[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Day Three

Morning: Warm weather but still plenty of cloud on a bank holiday Saturday which saw Wayne Madsen and Ben McDermott extend their resistance in the first hour, with yet another strong LBW shout denied. It was Dillon Pennington who made the eventual breakthrough, beating McDermott with a couple of testing balls before the Australian drove hard at a full delivery and edged sharply to second slip for 25. It was the first in a series of nicks, with new man Matt Critchley edging short of the slips on 2 and then being dropped off a low one-handed chance on 10; Wayne Madsen, meanwhile, managed to complete his half-century before he was gobbled up neatly at second slip off Ed Barnard for 51. Derbyshire rebuilt over the next hour, with Critchley in particular making the missed chances ever more expensive, but just when it looked like the visitors would scrape through the session at a cost of two wickets, Joe Leach struck in the last over before lunch with a rising ball that just left Fynn Hudson-Prentice as he drove at it, sending an edge flying swiftly to third slip for 25. Derbyshire were 193-6 at the interval, and their foothold in the match was slowly slipping.

Afternoon: The first hour of the afternoon proved frustrating for the hosts, as Critchley brought up his fifty leading another rebuild alongside Alex Hughes, and the Worcestershire bowlers trudged in time and again with the old ball making little impression, seemingly counting down the overs until the new nut. The follow-on target was within touching distance when Pennington came back into the attack, and with his very first delivery found the edge of Hughes's bat, having the number eight caught behind for 25. The odds would still have been in favour of Derbyshire ticking off the necessary runs with 22 needed and three wickets in hand, but the pendulum swung further away from them when Alzarri Joseph - who'd been unlucky so far in his final Pears appearance - speared a low full-toss straight into the pads of Ben Aitchison, dismissing him for 1. While Critchley desperately tried to shepherd the tail and knock off runs, Joseph welcomed new man Sam Conners to the crease in his next over by sending down a bumper that nearly decapitated the tail-ender. After that, Conners just didn't want to know, and began backing away to short leg for the West Indian's succeeding deliveries, exposing his stumps so completely that it was no surprise when he was bowled for 4 moments later. Digging in deep, Derbyshire survived the last four overs of the old ball, and were just two runs away from saving the follow-on when Dustin Melton edged to first slip off Pennington, wrapping up the innings for 270 and providing the young man with career-best bowling figures of 4-44. But there was time for Pennington's afternoon to get better still, as the follow-on was enforced and Brooke Guest went fishing outside off-stump, edging behind off the tip of the bat for 7 to leave the visitors 16-1 at tea, still trailing by 135.

Evening: In a day of small rebuilds, Derbyshire came through the first hour of the final session unscathed, and had some cause for optimism until Billy Godleman carelessly drove Joseph and edged high to second slip for 21. The floodgates opened somewhat from there, with Leus Du Plooy caught and bowled for 19 by Brett D'Oliveira and McDermott LBW for 1 off Pennington, who then dismissed the hitherto-impressive Critchley for 6 courtesy of a diving, twisting one-handed catch at second slip from Tom Fell. Dolly picked up his second in the next over when Hudson-Prentice chopped on for a duck, and though the tantalising prospect of a three-day victory reared its head, the visitors survived to close on 112-6, still trailing by 39. While nothing is ever quite a foregone conclusion in Pearland, on the evidence of the first innings it'll require some partnership from Madsen and Hughes, plus a bit of tail-wagging and a bang-up bowling performance to boot, to come between Worcestershire and victory on Sunday.