Destructive Guptill puts Derbyshire on top
27 April 2015
How do you bowl to a man who scored a double century in a game at the World Cup ?
It was a conundrum Gloucestershire couldn't fathom when faced with New Zealander Martin Guptill at the County Ground, as Guptill smashed his way to a double century on a day when Gloucestershire again dropped several catches before Guptill really cut loose. His hundred took 101 balls, the second hundred only 64. It was a sobering day, only softened by a second five wicket haul of his career by Matt Taylor.
Guptill's only chance was at 57, spilled by Geraint Jones at slip off Liam Norwell. It was a second chance to be put down off the Cornishman - and the second to be missed by the skipper, who had juggled but failed to hold an edge by Slater off Fuller from the first ball of the day. It didn't set a good tone, and was one of three catches that were spurned before lunch, the other two coming in the same Matt Taylor over.
Billy Godleman first edged through the hands of Chris Dent at second slip, and then mistimed what could only be described as a swat to long leg, where Liam Norwell couldn't gather the chance cleanly.
The two left handers were finally parted when, in the 21st over of the day and their opening stand on 88, Godleman feathered a catch to Roderick off Norwell. His sluggish retreat to the pavilion suggested he didn't think there was an edge.
Slater completed an obdurate half century off 114 balls shortly before lunch, when Martin Guptill had breezily made his way to 17. The real acceleration however, was still to come.
Latching onto anything loose after the interval, Guptill was particularly severe on Craig Miles, who conceded 36 runs in a four over burst, and struck the first six of the match off Norwell with a lofty pull to the deep square leg boundary. Norwell eventually got some reward for his toil as Dent clung on to a snick from Slater having batted for just shy of three hours for his 56. The muted celebrations reflected what had gone before.
As Guptill powered on - dealing almost exclusively in boundaries, especially straight and on the off side - Matt Taylor's recall produced a double breakthrough at the other end. He bowled Derbyshire skipper Madsen with his first ball, and in his next over, much to Geraint Jones' relief, the skipper safely pouched an edge to remove Wes Durston.
Guptill reached three figures with his 19th four, driven off Miles when he returned for a new spell and by tea Derbyshire were within five runs of Gloucestershire's first innings total with six wickets still in hand.
Rain threatened to delay the resumption but play resumed in gloomy light and Gupthill and Thakor, who had been an able foil for over an hour, preceded to go into overdrive, adding 90 in ten overs before the second new ball was due.
Thakor completed his half century off 89 balls, and the pair had added 191 in 31 overs before Matt Taylor, with the second new ball, had Thakor caught behind for 83 and then trapped Alex Hughes LBW first ball.
Guptill however, was taking the game away from Gloucestershire on his own. He swept from 150 to 200 in only 18 deliveries, with four more boundaries and a further five sixes. By the time he scooped Matt Taylor to a retreating Handscomb at cover for 227, some pretty extensive damage had been done. 182 of his runs had come in boundaries.
By stumps, Derbyshire had reached 511-8, a lead of 236 with two days remaining.
