Cricket: Batting collapse undoes Chesterfield's hard work

Another deeply disappointing display left Chesterfield perilously posed just above the Derbyshire Premier relegation zone.

They were out-played in all aspects of the game against a title chasing Sandiacre side on Saturday at Queen’s Park.

In a game reminiscent of the earlier encounter between the two sides, Chesterfield put Sandiacre in to bat only to then face a large total that proved beyond them.

This time round the total was an intimidating 284 which Sandiacre compiled with solid contributions throughout the order led by half centuries from James Chapman (56) and Rod Cook (53).

Chesterfield rued the odd missed chance but the batsmen were generally well on top and only Johny Marsden’s ten over spell taking 3-45 threatened to keep the total to manageable proportions although there were wickets for Nitish Kumar (3-77) and Brian Gladwin (2-28) in the closing stages.

Kumar led the reply for Chesterfield with a fluent series of shots to take the total to 45 at which point there was catastrophic collapse with eight wickets falling in the space of 39 runs including that of Kumar for 37.

At 84-8 in under two hours play it seemed beyond Chesterfield to bat out time and although the tail wagged to good effect adding 55 runs and coming within 22 balls of salvaging what would have been a decidedly one-sided draw.

The paltry return of five points to Sandiacre’s 27 leaves Chesterfield very much in the doldrums and with only five games remaining the risk of relegation looms large.

Hopes remain high of securing only a second win of the season with the team at last near full strength for the visit to Ticknall on Saturday although the side are likely to have to contend with the weather as well as in-form opponents.

The plight of the first XI is in sharp contrast to the progress of the other three senior sides, which all secured comfortable wins over the weekend on the back of major contributions from young players.

But the progression pathway to Premier League cricket is now dependent on the flagship side getting back to winning ways.