On the opening day of the LV=Insurance County Championship match at New Road, Anuj Dal once more had fun at Worcestershire’s expense as Derbyshire, who are currently last in the standings, overcame their bowling injury issues. This led to a collapse by the host team.
After scoring a century in the teams’ encounter at the Incora County Ground in 2022, Dal scored 150+ and picked up a five-for in the subsequent match. With Worcestershire being dismissed for 237 in 83.3 overs after reaching 105 for 1 at one point, he maintained in that vein by recording figures of 18.3-5-45-5.
Saranga Lakmal, Zak Chappell, Sam Conners, as well as Ben Aitchison, who was unable to complete an over, were absent from the Peakites’ frontline bowling lineup. Conor McKerr of Surrey was acquired by Derbyshire on loan for a third time, but they stuck to their mission against a Worcestershire team that was also unfit.
Due to the absence of the club captain Brett D’Oliveira, Jack Haynes, and Kashif Ali, it was necessary to give Rehaan Edavalath, a rookie professional, and India pace bowler Navdeep Saini their professional debuts.
temporary captain By leading the way with 78 runs to increase his run total to 373 over his last three knocks, Jake Libby maintained his strong run of form. However, only fellow openers Adam Hose and Gareth Roderick provided him with any real help.
Derbyshire finished the day on 32 for 2 after losing Luis Reece to Dillon Pennington’s penultimate delivery of the day. Saini, who last summer played for Kent in the Championship, struck with his first delivery to dismiss Harry Came.
After winning the toss, Libby chose to bat. Roderick joined him in scoring easily against the Kookaburra ball that will be used in the Championship games’ upcoming two rounds.
Since joining forces at the top of the order in the previous Championship game against Sussex, they have now achieved three consecutive half-century stands. Aitchison bowled Roderick through the gate with a delivery that nipped back after the partnership had been worth 70 runs.
When Azhar Ali was removed to the last delivery before lunch because he drove at Dal and was caught at slip, the game began to shift in Derbyshire’s favor.
At the beginning of the afternoon session, Edavalath walked out to bat for his first innings. However, he only managed to last three balls before being bowled out for naught after misfiring on a straight delivery from Dal.
With a stroke through the covers for two off Dal, who bowled a challenging 10-over spell of 10-2-32-2 each side of lunch, Libby completed a superb half-century off 106 balls.
Hose has been in excellent form in both Championship and T20 cricket, and he once more appeared in fine form as he calmly assisted Libby in adding 54 runs. Hose, however, gave Nick Potts the slightest edge, allowing him to slide, and Libby’s excellent run was ended by Dal, with keeper Brooke Guest holding onto the opportunity. Libby currently ranks third on Division Two with 614 first-class runs this summer.
Despite putting his head down and shouldering arms to Dal before the final ball before tea, Ed Pollock, who had been called back into the Championship team, was bowled.
Following the break, Matthew Waite displayed improvement, hitting three boundaries off of Aitchison in the first over to reach the 200-run mark. However, McKerr’s delivery that nipped back a good distance bowled him at the score of 19.
When Josh Baker advanced toward Luis Reece and was bowled, Joe Leach lightly clipped McKerr into the hands of the fielder at mid wicket. By breaking Pennington’s stumps, Dal finished with a five-for.
Saini got off to the best possible start when Came failed to defend against a ball that was angled into him, leading to his dismissal. Reece then edged Pennington’s penultimate delivery of the day to first slip.