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Late wickets claw back Derbyshire dominance

26 September 2017

A first century of the season for Wayne Madsen and a career best 142 from Alex Hughes gave the Gloucestershire bowlers a day of hard graft on a feather bed of a pitch at the Brightside Ground.

Resuming on 104-2, and having batted for nine overs on the first day, Derbyshire's third wicket pair took their stand to 233 in 67 overs before Madsen was caught down the leg side by James Bracey off Josh Shaw for 121.

Benny Howell also removed Matt Critchley for 19 before tea as the second new ball brought some belated reward, and the departure of Gary Wilson to Matt Taylor shortly after the resumption meant that Gloucestershire had taken three wickets in an hour.

When Hughes was finally out for 142, Harvey Hosein and Harry Podmore secured maximum batting points before a clatter of wickets and some lusty hitting saw Derbyshire all out for 460, having lost their last six wickets for 114 after tea.

It left Gloucestershire 12 overs to bat until stumps, during which time Viljoen trapped Chris Dent lbw for 4. When bad light ended play three overs early, Gloucestershire were 47-1, still 413 runs behind.

Listen to Tom Smith's reflections on the day here :

Gloucestershire began the second day looking to make early inroads into the Derbyshire batting having missed a couple of chances within the 26 overs that were possible on Monday afternoon. Wayne Madsen did well to dig out an early yorker from David Payne, who opened from the Ashley Down Road end, having earlier cut Shaw to the point boundary from the Pavilion end. It was an area that proved consistently fruitful for Derbyshire in the first two sessions.

A statistical "wagon wheel" of where runs were scored showed that nearly 50% had come either square with or behind the wicket, emphasizing the time Madsen and Hughes had to assess or adjust their shots. A change of ball was required after a punched drive by Madsen off Shaw, but there was no further assistance from the replacement until Noema-Barnett induced an edge from Madsen that dropped short of Dent at second slip.

Madsen brought up his half century by steering Matt Taylor past point for a single and although Hughes took an additional 40 balls to reach the same stage, he was equally unfussy in his approach as both men steadily accumulated their runs, sweeping and cutting Tom Smith when the spinner was introduced half an hour before lunch.

Despite an economical spell from Kieran Noema-Barnett Derbyshire's third wicket pair had added 89 in the morning session, and with twenty overs until the second new ball when the afternoon's play began Madsen and Hughes had every chance to build a sizeable total.

In almost processional fashion Madsen passed his highest score of the season and then the milestone of 10,000 first class runs in his career before a leg glance off Matt Taylor saw the long serving South African reach three figures from 175 deliveries with 17 fours.

The pair had added more than 200 by the time Gloucestershire were able to take the second new ball, and Hughes' fifteenth boundary - albeit a thick edge over the slips - brought up his hundred from 205 balls. It was Josh Shaw who finally ended 66 barren overs as James Bracey took a tumbling catch down the leg side to remove Madsen for 121.

Benny Howell, in the attack for the first time, bowled a lovely leg cutter to splay Matt Critchley's stumps for 19 ahead of the tea interval, and Derbyshire needed just 54 runs from 17 overs when the final session resumed for maximum batting points.

Hughes nearly steered them all the way, only to skew a ball from Noema Barnett to Chris Dent at cover for a career best 142. By that point Wilson had gone cheaply to Matt Taylor, but Podmore and Hosein added 70 in nine overs to ram home the position created for them. Tom Smith picked up three of the last four wickets which fell for only ten runs, and Gloucestershire were left to face a Derbyshire total of 460 with a dozen awkward overs to see out before the close.

The deficit had been reduced by 14 runs when Chris Dent was lbw to Hardus Viljoen, and in indifferent light Benny Howell took advantage of Madsen's gentle off spin to clear the rope three times before bad light ended play with Gloucestershire 47-1 and still needing to bat responsibly on the third day to avoid the follow-on.

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