[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Day Four

Morning: A scorching Whitsun, summer well and truly here, and even the most optimistic Worcestershire fan could hardly have predicted how easy it would be to wrap up the win. With the eighteenth delivery of the day, Joe Leach found the corridor of uncertainty and the edge of Wayne Madsen's bat along with it, and had the Derbyshire dangerman caught behind for 45. In the next over, new man Ben Aitchison feathered behind for a duck off Dillon Pennington, and by that point it was simply a case of who'd take the honours of seeing off the tail. Having achieved new career-best figures on Saturday, Pennington immediately went one better with his maiden first-class five-fer when Sam Conners chopped on for a duck, and it would have been a wonderful sight had the young man pressed on for his first ten-wicket haul in a match. But the final scalp instead went to Alzarri Joseph, who concluded his chequered spell at New Road with Dustin Melton edging to first slip for 1, leaving Derbyshire 128 all out.

Worcestershire WIN by an innings and twenty-three runs

The Verdict: The perfect response to the back-to-back disasters at Chester-le-Street and Trent Bridge; for the first time all season, the Pears looked both confident and competent, putting together a convincing innings with the bat and finding that crucial x-factor with the ball every time a wicket was required. While the top two is probably a bit much to hope for, the county should look to target 3rd or 4th place in the last couple of rounds, beginning with the huge visit of Durham on Thursday.