Worcestershire v Derbyshire day 1

Worcestershire 336-7 (Haynes 97, D'Oliveira 71, Cox 49, Barnard 48* Conners 2-56)

v Derbyshire

Sam Conners took a wicket with the first ball of the innings for Derbyshire today, but after the first hour it was a day of graft for the bowlers in what became good batting conditions.

Conners bowled well in his first spell and should have had three wickets, but Leus du Plooy put down two catches at first slip, neither especially difficult and Fell and Libby survived, at least briefly.

A fine throw from Matt Critchley ran out Libby, who looked in good touch, but the only wicket in the afternoon was that of Ross Whiteley, who batted in unaccustomed dogged style before going at one that cut across him from Melton and being well caught at second slip by Madsen.

That was it for a long time as Haynes survived a sketchy start and a tough low chance to Guest to make his highest first-class score. He will be kicking himself all night after slapping an awful long hop from Critchley to deep square leg, where Melton held on to a really good catch. A century was three nudges away.. 

D'Oliveira also looked in little trouble before playing a shot from the Schoolboy Book of Slogging and hitting it straight up in the air. Thereafter Cox and Barnard hit merrily and it suggested the wicket now holds few alarms. It was a surprise when Cox nicked one to Guest in the day's final over, but fair reward for Aitchison, who kept line and length well all day.

It wasn't a great day for Matt Critchley, whose early spell was erratic, nor for Dustin Melton besides his catch. Both will have better days but the seven bowlers used all grafted on a lovely sunny day.

Meanwhile at Belper, there was a morale-boosting win for the Seconds against a strong Lancashire side in a T20 match.

Bowling first, they had the visitors out for 96, with Mattie McKiernan returning the excellent figures of 4-0-7-2 and Australian trialist Bailey Wightman 4-0-10-4.

The chase wasn't easy against a side featuring  Gleeson, Hartley, Hurt, Balderson and Blatherwick, but McKiernan made 45 from 29 balls as Derbyshire won with time to spare and six wickets in hand.

It stakes a T20 claim for McKiernan, who might well offer additional variety for Dominic Cork in the very near future.

We should see Ben McDermott bat tomorrow.

Let's hope it is worth the wait. 

Worcestershire v Derbyshire day 1

Worcestershire 336-7 (Haynes 97, D'Oliveira 71, Cox 49, Barnard 48* Conners 2-56)

v Derbyshire

Sam Conners took a wicket with the first ball of the innings for Derbyshire today, but after the first hour it was a day of graft for the bowlers in what became good batting conditions.

Conners bowled well in his first spell and should have had three wickets, but Leus du Plooy put down two catches at first slip, neither especially difficult and Fell and Libby survived, at least briefly.

A fine throw from Matt Critchley ran out Libby, who looked in good touch, but the only wicket in the afternoon was that of Ross Whiteley, who batted in unaccustomed dogged style before going at one that cut across him from Melton and being well caught at second slip by Madsen.

That was it for a long time as Haynes survived a sketchy start and a tough low chance to Guest to make his highest first-class score. He will be kicking himself all night after slapping an awful long hop from Critchley to deep square leg, where Melton held on to a really good catch. A century was three nudges away.. 

D'Oliveira also looked in little trouble before playing a shot from the Schoolboy Book of Slogging and hitting it straight up in the air. Thereafter Cox and Barnard hit merrily and it suggested the wicket now holds few alarms. It was a surprise when Cox nicked one to Guest in the day's final over, but fair reward for Aitchison, who kept line and length well all day.

It wasn't a great day for Matt Critchley, whose early spell was erratic, nor for Dustin Melton besides his catch. Both will have better days but the seven bowlers used all grafted on a lovely sunny day.

Meanwhile at Belper, there was a morale-boosting win for the Seconds against a strong Lancashire side in a T20 match.

Bowling first, they had the visitors out for 96, with Mattie McKiernan returning the excellent figures of 4-0-7-2 and Australian trialist Bailey Wightman 4-0-10-4.

The chase wasn't easy against a side featuring  Gleeson, Hartley, Hurt, Balderson and Blatherwick, but McKiernan made 45 from 29 balls as Derbyshire won with time to spare and six wickets in hand.

It stakes a T20 claim for McKiernan, who might well offer additional variety for Dominic Cork in the very near future.

We should see Ben McDermott bat tomorrow.

Let's hope it is worth the wait. 

Essex v Derbyshire day 2

Essex 412-3 (Lawrence 152*, Westley 106, Browne 59, Cook 58, Stanlake 2-91)

Derbyshire 35-3

Derbyshire trail by 377 runs

It was all very underwhelming from Derbyshire in the field today, as they were hammered to all parts by Essex.

Equally underwhelming was the first sight of Billy Stanlake. Call me old-fashioned, but I like my overseas professionals to know their run ups by that stage of their career. I fully appreciate that at 6'8 your strides are lengthy. I also acknowledge he hasn't played in England before, but he looked undercooked this morning.

As one former professional messaged me at one point, he will need to sort his length pretty quickly, as few balls endangered the stumps. By extension, two modes of dismissal are ruled out for him, which may be fine in T20, but amply illustrated his lack of four-day experience.

The wayward start seemed to disillusion the side and the body language wasn't great. It doesn't take away from some sparkling home batting, in which Lawrence shone, but there was too much poor bowling with no one exempt.

The only control was at the start of the first changes by Melton and Hudson - Prentice, but Essex were away by then. Two wickets for Stanlake in the early afternoon hinted at better, but the carnage started when Lawrence and Westley came together in a fine stand of 221.

Essex batted like it was an RLODC game, but it was all too different when our turn came. Opening with spinners Harmer and Lawrence because of the light, they quickly removed the Derbyshire openers and looked to be bowling on a different wicket. When du Plooy, badly out of touch at present, soon followed, we were in big trouble. 

It was all too depressing to watch and promises to be a tough weekend.