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Blair Tickner has been able to make his debut for Derbyshire in round two of the County Championship after rain ruined their first-round fixture against Gloucestershire.
Nathan Smith had a tremendous outing for Worcestershire, putting them in a position to potentially take victory against Nottinghamshire but rain ruined the final day of the fixture between the two sides.
Lancashire’s Tom Bruce didn’t have the most successful outing taking the catch of James Vince in Hampshire’s first innings, but made a first-ball duck in his side’s only chance with the bat with Ian Holland getting the wicket. The game ended in a draw, 50 overs into day four.
Smith was on fire for Worcestershire with two opening wickets of former English opener Haseeb Hameed and current English opener Ben Duckett. These two wickets reduced Nottinghamshire to 34/2 in just over seven overs. He grabbed one more wicket, Matthew Montgomery for 11.
The all-rounder then followed up his three wickets with a crucial 58 from 136 balls batting at number eight. It was Smith’s 11 first class 50. He shared an 84-run seventh wicket stand alongside captain Brett D’Oliveira who made 58, before adding 68 runs for the ninth wicket with Joe Leach (48).
After Nottinghamshire cruised along to 125/1 in just 34 overs, Smith made some massive breakthroughs for his side. He grabbed three wickets with Duckett (63), Joe Clarke (0), and Montgomery (0) all falling victim to Smith. He then found himself another wicket, the very next ball after getting Montgomery (but in the following over), with Jack Haynes (1) becoming his fourth victim. The hattrick ball to Lydon James just fell short to a slip fielder as well.
With no play on day four, it meant Smith ended up with four second innings wickets to go along with his three in the first innings and his 50. A pretty successful outing!
Tickner also managed two early wickets against Glamorgan at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff. His first wicket was of opener Billy Root for 17, before bowling Sam Northeast who had made 335* in the previous match. Those were his only two wickets across the first innings with spinner Alex Thomson taking 7/65.
Tickner was the last one dismissed in Derbyshire’s total of 198, with four runs to his name.
He didn’t get much success in the third bowling innings going wicketless from his 18 overs and conceding 50 runs.
For only the third time in the County Championship, every game finished in a draw.
Derbyshire will play host to Leicestershire at the County Cricket Ground in Derby. Worcestershire will face Durham at Kidderminster Cricket Club’s Chester Road North Ground in Kidderminster. Lancashire will travel to Essex’s County Cricket Ground in Chelmsford to play their fixture. It will also be the first opportunity to see Will Young in action for Nottinghamshire in their match against Somerset at Taunton.
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