Flying Footitt's Fast Finish

The final day of Derbyshire vs Middlesex at Derby began with Middlesex 25-2 needing 272 more to win the game, which looked unlikely from the outset, but Adam Voges and Sam Robson began solidly as Derbyshire failed to bowl accurately, giving away some early easy runs as the 50 came up in the 19th over, but then the collapse started, as Robson was bowled by Groenewald for 29. Mark Footitt came in for his 2nd spell of the day, and cleaned up Eoin Morgan for 9 before getting some late swing to detonate Neil Dexter's stumps, 85-5 and still 200 needed. The last hope, Voges, brought up the 100 then fell to Burgoyne for 48, 101-6. Gareth Berg now came in, and looked to get on with things, as he slammed Burgoyne back over his head for a monstrous six eighth ball he faced. Simpson then fell to Burgoyne as Middlesex looked to be surrendering cheaply, 121-7. Berg and Ollie Rayner then launched surprise counter attack, as they made the pitch looked placid and easy, finding boundaries fairly easy to come by as they added 50 in 14 overs before Berg completed his own 50 from 76 balls, as they managed to see off the front line bowlers as Alex Hughes and Madsen had a bowl in an attempt to break this partnership that had carved a chunk out of the required runs. But it was Matt Higginbottom who got the breakthrough, Berg edging to slip for a fantastic 71, 206-8. Rayner and Roland-Jones brought the target down to 60, but TRJ was then Footitts fourth victim for 14, and then end came soon after as Murtagh popped up a catch to Chesney Hughes for 1 to give Burgoyne his third, 240 all out, Derbyshire win by 56 runs, Rayner left unbeaten four short of a 2nd 50, and pick of the bowlers being Footitt 4-65 and Burgoyne 3-66. Derbyshire take away 23 much needed points to give them the chance of surviving and Middlesex 4.

Raynering Down

The third day of Derbyshire vs Middlesex at Derby began with Middlesex in a bit of trouble at 197-6 with Ollie Rayner and John Simpson batting to avoid the follow on, and with 5 overs to go until the new ball, they'd have thought they'd be able to see off five overs from Madsen and Burgoyne, but that was not to be, as Simpson charged through for a single, only to be found short from the direct hit by Chanderpaul, 208-6. Rayner, now left with the tail and the new ball, took on the bowlers a bit more, as Toby Roland-Jones edged to Chesney Hughes at slip off Groenwald for 5, Rayner completed a 108 ball 50, a welcome return to batting form after a poor season. the end came quickly, as Rayner couldn't get them past 250, as Murtagh edged behind for 10 and Finn LBW for a 2 ball duck as Footitt finished with 3-69 and Higginbottom 3-59 with Middlesex all out for 249, 136 runs behind.
Middlesex (and Murtagh) came out blasting, with Ben Slater caught behind 2nd ball for a duck and then Madsen edged to Denly at slip to give Murtagh his 2nd, 4-2. Chesney Hughes fell soon after, LBW to Finn for 3, 16-3, maybe Middlesex could still turn this game around. Chanderpaul and Johnson had other ideas, arresting the slide with a solid 50 partnership to take the lead past 200 before Chanders was LBW to Roland-Jones for 32, 68-4. Alex Hughes joined Johnson in frustrating the Middlesex attack, with a solid defence being the order of the day as there was plenty of time left and a handy lead already secured and soon the 100 was up and Johnson completed his 50 from 101 balls, then Hughes edged to slip for 24 off Gareth Berg, 116-5.
Tom Poynton came and went, giving Rayner his first wicket, 131-6, and then he snared Johnson by Robson at short leg for 59, 133-7. Peter Burgoyne was LBW for 4, and (after some quick boundaries) Groenewald popped to short leg and Footitt fell first ball, as Rayner finished with 5-67 as Derbyshire were all out for 160, leaving Middlesex 297 to win in a day and a bit.
It proved to be too long to last until close as Denly was LBW to a Footitt yorker and Finn being sent in as nightwatchman was LBW for a five ball duck, completing a pair for the day and (after joining up after being disposed by England) summed up a miserable few days for him.
Middlesex ended the day 25-2, still a long way from winning the game.

Not Quite The Plan

The 2nd day of Derbyshire vs Middlesex began well for the visitors as Peter Burgoyne fell 5th ball of the day to Murtagh, and Matt Higginbottom was caught by Morgan off Harris next over as Derby slipped to 284-8. But Middlesex failed to close out the innings, as in the next 12 overs as Groenewald and Madsen added 66, Groenewald merrily swinging the seamers straight and through the leg side as he hit 9 fours in his 49 which ended when he edged to Simpson off Rayner in the last over of the bonus points, Derbyshire now 350-9. But the pain wasn't over, as another 35 runs came as Mark Footitt carted 13 off an over from Rayner before he edged to slip for 19, Derbyshire 385 all out, last two wickets adding 101, Madsen unbeaten on a fine 138, Tim Murtagh with 3-63 being the pick of the bowlers.
Middlesex began slowly, but lost Robson for 16 (all the runs scored) caught by Johnson off Groenewald as things started to look dodgy when Denly fell for 4 caught by Chanderpaul off Groewald, 25-2. Eoin Morgan and Adam Voges took them to lunch without any more wickets falling. The 50 came up soon after and the pair looked good to get most of this massive total they were pursuing when Morgan popped the ball straight to sub fielder Calum Brodrick off Higginbottom for 28, 75-3. Dexter and Voges carried on crawling the score onwards, past 100, and to the 50 partnership, with Voges's 50 taking 139 balls. Dexter, who was struggling along on the slowing pitch, was bowled by Footitt for 21, 128-4. Then the big fish Voges was given LBW to Higginbottom for 69, he didn't seem happy with the decision as he stormed off. Higginbottom made it 2 in six balls, bowling Gareth Berg for 2, 154-6. Simpson and Rayner launched a counter attack before close, as Middlesex finished the day 197-6, still 188 behind.

Driven to Insanity by Madsen

The first day of Derbyshire vs Middlesex at Derby began with Middlesex winning the toss and fielded, and began with a hostile opening barrage from Murtagh and Roland-Jones but with no success, until Gareth Berg got Chesney Hughes to hole out to Roland-Jones for 16, carrying on his struggles this season, 37-1. The pace of the innings started to pick up once Wayne Madsen arrived, he carried on his batting form by picking off some early runs as Middlesex began to drift a touch. Lunch came with Madsen on a run a ball 25, and the fifty partnership between Ben Slater and Madsen came up shortly after.
Runs came slowly but steadily, as the pair passed 100 and Slater completed 50 from 128 balls before edging behind off James Harris shortly after, 118-2. Shiv Chanderpaul came and went, caught at short leg by Same Robson off Ollie Rayner for 2. Madsen reached his own fifty in the next over from 95 balls. Middlesex then let the game drift a bit, allowing Johnson and Madsen to put up 50, until Johnson tried to hammer Adam Voges's spin, and was caught at square leg for 33, 179-4. But the crash of wickets wouldn't come as Alex Hughes and Madsen brought up the 200 and progressed to the new ball with the score 226-4. Madsen went into the 90s, but lost Hughes, trapped LBW by Murtagh for 33. Madsen was soon celebrating, another four off Murtagh bringing up his hundred, and the first player to score 1000 championship runs on the way to it. Tom Poynton fell in the same over, but Madsen lasted out the final six overs, Derbyshire having the slightly better of the day, 279-6.

Finnking of First Degree Murtagh

Lord's for the first day of Middlesex vs Derbyshire, which started an hour late because of the floodlight CB40 the night before. Steve Finn was released by England and was on his way down so Steve Crook was to be substitute until he arrived, although he couldn't bowl or bat because the game had started after the Test at Trent Bridge (useless ECB and their regulations...). Derbyshire won the toss and batted and Martin Guptill got an unplayable delivery first ball from Tim Murtagh which he poked to Jamie Dalrymple at slip, 0-1. Murtagh then struck in his next over, having Wayne Madsen caught by Malan for a duck and followed it up with his third wicket in 16 balls for 5 runs by having Chesney Hughes waft a wide ball to point were Sam Robson took the catch. Derby 14-3 and in deep trouble which Wes Durston and Greg Smith hit them out of. Because Crook couldn't bowl, there were only two front-line seamers so Dexter and Dalrymple were bowling after the first hour and both Smith and Durston reached quick fifties (off 48 and 75 balls) with the newish ball not spinning Durston hitting Tom Smith for a flat six to the Grand Stand boundary.
127-3 and a murmur went up amongst the crowd followed by a cheer as Steve Finn ran onto the field at 1:45 and was bowling the next over from the pavilion end where Durston was beaten by pace third ball to fall lbw for 61 and to swing the momentum back to Middlesex at lunch with 131-4.
Smith went straight after lunch for 57 to give Murtagh his 4th wicket and Luke Sutton was bowled by Finn to leave Derby 165-6, still in danger of not reaching 200. Ross Whiteley has been in good form of late in his first full season in the team and he saved his side with a fifty which included sixes off Murtagh and a huge hit off Dalrymple which lodged in the roofing to the right of the pavilion.
A missed stumping by Simpson of Jon Clare off Dalrymple wasn't to costly as Tom Smith then had Clare caught at slip by Dexter (22) and next over Gronewald was caught behind by Simpson and the over after Palladino caught by Newman at short leg for 1. 220-6 to 224-9 and 250 looked beyond them but Mark Turner hit 20 not out and aided Whiteley reaching 50 (off 97) before Whiteley smacked Finn to Murtagh to leave them 252 all out, a total that was probably below par.
This left Middlesex with 28 overs to bat and Newman and Robson did so easily. They rocked along at four an over and although they were lucky with a couple of edges both played well against an attack that struggled to assert itself. Newman reached 50 off 73 balls to be 51 not out at close and Robson was 48 not out with Middlesex closing 105-0 only 147 behind Derbyshire.

Derbyshire defy Newton's law

Having progressed to 364 all out in their first innings, Derbyshire set about asserting their authority against Northamptonshire at Northampton. Northants slumped to 12-2 with Rob White and Ben Howgego failed before a comeback was launched by Stephen Peters and Rob Newton. Newton was brutal with his drives as he went to 50 off 69 balls and then kicked on whilst Peters blocked at the other end before wicket finally fell at 151 when Peters edged Greg Smith's spin to Wayne Madsen for 46. Newton fell three overs later for 94 off 114 with 18 fours when he drove Mark Turner only for the ball to slide off the face to Martin Guptill at gully.
Light rain then forced the players off for tea and then it took an age for them to return, which eventually happened at 4:45. Andrew Hall and Mal Loye batted on but struggled to get the better of tight bowling from Turner, Smith and Tim Groenewald and Turner snared Loye for 6 after an hour (190-5). Hall and Niall O'Brien brought up the 200 before Groenewald had Hall lbw for 27. Chaminda Vaas (11) and O'Brien (14) then saw out the last 10 overs and avoided the follow-on to leave Northamptonshire 220-6 at the close, still 144 runs behind.