Championship Report: Warwickshire v Derbyshire

Day Four – report

Warwickshire strengthened their position at the top of the  Specsavers County Championship Division Two table by completing an eight-wicket win over Derbyshire before lunch on the final day at Edgbaston.

Requiring 89 for victory Warwickshire resumed on the last morning on 19 for one and Ian Bell set the tone for a comfortable closing out of victory by driving Duanne Olivier’s first ball sweetly through the covers for three.

On a turning pitch, leg-spinner Matt Critchley was Derbyshire’s main hope of pulling off an unlikely win and he struck in his second over of the day when Dominic Sibley fell lbw.

But that glimmer of hope for the visitors was effectively snuffed out in Critchley’s next over from which Jonathan Trott took ten runs, including two cover-driven fours, to take his team past 50.

That flurry saw Critchley taken out of the attack and 17-year-old, Kandahar-born, England Under 19s off-spinner Hamidullah Qadri brought into the attack. Trott soon punched him to the long-off boundary and, fittingly, in the match during which he announced that he will retire at the end of the season, went on to see his team through to victory.

Trott ended unbeaten on 35 (45 balls, seven fours) and Bell on 34 (53 balls, six fours).

Warwickshire’s victory was built upon a solid display with the bat which saw them pass 400 on a wicket which required watchfulness and the excellence of Jeetan Patel and Henry Brookes with the ball. The pair shared 18 wickets (Patel’s match-figures ten for 170, Brookes’ eight for 119) to more than compensate for the loss from the attack of Ryan Sidebottom who suffered a side-strain while bowling in Derbyshire’s first innings.

Derbyshire were left to reflect upon  match which ultimately brought an emphatic defeat but in which they competed for long periods to suggest they are capable of sustaining their bright start to the season.

Day Three – report

Jeetan Patel and Henry Brookes bowled Warwickshire to the brink of victory over Derbyshire in the battle of the Specsavers County Championship Division Two top two at Edgbaston.

Having shared eight wickets in the first innings, the pair added all ten in the second to bowl out the visitors for 209 on the third day.

That left a victory target of just 89 and Warwickshire were 19 for one at the close.

With a bowling attack already missing the injured Olly Stone and Keith Barker and further depleted by the loss of Ryan Sidebottom to a side-strain, the home side needed others to step up. Captain Patel and 18-year-old Brookes did exactly that.

Patel took six for 76 to complete match-figures of ten for 170 (the fourth ten-in-a-match of his career) while Brookes harvested four for 56 for match-figures of eight for 119.

After Warwickshire resumed in the morning on 375 for six, they added another 64, pegged back by three wickets for Duanne Olivier who finished with four for 134.

Olivier removed Matt Lamb (a career-best 79, 155 balls, six fours) who edged to second slip before Patel and Brookes also perished via outside-edges, off Olivier and Hardus Viljeon respectively.

Tim Ambrose (40, 72 balls, five fours) shepherded the tail intelligently so that 40 were added for the last two wickets before the wicketkeeper scooped Olivier to long leg.

Derbyshire’s second innings suffered immediate damage from Brookes. The Warwickshire academy product’s first ball knocked out Luis Reece’s off-stump, the batsman offering no shot. Wayne Madsen chipped his sixth to mid-off.

Ben Slater and Alex Hughes knuckled down to add 88 in 28 overs before Patel struck twice in seven balls. Hughes (38, 83 balls, six fours) was lbw, trapped on the back foot, then Billy Godelman edged to second slip to fall for a duck.

Slater and Gary Wilson took the score to 138 for four but both then fell without the addition of another run. Slater’s impressive resistance ended at 68 (161 balls, 11 fours) when an inside-edge off Patel ball looped up off pad to short leg. Five balls later, Wilson was adjudged lbw to Brookes.

Matt Critchley fell lbw to Patel and while Viljeon conducted an entertaining counter-attack (44, 54 balls, six fours, three sixes), the innings was pared away by Patel and Brookes. Hamidullah Qadri lifted the former to mid-off and Olivier was trapped in front by the latter before Viljeon failed to connect with an attempt to smite Patel into the adjacent suburb of Moseley.

In nine overs before the close, Warwickshire lost Will Rhodes, lbw playing across the line to the big-hearted Viljoen.

Day Two – report

Important contributions from new and old guards lifted Warwickshire into control against Derbyshire on the second day of their Specsavers County Championship match at Edgbaston.

Division Two leaders Warwickshire closed on 375 for six, 57 ahead of their nearest pursuers in the league table after a day of solid advance.

Jonathan Trott struck 76 (138 balls, five fours), Chris Wright 72 (153 balls, nine fours, after going in as nightwatchman) and Ian Bell 44 (88 balls, six fours).

While those three players have 698 first-class matches between them, Will Rhodes (50, 78 balls, ten fours) and Matt Lamb (a career-best 79 not out, 150 balls, six fours) are just starting out, so their batting, the most attractive of the day, was much enjoyed by another big Birmingham crowd.

For Derbyshire, it was a testing day. On a pitch on which they choose to bat first, they bowled with insufficient accuracy to build the pressure needed to force errors. The three senior seamers having together bagged 62-6-236-3, Ravi Rampaul might be forgiven for reflecting on his omission from the team as unjust.

After resuming on 32 for one, Warwickshire lost just one wicket in the morning session. Rhodes completed his first half-century for his new club before edging Mark Footitt behind.

That was Footitt’s first wicket back at Derbyshire on loan from Nottinghamshire and a second should have soon followed when Ian Bell, on 12, edged but Billy Godleman dropped a straightforward catch at second slip.

Wright batted throughout the morning session and added 77 in 27 overs with Bell before the latter fell lbw to Hardus Viljoen. The nightwatchman was within five runs of his career-best when he missed an attempt to cut leg-spinner Matt Critchley.

When Critchley trapped Sam Hain lbw, Warwickshire were 206 for five and Derbyshire had an opening but the next hour shaped the day as Trott and Lamb added an unbroken 60 up to tea. Footitt looked understandably rusty and Viljeon and Duanne Olivier were erratic.

A day after announcing that he will retire at the end of the season, Trott showed that his appetite for runs and ability to collect them remain high. His departure, bowled by Critchley just before the close, evoked the warmest ovation of the day.

Over-aggressive at first, Lamb settled to play some pleasing strokes in the final session and help ease his side into the lead and then into a position from which a significant lead beckons tomorrow.

Day One – report

Wayne Madsen unfurled a century of high skill and courage as Warwickshire and Derbyshire swapped blows on an engrossing opening day of their Specsavers County Championship match at Edgbaston.

In a clash of Division Two’s early-season front-runners, Derbyshire chose to bat and made 318, to which Warwickshire replied with 32 for one by the close.

The visitors’ linchpin was Madsen who steered his side away from early trouble with a classy 144 (203 balls, 14 fours) – his 27th first-class century. It was completed despite a painful blow on the head from a Henry Brookes bouncer when the batsman had 82. After a seven-minutes-and-20-seconds delay for treatment, Madsen carried on with resolve undiminished to at least partially vindicate Derbyshire captain Billy Godelman’s decision to bat first.

At 84 for four and 209 for six, that decision looked dubious, but Madsen led determined resistance against a Warwickshire side which suffered another injury blow to its seam-bowling department during the day. Already without Olly Stone and Keith Barker, the Bears lost Ryan Sidebottom who suffered a side-strain midway through his tenth over in mid-afternoon.

Having chosen to bat, Derbyshire did so unevenly in the first session. Ben Slater looked set to continue his vibrant early-season form when he moved crisply to 16 (23 balls) but top-edged a pull at Chris Wright to mid-on.

Warwickshire captain Jeetan Patel then took two wickets in his first 13 balls. Luis Reece offered a return catch then Alex Hughes top-edged a sweep and was brilliantly caught by Will Rhodes running back from square leg.

When Henry Brookes hit Godleman’s leg-stump, Derbyshire were 84 for four and needed some shoring up. Madsen, dropped on 13 and 87, obliged with valuable support from Gary Wilson (34, 49 balls) and Matt Critchley (30, 41). After Wilson edged Wright to slip, Critchley batted positively until he fell lbw to Patel who soon collected his fourth wicket when Hardus Viljoen nicked behind.

Hamidullah Qadri edged Brooks to second slip but then it was the turn of Duanne Olivier (40, 72 balls, seven fours) to dig in alongside Madsen. The ninth-wicket pair added 67 in 16 overs  before Brooks bowled Madsen and Mark Footitt in five balls. Eighteen-year-old Brooks finished with a career-best four for 63 and Patel four for 94.

Warwickshire were left with 12 awkward overs batting as the floodlights fought the increasing gloom and lost Dominic Sibley who fell to an exceptional catch by Critchley at fourth slip off Olivier.