MATCH REPORT: Derbyshire hang on in a tense draw with Lancashire
Today's match report presented by C&C Insurance Brokers
England bowlers past and present, James Anderson and Tom Hartley, took two wickets apiece but Lancashire’s Rothesay County Championship against Derbyshire ended in a tense draw with the visitors closing on 220 for eight, still 109 runs short of what had become a notional victory target.
In the morning session, Lancashire had declared 184 for seven, thereby challenging their opponents to score 328 in 88 overs for victory. Harry Came made 63 as the visitors chased this target but after reaching tea on 165 for five, Derbyshire’s batsmen settled for the draw.
The visitors’ heroes were Anuj Dal, who faced 114 balls for 13 not out and Jack Morley, who was unbeaten on nought after 36 balls when the game ended. Anderson finished with two for 25 from 16 overs and Hartley two for 38 from 20.5
Despite remaining winless after six games, Lancashire take 13 points from the match, meaning that they move off the bottom of the Division Two table, whereas Derbyshire’s 11 points keeps them in second place.
In the morning session, Lancashire scored 43 runs off six overs before declaring on 184 for seven. The only home batsman dismissed was George Balderson, who was caught at third man by Martin Andersson off Blair Tickner for nine but Matty Hurst was 56 not out when Marcus Harris called his batsmen in.
Derbyshire’s pursuit of 329 began poorly when Caleb Jewell played too early at a slower ball from Anderson and chipped a catch to Tom Bailey at mid-on.
However, the Lancashire bowler returned figures of 6-1-17-1 in his first spell and following Jewell’s dismissal for 12, David Lloyd and Came guided their side to 78 for one after 20 overs at lunch. By that interval, both batsmen were batting fluently and the visitors were up with the required run rate.
But any optimism among the visiting supporters was dampened four balls after the resumption when Anderson trapped Lloyd lbw for 30. Undaunted, Came and the new batsman, Wayne Madsen, saw off Anderson’s spell (4-2-4-1) and had added 50 in 16 overs before Madsen tickled Bailey down the leg side and was caught by Hurst for 17.
By that stage, Came has reached his third fifty of the season off 72 balls, most of them pedigree strokes, but Brooke Guest could not match his partner’s fluency and was bowled round his legs for two when trying to sweep Hartley, who was bowling over the wicket, partly with the aim of achieving such a dismissal.
Four overs later, Hartley struck again when he took the vital wicket of Came, the Derbyshire batsman pushing uncertainly forward and giving a catch to George Bell at short leg when he had made 63. That left Derbyshire on 151 for five with 44 overs still to be bowled.
By tea the visitors had reached 165 for five and it soon became clear that Derbyshire’s batsmen had abandoned all thoughts of victory. Anderson bowled three uneventful overs, while Hartley wheeled away from over the wicket from the Brian Statham end.
Over an hour into the evening session, Lancashire took their sixth wicket when Josh Bohannon induced Martin Andersson to drive a full toss straight to Keaton Jennings at short extra cover and Andersson’s dismissal for 43 was followed two overs later by a second success for Bohannon when Zak Chappell gave him a return catch.
That left Derbyshire on 212 for seven with 18 overs to be bowled and Bailey struck the next blow when he had Ben Aitchison lbw for nought with 65 balls left in the game.\
After 80 overs Lancashire took the new ball and Anderson had four overs to take the wickets that would seal victory. But Dal and Morley resisted him successfully.
“It's obviously fantastic to just watch some really good cricket,” said head Coach Dale Benkenstein.
“That's what we've always wanted to play. I think it was just a good vibe.
“Obviously, having Jimmy in the team is going to lift everyone. I thought Marcus did a great job as well. Not an easy thing to just take over as captain.
“The combination worked really well. I don't think there was much difference to the pitch. I think the opposition were really good.
“Over four days, nearly every day, we were pretty much on top. (It was) much better.
“I think we are moving in the right direction. Obviously gutted that we didn't get a win. I think we really did deserve to win that game in so many ways.
“But there were some fantastic performances. As a team, we will definitely take a lot of confidence out of these four days.
“You don't want to bust three days and then give the opposition an easy target to get to. I think the place where we are, obviously Jimmy's first game as well, we're not sure how he's going to get through.
Regarding the declaration today, Benkenstein added:
“I think it gave us enough runs to make sure that they are going to have to play very well.
“I think there was enough of a carrot there for them to have a go. They would have backed themselves, I think, on the last day here to win the game.
So, from that point of view, for the position we were in, it was almost the perfect declaration. We were trying to force it yesterday and we lost a few wickets, just trying to score as fast as we can to give ourselves enough time.
“We saw at the end there, when they're just defending and defending, it's quite hard to actually get a wicket.
“But the guys played well this morning and I thought it was exactly what we wanted.”
Photos: Luke Adams
