Derbyshire win again

Posted Tuesday, July 22, 2014 by PA

Derbyshire celebrated back-to-back victories for the first time this season in the LV=County Championship as they beat Glamorgan by six wickets in the Division Two game at Derby.

The home side needed only 70 minutes on the third day to reach their target of 73 and secure a 20-point haul although Glamorgan, who took only three points, made them work for their first home win in the Championship by taking three wickets.

Wayne Madsen, Ben Slater and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who together with Mark Footitt was presented with a county cap after the match, were dismissed before Wes Durston completed Derbyshire's third victory over Glamorgan in two years.

Barring an extraordinary spell of bowling, it was only a question of when Derbyshire would knock off the 60 runs required to wrap up a thoroughly deserved victory.

There was no doubt the toss played a crucial part in this game but Derbyshire's bowlers made better use of the conditions and, although there was a lot of grass on the pitch at the start, it was described as a good cricket wicket by pitch liaison officer Tony Pigott.

Glamorgan certainly had the tougher conditions in their first innings but the game had still been finely poised until a ninth- wicket stand of 73 between David Wainwright and Tony Palladino gave Derbyshire a substantial lead which proved decisive once Mark Footitt had produced a burst of hostile fast bowling.

At least some tail-end resistance of their own allowed Glamorgan to take the game into a third day and their bowlers made Derbyshire work for the runs in sunny, breezy conditions that were in stark contrast to the overcast humidity of the opening day.

It was not until the fifth over of the morning that Derbyshire scored the first boundary of the innings, a fluent drive past mid-off by Slater off James Harris and Madsen punched the former England Lion off the back foot wide of cover for three.

Madsen pulled a short ball from Michael Hogan through a vacant mid-wicket for four but the skipper fell three balls later when he top-edged another pull and Murray Goodwin raced in from fine-leg to take an excellent diving catch.

Slater went four overs later when he pushed forward at Dean Cosker and was caught behind but Derbyshire were now only 15 away from victory and they were relieved it was not 115 when Mark Wallace dived full length to hold a leg glance by Chanderpaul off Will Owen.

Durston survived a confident lbw appeal against Cosker before he pulled Owen for the winning runs, leaving elite performance director Graeme Welch to reflect on another step forward for his team.

"We are starting to have a bit more belief in ourselves and the method of playing four-day cricket," he said.

"We are staying in the game for long periods of time and the lads are putting some good performances in together."

Glamorgan captain Mark Wallace added: "To get four wickets was a good effort but throughout the game, we haven't played as well as we could have done.

"It was tough with the bat, especially in the first innings but in fairness to Derbyshire they bowled very very well in both innings and Mark Footitt was fantastic yesterday so they deserved the victory."