Derbyshire tighten grip over Worcestershire

Rothesay County Championship, Division Two, Central Co-op County Ground, Derby (day three) Derbyshire 625-8 dec: Andersson 228, Reece 114; Taylor 3-160 Worcestershire 312: Lategan 89 & 68-1: Lategan 43* Worcestershire (3 pts) trail Derbyshire (8 pts) by 245 runs Match scorecard England off-spinner Shoaib Bashir was in the spotlight for contrasting reasons as Derbyshire tightened their grip on the County Championship Division Two match against Worcestershire at the Co-op County Ground in Derby. Bashir celebrated his first Derbyshire wicket following his winter move from Somerset but was also responsible for an incident that cost the hosts five penalty runs. The 22-year-old had figures of 1-27 from seven overs but it was Anuj Dal who took first-innings bowling honours, claiming 3-22 as Worcestershire were dismissed for 312 with Dan Lategan scoring 89 and skipper Brett D'Oliveira 50.

Following on, Muhammad Abbas opened his Derbyshire account but Lategan again played well to be unbeaten on 43 from 87 balls at the close with the visitors 68-1, still 245 runs behind. Worcestershire went into day three with a lot of work in front of them to try and save the game but Lategan and Adam Hose looked relatively comfortable despite several breaks in play. After the ball was changed early into the session, there was a five minute hold up that ended with the award of penalty runs.

Lategan pulled Abbas out to deep square where Bashir shaped to throw the ball before Dal sent in the return. After lengthy deliberations, the umpires decided Bashir was guilty of deception although it did not put off the batsmen who had already decided to go through for a second run. Two rain delays followed before Lategan fell short of what would have been a deserved century when he was run out going for a second by Zak Chappell's accurate return from inside the cover boundary.

The 19-year-old's reaction summed up his disappointment but it had been an impressive innings in only his fourth first-class game. After lunch was taken early following another shower, D'Oliveria and Hose took the score past 200 before two wickets in consecutive overs Hose was caught behind trying to cut a ball from Luis Reece that was too close to him and Gareth Roderick was lbw half forward to Ben Aitchison. D'Oliveira and Ethan Brookes were building another partnership until Bashir struck in the first over of his third spell.