Derby Day

The King of Sports took precedence over The Sport of Kings when yesterday morning Cross Country Trains took me to Derby in time for the start of play on the second day of the match against Sussex. On Wednesday, Sussex captain, Ed Joyce, who was absent from the field yesterday, had done what all the five other captains who had called correctly that day had done, put 'em in. This could have come as no surprise to Derbyshire members; Madsen has lost the toss in every championship match this season and each time his side has been given first use of the wicket.

The loss of two wickets late on Wednesday evening saw The Peakites start the day on 158 for 6 and a reasonable repair job was mounted in the morning session to the point where the score stood at 216 for 7 but then Anyon took two wickets in two balls  and when Panesar had Footitt caught behind, the innings closed on 223 leaving Sussex half an hour's batting before lunch. In that time Footitt removed openers Nash and Wells and we dined at 38 for 2. At least those who had not already eaten our sandwiches did.

Derbyshire had opted to play four seamers in the match, leaving out David Wainwright, and with Palladino missing they gave a championship debut to Alasdair Evans and Mark Footitt made his first championship appearance for a year. All was going well in the afternoon with Footitt at the centre of things with another wicket and a spectacular catch and when Yardy was joined by Joseph at 109 for 5 it was advantage Derbyshire. This was turned on its head by a stand of 179 which exposed the limitations of the home attack, in particular the inability of anybody to bowl a consistent line and of the four seamers only Gronewald went for less than five an over. This led to frequent field changes, exacerbated by the right hand left hand combination and the over rate was showing minus three when at 'tea time' there were still ten overs to be bowled before the players' could have refreshment.

When tea was finally taken at 4:30 Sussex were only 11 runs behind. I left at this point and by the end of a day extended by the slow over rate and a heavy shower the visitors had built a winning position, leading by 105 with two first innings wickets remaining, assuming that Joyce will bat. It is not hard to sense that any early season euphoria at The County Ground has evaporated. During the afternoon the small crowd seemed to retreat into a mood that suggested they were already resigned to the  outcome of the season. Chanderpaul, in whom much hope (and money) has been invested looked uninterested as he trotted from third man to fine leg and back again as the strike rotated. Largely thanks to an unbeaten 87 against Notts he is averaging 37 in the championship but in five of his six completed innings he has not passed twenty. Perhaps today will be his day for if Derbyshire bat poorly again this match might not enter a fourth day.

 My friends from Sussex are not returning home until Saturday afternoon and may have mixed feelings about how long they would like the match to last but with Saturday's forecast anticipating rain they will probably settle for a finish today and the continuance of their good start to the season.