Wickets tumble at Chesterfield as Northants end crazy day on top against Derbyshire

After Ben Sanderson took five for 46 to bowl the home side out for 146 with Fynn Hudson-Prentice unbeaten on 55, Tony Palladino claimed four for 33 as Northants were then shot out for just 122.

That left Derbyshire chasing 319 for victory but despite a lightning start, by the close they were 155 for five, still 164 runs short of the target.

A pitch offering spin and variable bounce was certainly demanding to bat on but lack of foot movement and poor shot selection accounted for the majority of the wickets.

Northants' Rob Keogh was one of many batters to fail, falling for three in the County's second innings. but he is still confident David Ripley's men can wrap up the win on Tuesday.

"This morning I thought the way Brett (Hutton) and Sando (Ben Sanderson) came out really got us going," said Keogh.

"There was a little crazy session from us with the bat , some interesting dismissals, but it's a real tough wicket.

"Looking at 319 to win is a tough score on that wicket but the way Derbyshire came out and played took us by surprise which showed to us they know it's not a very good batting wicket.

"I would like to bowl on it every week, I wouldn't like to bat on it every week. They might score a few runs quickly which can happen at out-grounds but it's tough to bat on and hopefully we can finish the job off."

Monday morning's carnage began when Wayne Madsen played across the line to give Sanderson his first victim and the rest of the day became a procession as wickets tumbled to a rash of poor strokes.

Tom Lace and Leus du Plooy paid the price for failing to get forward as Derbyshire slipped to 60 for six before Hudson-Prentice took 22 from a Keogh over.

Matt Coles struck with his third delivery by trapping Matt Critchley on the crease but Hudson-Prentice reached 50 before Keogh wrapped up the innings giving Northants a lead of 196.

They chose not to enforce the follow-on but instead of an afternoon of accumulation, Northants moved into T20 mode and were bowled out in a chaotic session on a pitch which had clearly put doubts in the minds of the batsmen.

Ricardo Vasconcelos was run out attempting a second to deep square leg and after Luke Proctor offered no shot to Hudson-Prentice, Palladino profited from inadequate technique and ill-judged shots.

Keogh played across the line, skipper Adam Rossington drove wildly at his first ball to fall a golden duck to reduce the County to 39 for five.

First innings centurion Temba Bavuma and Josh Cobb briefly threatened to restore order, but more frantic shot selection sent the innings into terminal decline.

Cobb drove Critchley to long off to make it 85 for six and Bavuma fell victim to the mood of recklessness when he skied Palladino to point.

Hamidullah Qadri beat Coles’s charge and less than 31 overs had been bowled when Saif Zaib holed out to leave Derbyshire facing the highest successful run chase at Queen’s Park.

They clearly decided to approach it in a positive way as Billy Godleman and Luis Reece came out swinging in the late afternoon sunshine.

Godleman repeatedly charged the opening bowlers as they raced to 41 without loss in the fifth over before he was stumped for 25 off Sanderson, and Madsen lost his middle stump trying to work Coles through midwicket to see Derby slip to 85 for two..

Reece was lbw playing back to Keogh and Luke Proctor struck twice in his first over to leave Northants favourites to wrap up victory tomorrow, with the home side still requiring 164 more runs to win.