Second XI Championship table after two rounds.