Derbyshire had a repeat of the first innings as they reeled against Worcestershire’s bowling attack, spearheaded by Ben Allison. Chasing 333 in the final innings, Derbyshire could only get to 157, that too after losing their first wickets for 39 runs, before losing the game by 175 runs within three days.
The day began with Worcestershire at 330 for the loss of nine wickets. Much of the task had been done by Pakistan’s Mohammad Abbas the previous day. Abbas completed his five-wicket haul in the previous innings, which was 59th in first-class cricket and first in this season. He bowled the most overs, 17 in total, during the first innings, five more than the next on the list, Reece, who bowled 12.
Abbas completes nine-wicket haul
In the second innings, he was equally lethal, as he took four wickets, dismantling the Worcestershire batting lineup by sending their best hopes cheaply. This helped Derbyshire to halt Worcestershire for just 206 runs, but their credit from the first innings, when Derbyshire only scored 88 runs in response to their 214, meant that the target was cranked up to 333.
The first five of Derbyshire batters could not even get past 10 runs, as they lost six wickets in 18 overs for just 39 runs. The predicament somewhat improved as Luis Reece and Amit Basra stitched an 81-run stand to delay the inevitable for a while. After Reece went in, denied of his well-deserved half-century by one run, Nick Potts took on his task of extending the resistance. But this could work for only a few overs, before both set batters, Basra and Potts, fell to Ben Gibbon.
Worcestershire wrap up comprehensive win
It was only a matter of a couple of overs after that when Worcestershire wrapped up their comprehensive win, which was their first in four games.
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