[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Day Four

Morning: Saturday's heat gave way to a cooler, cloudier Sunday, but Worcestershire were rock-solid in defence. Jake Libby brought up his half-century with a cover-drive to the boundary off Luis Reece, and with a hundred partnership completed for the third wicket, the Pears reached lunch unruffled on 162-1, trailing by 35.

Afternoon: Azhar Ali continued his welcome renaissance, reaching the fifty milestone by cutting Suranga Lakmal to the boundary, but then perished for 60 to the second iffy LBW decision of the match off Alex Thomson. Nevertheless, Libby reached his first ton of the summer tucking Wayne Madsen to leg for a quick single, and bad light meant that an early tea was taken on 220-2, with a Worcestershire lead of 23.

Evening: As the floodlights cut through unseasonable gloom, the hatches were well and truly battened down for the Pears. With Derbyshire unable to hand their quicks the new ball, all the emphasis was on spin, and having made his century from 185 balls, Libby was content to take well over 100 just to make his next five runs. Jack Haynes showed similar caution, and only a handful of runs were added to the total before the sides finally shook hands on an inevitable draw.

Match DRAWN

The Verdict: A fascinating first couple of days, with the pendulum swinging first to visitors and then hosts, gave way to a rather humdrum weekend that offered runs by the score, but precious few wickets. For anyone who cares about county cricket surviving in its current form (or as close to it as possible), the revival of Derbyshire is a welcome sight; they have a very able line-up that Mickey Arthur has worked wonders on, and with that in mind - alongside the flat track and the weakened Pears attack - there's little point in griping about Worcestershire's toothlessness with the ball again. I'm not sure the plethora of early-season stalemates is a great advertisement for Championship cricket, but as far as the Pears are concerned, these points on the board provide a solid platform if they can find the wherewithal to supply a couple of big wins further down the line.