Nottinghamshire v Derbyshire July 4-7

Notts v Derbyshire at Trent bridge July 4-7

Neil Whitaker reports

Day One
THE first day’s play was interrupted four times by rain, twice in the first hour, the third took the players off for 145 minutes, after another nine overs rain drove the players off for good.

Derbyshire captain Matt Critchley said: “It was a frustrating day  and we would have preferred to be four down rather than five  at the close but we’ve got an opportunity to get a good score tomorrow. When I saw the pitch I was surprised at how green it was, but  I can't think of a dismissal where the pitch played a part.  If I had won the toss we would’ve fielded but we didn’t. The first rain interval helped their opening bowlers because they were able to bowl a longer spell and it kept them fresh. The outfield is slow and you don't get the full value for your runs.  Tomorrow we have got to get a couple of partnerships.

Being captain is not something I aspired to, I wanted to be a bowler taking wickets or a batsman making runs.  The tactical side of captaincy comes easy to me but I sometimes get flustered but it’s the other part that I find hard like talking to the media.”

Nottinghamshire won the toss and on a green pitch captain Steven  Mullaney put Derbyshire into bat. As well as the green pitch the Derbyshire openers  had to cope with Luke Fletcher and Brett Hutton who moved the ball about at will. Derbyshire lost their first wicket in the ninth over when Fletcher squared Luis  Reece up and took the shoulder of his bat.   Ben Duckett, stumping in place of Tom Moores because of COVID precautions, easily took the catch to give Fletcher his 39th first class wicket of the season.

Fellow opener Tom Wood soon joined Reece back in the hutch when he  was caught in his crease to Hutton and was leg before for nine.

Brooke Guest batted for almost an hour for his seven before he played an expansive drive at wide ball from Lyndon  James and Duckett took his second catch.

Critchley, like his predecessor captain  Billy Godleman, advanced to meet the bowlers, he  drove Hutton to the cover boundary in fourth over after lunch for the shot of the day. In Hutton’s next over Critchley drove him straight to the mid off boundary just evading  Hutton’s outstretched left hand.

In the second over after the third restart Critchley edged a drive off Joey Evison and Haseeb Hameed took a sharp low catch at his ankles.  

Harvey Hosein playing his first Championship match since May missed a straight ball from Fletcher and after a while was given out by umpire Neil Pratt for a two ball duck.

Leus Du Ploy on 14 edged Hutton but Duckett diving to his left couldn’t hold on to it and made a second attempt to catch it before the ball hit the ground 

Day Two

FOR the sixth time in 11 innings Derbyshire were dismissed for less than 150 in their first innings and after a wayward start their bowlers pulled them back into the match only for the Nottinghamshire batsmen  to regain the initiative

Fynn Hudson-Prentice enjoys playing against Nottinghamshire, earlier in the season, he took four wickets in both  Nottinghamshire innings and last year he hit an unbeaten 91 against them last season at Trent Bridge in the Bob Willis trophy today he took the fight to the Nottinghamshire bowlers. 

He quickly overtook Leus Du Plooy who had only added  seven to his overnight score by the time Hudson-Prentice had added 16. But he only added another single when he chipped Dane Paterson to Liam Patterson-White at cover who took a comfortable catch. Hudson-Prentice ended up being the joint top scorer in the Derbyshire innings with 30 and with the ball he took four wickets before Nottinghamshire went into the lead.

He said: “It was a good toss to win so I thought we batted well on a green pitch and when their bowlers got it in the right areas they caused us problems for us to scrape to a total of 149 I thought we did well.”

His first wicket was former Derbyshire player Ben Slater who along with opening partner Haseeb Hameed attacked the Derbyshire opening bowlers Hudson-Prentice and Michael Cohen who were guilty of over pitching to the Nottinghamshire opening batsmen which was food and drink for them and they quickly reached 20 in the sixth over with Hameed outscoring Slater. 

But Slater got a bit greedy and violently pulled Hudson-Prentice to Luis  Reece at mid off.  Hudson-Prentice got on a hat trick when Ben Compton edged him and Alec  Thomson at third slip scooped low to take the catch. The hat trick ball was a wasted ball from Hudson-Prentice, it was wide down the legside.

Hudson-Prentice added: “ I thought we started well with the ball but we let it slip in the last hour.  The pitch today was a lot nicer than it was yesterday. Hopefully tomorrow we can get three quick wickets because wickets have fallen in clusters throughout the match it will make it easier for our batsmen to get some runs and we can bowl them out on the final day.

I wasn’t expecting to open the bowling so it was good to get a couple of wickets with the new ball.”

Nottinghamshire captain Steven Mullaney cut George Scrimshaw twice in his first three balls, the first was a conventional one, the second was an uppercut over the infield.  In Scrimshaw’s next over,  Mullaney cut him for a single to bring up the fifty partnership with Hameed off 117 balls. Those two overs released the pressure that had been built up by Ben  Aitchison who had bowled seven overs for 15 and Reece whose six overs cost him 12 runs.

Hudson-Prentice broke the partnership in the third over after tea when Mullaney top edged a wide ball and Aitchison took a catch at head height despite Harvey  Hosein diving across him.

Hameed ran Hudson-Prentice down to third man to bring up his fifty from 95 balls in 145 minutes. His fifty made amends for the second second ball duck he made  in their first match.  When he drove an over pitched ball from Aitchison to the extra cover boundary the Nottinghamshire opener looked odds on to reach another century but he became Hudson-Prentice’s fourth victim.  He was squared up by Hudson-Prentice who took the edge of his bat and Hosein took the catch.

Derbyshire’s Du Plooy’s 204 minute innings ended in a bizarre fashion after a patient knock he chased a wide one from  Luke Fletcher giving Duckett an easy catch. Du Plooy was furious with himself as he should have been and swung his bat at fresh air, he made the same as Hudson-Prentice.

The diminutive Cohen, who after each ball he faced walked aggressively for a few yards towards the square leg umpire before returning to the crease,before he had scored he  edged Dane Paterson to Hameed at third slip who spilled the chance.  Cohen eventually got off the mark after 24 balls when he gracefully drove Paterson through extra cover for three.

He finally hit a boundary after 36 balls when he aggressively clubbed and drove  Paterson to the long off boundary. The shot always kept Mullaney interested in getting to the ball but the ball won the race. It was the first boundary off Paterson in 14 overs.

His 67 minute innings ended when he wafted at a wide one from Brett Hutton to give Duckett his fourth catch of the innings. Cohen faced 49 balls for his 10.

Last man out Aitchison flicked Joyey Evison off his legs to former Derbyshire opener Slater on the square leg boundary.

Thomson, on his championship debut for Derbyshire since signing on loan from Warwickshire, cut Hutton to the square leg boundary to get off the mark.  His first innings ended when Paterson bowled three balls outside the off stump bowled one that came back at him and was plumb leg before.

Lyndon James punched Reece through mid wicket for a couple to take Nottinghamshire into the lead.  Once they got into the lead James and Ben Duckett found the runs easy to come by and their fifty partnership came off 60 balls. The partnership was broken when James edged Cohen without moving his feet and Critchley took the catch at second slip in the midriff.  With Duckett they added 61 in 14 overs.

Three balls later Liam Patterson-White edged Cohen and Aitchison took the catch at first slip at the second attempt.

Duckett reached his fifty from 61 balls in 102 minutes as he and Evison decided not to try anything risky and be there in the morning but without adding to the score Evison was back in the hutch when he edged Aitchison and Hosein took a low catch.

Nottinghamshire took their to 100 when Duckett scooped Critchley to the fine leg boundary another boundary off the next ball brought Nottinghamshire’s 250.

Day 3

DERBYSHIRE suffered their third innings defeat of the season as they lost to neighbours Nottinghamshire with over a day and 33 overs to spare.

Their defeat mean that it’s the first time since  2004 that Derbyshire have lost twice in in a season to Nottinghamshire in the Championship.Wrapping the Derbyshire innings up was Luke Fletcher four of the final five  Derbyshire wickets in 14 balls for two runs as Derbyshire went from 100 for  five at tea to 122 all out five  overs later.


Derbyshire’s Head of cricket David Houghton said: “It’s very disappointing, we’re playing really poor cricket.  Our bowling is the bright spot and our fielding is second but our batting is poor and you can’t compete in this game if you don’t put runs on the board. In this match the ball swung more than it seamed and if you can’t play the swinging ball you shouldn’t be playing the game at this level.

I just can’t put my finger on what’s going wrong. The players' confidence has gone and their shot.”

Fletcher said: “Apart from taking wickets myself, I’m buzzing that we got a victory, a massively important result to put us top of the table, because we’re desperate to get into that top division.

I was a bit worried how this game would go after T20 but after four or  five overs I slotted back into my rhythm. The good thing in four-day cricket is that you can get into your spells, which I think we’ve done as a bowling group, Dane Paterson,Brett Hutton Joey Evison and Lyndon James as well, and got better as the game went on - it was a great team effort.

Everyone is stepping up at different times and contributing, and you’ve seen Dane Schadendorf come in for his debut today. He was very calm and relaxed and looked like he belongs in first-class cricket and as a wicketkeeper you didn’t really notice him, which is always a sign that he was doing everything right.”

Before play started it was announced that Ben Duckett had been called  up to the England one-day squad and retired from his innings .  Haseem Hameed on Monday evening said: “Ben is an important player for us and it’s a massive advantage for us to have someone like him coming in at number six.  He always bats with a positive mindset.” 

Duckett was replaced by second team wicket keeper 18 year-old Zimbabwean Schadendorv and he had a brilliant day he made 24 and took four catches behind the stumps.

Nottinghamshire were dismissed for 307 giving them a first innings lead of 158. Derbyshire’s Hudson-Prentice got his first five wicket haul in Championship cricket in the second over with the new ball when Hutton pushed down the wrong line and missed the ball. It was the first five wicket haul by a  Derbyshire bowler at Trent Bridge since Dominic Cork took 6/78 in 2002 and the first by Derbyshire player against Nottinghamshire since Jon Claire took 5/90 on his debut  at Chesterfield in 2007.

After 44 minutes the umpires took the players off the field because of rain and they were off for 18 minutes.

Fletcher got off the mark when he clipped Michael  Cohen off his toes to the square leg boundary. He hit another four but when he made 14 he gave Ben Aitchison a birthday present when  he edged him to Leus Du Plooy at backward point who took a sharp low catch.

Schadendorf’s debut innings lasted 72 minutes and he faced 58 balls before he lost his off stump to  Luis Reece.

Trailing by 158 Derbyshire lost their first second innings wicket in the seventh over when Fletcher got one to move away from Tom Wood after kissing his bat. Brooke Guest quickly overtook Reece but he was the next to go when he was  beaten by the pace of Hutton who found the edge of his to give Schadendorf his first Championship catch.

After Guest’s dismissal Reece and Du Plooy found runs hard to come by when Reece drove Hutton straight to the long off boundary; it was the first Derbyshire boundary for seven overs.

Du Plooy had his off stump uprooted by  Paterson the ball after he had returned from a comfort break.  He faced 18 balls in 28 minutes for his single.  Paterson got his second wicket in his next over when he trapped Reece leg before after a long deliberation by umpire Neil Pratt.  Reece had been selective in what he hit as he defied the Nottinghamshire bowlers for 100 minutes facing 71 balls for his 21.

Matt Critchley got off the mark when he drove his first ball for a four to the long off boundary off Paterson.  He hit consecutive boundaries off Evison’s first two deliveries. ,His fifth boundary took him to 20. With Harvey  Hosein they added  45 in 14 over easily the highest Derbyshire partnership of the match.

Critchley dominated the partnership when he was out; he had faced 47 balls only one more than Hosein who had only scored 17.  Hosein did edge Evison through the slips to the third man boundary to take him into double figures and it was Evison who broke the partnership.  He squared Critchley up and got an outside edge to give Schadendorf his second catch.

In the fifth over after tea Hudson-Prentice was strangled down the legside off Fletcher for another catch for  Schadendorf. Fletcher got his fifth wicket of the match in his next over when Alex Thomson edged him and Hutton at third slip took a low slip.

Paterson got one to come back in at Cohen and was given out leg before.  As Cohen started his familiar walk to square leg couldn’t believe he was given out he held his bat.

Hosein’ s mammoth 93 minute innings came to an end when he tried to turn Fletcher off his legs and was leg before for 28. Two balls later Fletcher got his fifth wicket of the innings when George Scrimshaw edged him to Schadendorf.

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