Teams not polls apart in draw
Thu 7 May 2015
REPORT | By Pete Johnson
Second XI Championship result: Derbyshire 392-6 drew with Leicestershire 60-1 dec and 160-4. Derbyshire forfeited their 2nd innings. Match Drawn: Leicestershire 7 points, Derbyshire 9 points.
Trialist Matt Pardoe batted well in both innings as the Championship match between Leicestershire and Derbyshire petered out into a draw because of the poor weather.
Day three commenced without the prevailing windy and blustery conditions that had been evident on days 1 and 2 - no doubt all the bluster having been exhausted by the verbosity of prospective parliamentary candidates in the last two days leading up to the General Election.
This was the first day of the three days that play that had started on time. The players took the field under a cloudy sky, interrupted by the (very) occasional sunny interval. Derbyshire declared on their overnight 392-6.
County opened up with Pardoe and Dan Redfern. They had to contend with the lively pace of Liam Hurt who was charging in from the Pavilion End, and working up a good pace, hoping that there may be a bit of green in the pitch.
The pair had taken the score to 26 when Redfern (14) was caught in the slips by Tom Knight off Hurt. Peter Drysdale joined the impressive looking Pardoe. Drysdale batted quite conservatively, soaking up 36 balls for an unbeaten 7, while Pardoe had been scoring liberally going to 35 from 42 balls.
County declared their innings on 60-1 after 16 overs and Derbyshire forfeited their innings, leaving County to chase 333 to win in a minimum of 78 overs - an asking rate of 4.26 per over.
Pardoe and Redfern again opened up for County, Redfern (17) being out in the final over before lunch, in an identical fashion as to how he was out in the first innings, caught in the slip cordon by Knight off Hurt.
County went into lunch on 44-1 off 11 overs. In line with the political theme of the day I was surprised to find that we did not have (U)kippers for lunch. The afternoon session was very much a stop-start affair due to scattered showers being in the vicinity of Grace Road.
Drysdale had joined Pardoe, and there was a swing to the left, with three left handers being at the top of the order. Pardoe added to his already impressive manifesto with an array of delightful shots to all parts of the ground.
Drysdale (6) went with score on 76, when Cork popped one, and he was caught behind by keeper Poynton. Cork was screwing the batsmen down and bowling a very tight spell from the Bennett End. Pardoe moved to his 50 (8x4) from 52 balls just before Drysdale’s dismissal with the score on 76. Pardoe had deposited seamer Hemmings for three fours and a three in one over.
Aadil Ali joined Pardoe, and elected to join Pardoe in to get after the majority of the bowling. At 2.55pm, the Umpires voted with their feet, and took the players from the field as a result of a short sharp shower.
The players returned for 15 minutes play, and as is often the case, the tea interval was taken in near tropical conditions, compared to the weather we had experienced for long periods earlier in the match.
Pardoe looked a good candidate for a century, but fell marginally short, and Matt (Pardoe) finished his innings when he was dismissed for an excellent 75 (12x4) from 82 balls, going caught behind by Poynton off spinner Knight, from the fourth ball after the rain break.
Tom Wells joined Ali (30 not out), and the pair batted well together taking the game into the final hour. The pair were voting to block the majority of deliveries, interspersed with the occasional boundary. The balance of power in the game was with neither side, and when Wells (24) was lbw to Matt Comber, the leaders of both sides shook hands on a draw.
County closed on 160-4 with 9.2 overs remaining. The labour of the players over the three days not being able to achieve a result, due mainly to the amount of overs lost to the weather. With all stoppages for rain there had been several recounts by the Scorers and Umpires at Grace Road North, to form a good coalition as to the overs remaining.
