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County Championship, Division Two

vs Derbyshire

Racecourse Ground, Derby

Day One

Morning: No play possible due to rain.

Afternoon: The Pears won the toss and put Derbyshire in to bat as a grey, drizzly Maundy Thursday brightened up around two o'clock and the green-tinged pitch began quickly drying to biscuit-brown. Certainly, it looked a mistake for the first half-hour as the Derbyshire openers raced away, though the bowlers (undoubtedly affected by a paucity of pre-season preparation) carried a large degree of the blame as they struggled to find a consistent line and length. Only after the hosts had brought up their 50 within seven overs did Matthew Waite get the season rolling for the Pears, tempting Haider Ali to flash at a full delivery outside off which he dragged onto the stumps for 22. The following over Joe Leach nipped the ball back off the seam and beat the drive of Brooke Guest, bowling him for 4, and at 61-2 the poor start seemed to be behind Worcestershire. But Billy Godleman, who'd been the architect of Derbyshire's Bazball assault, continued to score at above a run a ball with aggressive and creative shots finding the boundary on all sides, while Wayne Madsen supported with gusto. Their partnership was broken on 77 when one too many cocky shots saw Godleman caught at mid-wicket for 70 off Leach, but the big man was denied the scalp of Leus du Plooy when the batsman was dropped at backward point shortly before the interval. Derbyshire thus went in to tea 156-3, claiming the session on sheer preponderance of runs.

Evening: Du Plooy thankfully only managed ten more runs after the drop, as Ben Gibbon opened his account for the season drawing an outside edge and seeing the number five caught behind for 16. It was symbolic of a vast improvement in the bowling overall, as Worcestershire finally began to find their radar and exert control; triggering some uncertainty in the batsmen for the first time all day, Waite pinned Madsen LBW for 87 shortly after six o'clock, and a fantastic piece of fielding from Jake Libby ran out Matt Lamb for 27. The dreaded Anuj Dal was next to fall to Waite, edging to third slip where debutant Adam Hose took a blinder diving low to his right, but with the tail exposed, an early drop of Zak Chappell proved costly. An aggressive half-century partnership was broken by Gibbon having Ben Aitchison caught in the covers for 26, but Derbyshire closed at quarter past seven on 300-8, with the counter-attacking Chappell still at the crease. It's doubtless a score they'd happily have taken after losing the toss and being put in, though also one the Pears must welcome after staring down the barrel at 189-3. Everything now hinges on how quickly the tail can be mopped up in the morning, and whether Worcestershire get to bat on the pitch at its best.