Yorkshire Secure Second Straight Innings Victory
Yorkshire secured victory by an innings for the second successive County Championship game to strengthen its bid for promotion from Division Two.
The Vertu Motors-backed side headed for Chesterfield on the back of a fine win against Gloucestershire, which was the first time this season that the white rose had scored victory in the four-day game.
Rivals Derbyshire elected to bat first having won the toss but it soon became clear that that had been the wrong call from captain David Lloyd as Yorkshire’s bowlers went on the attack.
Opener Mitch Wagstaff survived just five balls before he was trapped LBW by the returning Ben Coad, with Luis Reece and Brooke Guest then struggling to generate any momentum against the Yorkshire attack.
Reece fell for 11 in the 15th over when he was caught off the bowling of Vishwa Fernando, with Guest then bowled in the next over by Jordan Thompson.
That left the home side on 35-3 but the real collapse was still to come, with the next six wickets falling in a devastating spell of bowling for the addition of just five runs – meaning eight wickets had been taking for just 15.
Wayne Madsen and Aneurin Donald were both trapped LBW by Fernando with consecutive deliveries, with Thompson removing Lloyd in the next over before catching Ross Whiteley to give Fernando his fourth wicket.
Alex Thomson followed when he was caught off Thompson’s bowling before Fernando grabbed his fifth wicket when he bowled Sam Conners.
Derbyshire looked set to post their lowest total at the venue since the 1980s before a late cameo from Zak Chappell saw him top score with 18 before becoming Thompson’s fourth victim to wrap up the innings for just 76.
Derbyshire’s attack was unable to replicate the success enjoyed by the visitors, with Adam Lyth and Finlay Bean putting on 61 for the first wicket before Bean was trapped LBW for 29.
That brought James Wharton to the crease and he was soon into his stride despite wickets falling at the other end.
Lyth was caught and bowled by Reece for 38, whilst both Shan Masood and George Hill made promising starts to their innings before ultimately failing to push on, whilst Matthew Revis also fell cheaply to leave the visitors on 165-5.
That brought Jonathan Tattersall to the crease alongside Wharton and the pair started to take the game further away from Derbyshire as they put on an unbeaten stand of 118 by the end of the day – with Wharton reaching a century – to secure a lead of 207.
The second day would prove to be one of frustration however, with poor weather resulting in little more than 35 overs of play being possible.
Despite that, Wharton and Tattersall were able to take their record-breaking partnership to 241before Wharton was eventually caught at slip off the bowling of Daryn Dupavillon for a career best 188.
Tattersall would end the day on 93 not out and would go on to reach 107 on the third day before his dismissal led to Masood declaring at 451-9 – meaning Derbyshire would need to reach 375 just to make Yorkshire bat for a second time.
That was already a tall order, and it wasn’t helped when Wagstaff was caught by Tattersall off the bowling of Coad with the very first ball – with Fernando then trapping fellow opener Reece LBW in the second over before a run had been put on the board.
Whilst Lloyd and Whiteley were able to pass 50, wickets would tumble at regular intervals as Fernando took 4-58 to leave him with nine wickets in the match, and Coad took a hugely impressive 6-30.
That gave Yorkshire victory by an innings and 204 runs, with a 24 point haul helping to strengthen a top three position in the standings.
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