Derbyshire v Yorkshire at Chesterfield County Championship Div2 July 1-4

Neil Whitaker reports

Day 1

YORKSHIRE’S James  Wharton hit his first Vitality Championship century on a day when 15 wickets fell at Chesterfield.

He said: “I was relieved when I scored my century but happy to finally get over the line. It’s been frustrating not getting a century because I’ve been getting out in soft ways.  Getting to 20 is the hard part today. I tried to be more focused. We’ve got a good lead but it’s nowhere big enough, we don’t want to bat twice.”

When bad light ended play early Wharton was unbeaten on 116 and Yorkshire had a lead  of 116 with five wickets left. He started his innings hesitantly but eventually gained in confidence first with his captain Shan Masood and then with George Hill.  After Hill’s departure he blossomed and drove Sam Conners to the extra cover boundary and a couple off balls later a four to the long off brought up his 50 from 63 balls with 10 fours.

Rocking back to spinner Alex Thomson he drilled him to the cover boundary, a shot he repeated to the next ball.  In Thomson’s next over he reversed swept him to the cover boundary to take him into the 90’s.  A couple of balls later he clipped Thomson off his toes for a big six over long-on to  take him short off his century.  Wharton added: “I tried to get through the 90’s as quickly as possible.”

His century came from 101 balls with 18 fours and two sixes when he drilled Luis Reece through the hands off Mitch Wagstaff at short cover.

Yorkshire’s latest  signing Sri Lankan Viswa Fernando took five wickets for no runs to put Yorkshire on course for their second Vitality Championship victory in a week.  He took the wickets either side of lunch and a rain stoppage bowling from the Pavilion end at Chesterfield as Derbyshire were dismissed for 76. 

Playing in his last game for Yorkshire the  32 year-old’s first victim in the spell was Russ Whiteley who edged him to Jordan Thompson at gully who took a low catch to his right. He knocked Conners’ middle stump out of the ground with a ball which was too good for a top order batter, never mind a number 10.

Earlier he  got rid of Reece, after Ben Coad had two appeals turned down, by taking his outside edge and Hill at first slip took a low catch.  Fernando got his second wicket when he swung one back in at Wayne Madsen and hit him on his boot. He got on his hattrick when he angled one across Aneurin Donald and was leg before. Russ Whiteley solidly survived the hat trick ball with his bat.

Thompson bowled aggressively and took four wickets for 31, his first wicket tore the heart of Derbyshire’s top order. Without adding to the score that Madsen was out on, Brooke Guest was bowled by Thompson with one that nipped back.

Derbyshire lost their sixth wicket when captain David Lloyd missed a straight ball and was leg before to Thompson. He got rid off his namesake Alex Thomson when Thomson edged him to Finlay Bean at third slip.

Zak Chappell batting at number nine was Derbyshire  top scorer with 18 hitting Thompson straight back over his head into the netting to stop balls going in the duck pond.  But after adding 26 with Daryn  Duvillon he edged a drive off Thompson which Adam Lyth at second slip easily accepted. For the second season running at Chesterfield that Yorkshire have dismissed Derbyshire in less than 30 overs.


Fernando and Thompson may have got nine wickets between them but credit goes to Coad who bowled well keeping things tight but only got one wicket. After winning the toss and deciding to bat on a pitch with a green tinge, Derbyshire lost their first wicket to the fifth ball of the first over when Wagstaff was caught on his crease and was leg before to Coad.

Wharton added: Our bowlers deserved a massive credit for getting Derbyshire out so cheaply. There is a bit in the pitch but it’s not a 76 all out pitch, so for our bowlers to be so disciplined as they were is a massive credit to them.”

Yorkshire thought they had Reece when Coad squared him up and took his outside edge and began celebrating but umpire Neil Pratt was unmoved. In Coad’s next over they thought they had twice but again umpire Pratt was unmoved. 

Fresh from their record breaking opening partnership at Scarborough last week Lyth and Bean eased to 50 in 10 overs  when  Bean glanced Chappell off his hip to the fine leg boundary.  But sadly there was no record breaking stand today, after adding another 11, Bean played down the wrong line and was leg before to Reece.


Lyth looked good until he gave a simple return catch to Reece, instead of follow through with his shot he just punched it back to Reece.

Derbyshire thought that Shan Masood had  edged a rising ball from Chappell on the stroke of tea.  But he didn’t last long after tea when he played around a straight ball from Dupavillon and was leg before.

 Hill got a thick outside edge  to a drive off Conners to give Derbyshire stumper Guest a simple catch.  Matt Revis was squared up by Chappell who took a thick outside edge and Guest leaping to his right took another catch.

Yorkshire made three changes from the side that beat Gloucestershire by an innings at Scarborough: captain Shan Masood returned to  the side in place of Wil Luxton, Ben Coad for Conner McKerr, who had a tight foot, and Daniel Moriarty played instead of Dom Bess. While Derbyshire replaced Matt Lamb with Wagstaff and  Whiteley came in for Anuj Dal.

Day 2

A RECORD breaking sixth wicket partnership of 241 in 54 overs between James Wharton and Jonny Tattersall for Yorkshire against Derbyshire put the match beyond Derbyshire reach if it wasn’t  already on Sunday.

The partnership was broken when Wharton pushed at Daryn  Dupavillon, edged it  and Aneurin Donald at second slip took the catch diving to his left in front of Wayne Madsen at first slip.  The record they had broken had lasted 103 years was 178  made by Emmett Robinson and Cecil Burton at Hull in 1921.  The record was broken when Tattersall turned Mitch Wagstaff off his legs for a couple.  Tattersall has now featured in  record partnership’s for the fifth and sixth wickets for Yorkshire.

Wharton fell 12 short off his double ton, not bad  for someone who only made his first century for Yorkshire yesterday. His 188 is the fourth highest score by a Yorkshire player against Derbyshire and the 12th highest against Derbyshire. 

He faced 231 balls hitting 23 fours and six sixes. From the beginning of the day he set his stall out that he was going to hit a big century by driving the leg spinner Wagstaff over long on for the first six of his innings in the fifth over of the day. Four overs later he hit Wagstaff for another six, but this was much straighter.  

The only blemish in his innings came on 147 when he drove   Wagstaff through the covers and Russ Whiteley came in from the boundary to take the catch but as he dove forward and fell to the ground. Wharton launched Alex Thomson over long-on for a big six and in the next over he drove Wagstaff for a straight six.

Yorkshire’s assistant coach Ali Maiden said: “I thought Wharton was brilliant because we’ve seen the bad  times for him when it hasn’t come off, but the most pleasing part is that he got a big score.  In the past few weeks he hasn’t been comfortable.  We’ve got to try and keep him level headed, all the lads here got talent.”

Compared to Wharton’s innings anybody at the other end would be ignored but Tattersall contributed his full share to their partnership, he clipped Thomson for two fours in three balls to the mid wicket boundary.

Only 35 overs were possible before rain forced play to be abandoned for the day after there had been two interruptions by rain.  Before play started Sir Geoffrey Boycott rang the five minute bell.

Derbyshire captain David Lloyd said: “Yesterday winning the toss our goal was to get some runs on the board but it didn’t go to plan, we shot ourselves in the foot. We bowled well In spells but letting Wharton and Tattersall build a partnership was disappointing. No one means to do that. We’ve got to stick together as a group.

At  the moment the lads are quite down, it hasn’t been a great week but we’ve got to show a lot of fight and character in the second innings.  The lads are low in confidence but we’ve got to show people what we can do.  I think the lads are trying too hard to force a win, we have  got to find a way but it’s hard to learn when you're on the job.

The lads are hurting, yesterday was a real low for myself because I came here to win things.”

Day 3

YORKSHIRE beat Derbyshire by an innings and 204 runs at Chesterfield to complete their first back to back innings  Vitality Championship victories since 2015

Jonny Tattersall completed first Championship century of the season and then Derbyshire were destroyed by Ben Coad who took six for 30, his second best bowling figures.

Yorkshire head coach Ottis Gibson said: “I am delighted with the way we played and this week has shown the spirit and skills that we have.  We were lucky with the toss and conditions, but we bowled well in the first innings.  But we know what we need to do to  win matches in Division two.  We have to bat and bowl  well, every time we lose a match our confidence takes a knock.

We know what Coad can do when the conditions are right and when they are in his favour he wants to bowl all the time but he’s so important to us.  He bowled beautifully today by pitching the ball up and always putting the batsmen under pressure which is something that the youngsters have to watch.”

I hope that James Wharton’s knock is  the start of something special. We have seen him do that a lot in   the nets but he is a nervous guy and a nervous starter.  He played shots all around the ground.”

Derbyshire head coach Mickey Arthur said: “It wasn’t a 76 or a 171 all out pitch, we batted first because we didn’t want to bat last on this pitch.  Batting on the first day is a lot easier than batting fourth.Even at the end of day one  it was looking like a day two and a half pitch.  

Our performance in this match was worse that our performance at Lord’s last week.  We are not doing good things for long enough.  It’s a dressing room that’s short of confidence.  We have got to get players to play the way we know they can. Coad put six balls an over in the right areas and asked questions, we didn’t do that enough. We set them to play  the game, it’s all about pressure and doing the skills well for longer. We don’t do them  for long enough but we know that we are only one performance away from being a very good side.

I feel the pressure but I’ve got a lot of pride in the job that I do. I am responsible for the cricket at Derbyshire and I have got a determination to succeed.  I feel that one win will change everything.”

Yorkshire declared their first innings as soon as they reached their fifth batting point. Trailing by 375 Derbyshire lost their first second innings wicket to the first ball when Mitch Wagstaff edged a drive off Coad bowling around the wicket and Tattersall took a routine catch. He got his second wicket when Brooke  Guest played down the wrong line and was plumb leg before.

A fifth wicket partnership of 54 in 16 overs  between captain David Lloyd and Aneurin Donald gave Derbyshire fans some hope of taking the match into a fourth day if not saving the match.

Lloyd pulled  Vishal Fernando for a six over square leg three balls later Fernando got his second when bowling over the wicket he got Wayne Madsen leg before.  Not a decision that Madsen agreed with.

Donald confidently drove Fernando majestically to the cover boundary and managed to get his bat to the next ball in time to a low ball. He cut Fernando to the cover boundary.

An on drive by Lloyd off George Hill to the long-on boundary brought up the fifty partnership with Donald.   The partnership was broken  when Donald  was squared up by Coad who clipped the top of his off stump.

A couple of balls after reaching his fifty off 73 balls with eight fours and a six he  became Coad’s fourth victim when Coad brushed the edge of his bat and Tattersall did the rest.

Coad squared Russ Whiteley up, took his outside edge and the ball flew to the slips where Finlay  Bean made a valiant attempt to catch it with his left but the ball wouldn't stick.   But Coad got his fifth wicket when Alex Thomson was plumb leg before.  Next ball he got on a hat-trick when Zak Chappell edged  him to Tattersall.  Sam Conners survived the hat-trick ball but he must have had his heart in his mouth when the ball thumped into his pads.

Whiteley hit Coad straight back and over his head into the pavilion for a big six.  In the next over he hit consecutive sixes off Dan Moriarty.  In Moriarty’s next over he hit a flat batted a six followed by a six over mid-wicket. He reached his 50 off 38 balls when he squeezed Fernando to the point boundary. But three balls later he slapped  Fernando to Wharton at mid wicket.

Fernando got his first wicket to send Derbyshiret wo  down when Luis Reece was trapped on the crease  to him and was leg before.  Conners hit a run a ball 10 before he had a big swing at Fernando and was bowled.  Gibson added: “Fernando has been brilliant for us in the three games he has played and we would like to have back next year.”

Yorkshire started the third day wanting quick runs to get a fifth batting point and bowling again at Derbyshire. Tattersall reached his century when he guided Daryn Dupavillon through gully and aided by a misfield by Thomson for one of his 13 fours in his ton.  His century came from 163 balls and it was his first Championship century for two seasons.

Gibson said: “Tattersall has been playing well all season, he’s a fighter and knows the job.  He’s been pushing me all season to bat him at  six but we need him at seven.”

Jordan Thompson made a breezy 20 with three fours in 18 balls as Yorkshire pushed for their fifth batting  he had a wild swing at Reece and was leg before.

Before he had scored Coad edged Dupavillon but Madsen at first slip dropped the chance and Coad got off the mark. But that was his only scoring shot, he too had a big swing but missed the ball and was bowled by Reece Without adding to the score Tattersall pulled Dupavillon to Reece at short mid-wicket.

Fernando showed why he is a number 13 somehow got his bat on a yorker from Dupavillon and got a boundary and got Yorkshire to their fifth batting point when they declared.

SCORECARD