REPORT & QUOTES: Derbyshire struggle on Day Two

Division Two leaders Durham made giant strides towards their fourth win of the season with six foot four seamer Kasey Aldridge claiming a first five-wicket haul since his winter move from Somerset.

Ben Stokes was a conspicuous figure on the outfield before play as he bowled in the middle then went to bat in the nets, adding to speculation that the England captain will make his first appearance since the Lord’s Test in Durham’s next fixture against Northamptonshire which starts at the Banks Homes Riverside on Friday.

But that seems certain to require Durham to change a winning team after they skittled Derbyshire’s first innings in 30 overs, then reduced their second innings to 99 for four after enforcing the follow-on – still needing 160 runs to avoid an innings defeat.

Aldridge took five of the last six wickets in 34 balls from the Lumley End after Ben Raine and Matthew Potts had shared the first four, and Potts ended with six in the day after taking the first four wickets of Derbyshire’s second innings – three of them in an excellent eight-over opening spell.

Durham had extended their overnight 302 for seven to 377 all out in the morning session, meaning their last three wickets added a total of 113.

Raine, 24 overnight, moved to 63 – the highest score of the innings – before he was ninth out, after sharing partnerships of 58 with Potts and 55 with Callum Parkinson.

Ben Aitchison took Raine’s wicket to end with five for 74 – the third five-wicket haul of his first-class career and his second in consecutive matches – before Shoaib Bashir bowled Parkinson for 22, leaving the England spinner with one for 43 from 14.2 overs.

Duanne Olivier was left on 0 not out in his first innings for Durham – the only one of their batting line-up not to reach double figures.

Derbyshire were left a tricky two-over session to bat before lunch and it took Raine only three balls to win an lbw decision against Harry Came.

Luis Reece survived two loud appeals in the second over from Potts, who removed the left-hander four overs after the interval when he angled one behind his legs into leg stump.

Matthew Montgomery was bowled shouldering arms against the probing Raine and a skittish innings from Derbyshire’s captain Wayne Madsen ended when Potts switched ends and had him dragging on.

That was 42 for four and although Caleb Jewell and Martin Andersson hinted at the sort of partnership which had underpinned Durham’s total, Jewell’s positive approach in carving eight boundaries always seemed risky – even if he was dismissed playing no shot in Aldridge’s second over, and clearly disappointed to be given lbw.

Aldridge was unstoppable after that, aided by limp Derbyshire resistance and two sharp catches at second slip by Ben McKinney.

Reece, Montgomery and Jewell all fell cheaply for the second time in the space of a few hours when Derbyshire followed on after tea, with Potts probing relentlessly from the Finchale End to have Reece lbw, Montgomery gloving down the legside and Jewell chopping on fourth ball – after driving his first to the boundary.

Came and Madsen produced some belated resistance in a fourth-wicket stand of 55 in 24 overs, with Came grafting to 48 from 118 balls. But Potts returned for a short second burst in the evening sunshine and bowled Madsen with a ball which kept horribly low – underlining the unlikely nature of Derbyshire’s Sunday survival battle.

Ben Smith, Derbyshire batting coach, said: “I think 17 wickets have gone down in the day, and we were on the wrong side of it unfortunately.

“We’ve batted so well all season in both formats, and none of us expected that to happen today.

“They’re disappointed in the dressing room – however I think we were caught on the hop. There’s been a bit of inconsistent bounce and were we quick enough to react to it? I’d question that.

“We were also exposed to some very good bowling with the new ball – it’s that sort of pitch where it becomes slightly less difficult to bat on when the ball is older. It’s definitely not a pitch where you want to be batting last so that has to be our approach now – we need partnerships, and a batter to anchor the innings.”