By John Virr – 2nd X1 Scorer
DAY 1
On a sunny, but cool morning Will Luxton won the toss and elected to bat first. With Will Bennison away collecting his Wisden School Cricketer of the year award Yash Vagadia was joined by Jawad Akhtar but the latter was first out for 11 from 9 balls with a four and a six when he was caught at mid on.
Will Luxton joined Vagadia and at lunch they remained unbeaten having taken the total to 130 from 30 overs. Vagadia was 65 no from 93 balls and Luxton 53 no from 78 balls.
Post lunch their partnership extended to 150 from 224 balls before Vagadia was caught and bowled for 86 from 132 balls including 10 fours. Noah Kelly was caught behind for 8 but Luxton reached his century from 138 balls with 9 fours and 3 sixes and at tea he was unbeaten on 115; Owen Smith 25 no with Yorkshire totalling 261-3.
The restart was delayed for 10 minutes due to a light shower however Smith only added 2 to his total as he was caught at mid off (269-4) – this soon became 296-6 as Jafer Chohan was caught at 1st slip for 9 and Dan Moriarty was lbw 1st ball. Meanwhile Luxton continued as he passed 150 from 206 balls with 11 fours and 3 maximums. He had added 82 for the 7th wicket with Ben Cliff before he was caught at mid off for an excellent 177 from 230 balls with 14 fours and 4 sixes – their partnership spanned 113 balls and Cliff had made 35.
Cliff ended the day 43 not out from 81 balls with 5 fours and Charlie Taylor unbeaten on 8 as we closed on 394-7.
DAY 2
Our overnight 394-7 immediately became 394-8 as Ben Cliff was bowled in the first over of the day without adding to his 43. Charlie Taylor was the 9th wicket to fall being lbw for 8 however Matthew Firbank and Brad Sylvester got us to 409 before the latter was bowled for 2; Firbank unbeaten on 13.
Wagstaff and Donald had added 55 for the first wicket in only 72 balls when the former was bowled by Sylvester for 23 from 48 balls with 3 fours. Donald was joined by Bin Naeem and at lunch Derbyshire were 62-1, Donald 36 no from only 30 balls being especially harsh on anything slightly wide.
Sylvester struck again shortly after the restart having the dangerous Donald caught behind by Noah Kelly for 50 from 42 balls with 10 fours. Basra was very well caught at short leg by Owen Smith to give Dan Moriarty his first victim and Cliff had Hawkins lbw for 8 before Moriarty claimed his second and Derbyshire had slid from 82-1 to 125-5.
McHale shared a 69 ball partnership with Bin Naeem (although he only made 3) before he was run out through a combination of Chohan, Taylor and Kelly. Bin Naeem had made 64 from 101 balls with 6 fours and a six before he was lbw to Moriarty and at tea Derbyshire had reached 173-3.
After tea, with rain threatening and the light closing in they added only a further 33 before being dismissed for 206. Cliff finished with 3-48 and Moriarty 3-59 from 19 overs.
Perhaps surprisingly the follow on was enforced and Donald was victim of a “crazy” run out as Wagstaff played to mid wicket and set off only for Taylor to slip whilst throwing the ball in over the keepers head where Moriarty fumbled but managed to get the ball to Kelly who took the bails off to leave Donald stranded.
Wagstaff and Bin Naeem added 33 from 69 deliveries before from the third ball of the last over of the day Moriarty bowled Wagstaff for 19. Derbyshire start day 3 48-2, trailing by 155.
DAY 3
The overnight deficit of 155 was reduced by 46 before the first wicket of the day was lost – that was Basra caught by Kelly off Brad Sylvester for 26 made from 29 balls with a four and 2 sixes. Moriarty had Hawkins caught at mid off for 6 and Sylvester struck again having Valbhaneni lbw for 1.
Bin Naeem battled through at the other end being unbeaten on 64 from 109 balls with 5 fours and a six at lunch with Derbyshire 140-5 trailing by 63.
Shortly after lunch Derbyshire were reduced to 157-7 as McHale was caught at slip by Luxton and Bin Naeem taken at the wicket by Kelly to give Chohan and Cliff respectively a wicket each. Bin Naeem made 73 from 121 balls.
Morley and Potts added 36 for the 8th wicket spanning 67 balls before the former was taken by Luxton at slip to give Moriarty his 3rd wicket. It was Moriarty who wrapped up the innings taking wickets with consecutive balls (albeit the last ball of one over and the first ball of the next) to give him figures of 5-77 from 23.1 overs.
Yorkshire then required 43 to win and this was achieved in 9.2 overs with the loss of Will Bennison who was caught behind for 3 – Vagadia 16 no and Luxton 21 no.
Our next 2nd X1 game sees us take on Hampshire at their Nursery ground in Southampton in our first Championship game of the season starting Tuesday 21st April.
