Wickets tumble on day one one Worcestershire v Derbyshire

Twenty wickets fell on the opening day of Worcestershire’s Specsavers County Championship match with Derbyshire at Kidderminster.
Luis Reece was in top form as Derbyshire fought back against WorcestershireLuis Reece was in top form as Derbyshire fought back against Worcestershire
Luis Reece was in top form as Derbyshire fought back against Worcestershire

Derbyshire opted to bat and were dismissed for 108 in 44.2 overs with Worcestershire club captain Joe Leach and Charlie Morris inflicting most of the damage.

The home side then also struggled for runs and were bowled out for 113 in 39.5 overs with Luis Reece their chief destroyer.

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Derbyshire openers Billy Godleman and Luis Reece then survived seven overs in reaching 19-0 by the close in their second innings.

There was some swing and seam movement, although not excessive, and both sets of bowlers asked plenty of questions.

But there were few demons in the wicket to suggest there would be such dominance of ball over bat.

Only Derbyshire opener Luis Reece batted for a substantial amount of time as a constant procession of batsmen made their way to and from the pavilion.

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Worcestershire paceman Dillon Pennington, making his first appearance of the season after injury, struck the first blow when Billy Godleman (8) drove hard at the England Under-19 player and Callum Ferguson held onto a sharp chance at third slip.

Pennington and Leach constantly beat the bat without reward in their initial spells and it set the tone for the day.

Wayne Madsen (11) was trapped lbw by Ed Barnard and Tom Lace (1) nicked Morris through to keeper Ben Cox to leave Derbyshire on 33-3 in the 18thover.

Reece and Leus Du Plooy were watchful in trying to repair the innings and battled through to lunch without being parted.

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But 11 wickets fell for 91 runs during the afternoon session.

Leach (14-6-33-3) picked up three wickets in seven balls immediately after the resumption to account for Reece (31) at first slip, Harvey Hosein (0) lbw and Matt Critchley (0) at second slip - and then Morris turned the screw.

He ended with 4-26 from 13 overs to take his wicket tally in the Championship this season to 30.

Du Plooy (14) and Anuj Dal (0) were pouched at first and second slip respectively and Cox pulled of a goalkeeper style catch high to his left to dispose of Fynn Hudson-Prentice (31) – also off Morris.

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Barnard wrapped up the innings when Ravi Rampaul (4) edged to first slip

When Worcestershire launched their reply, batting was also a challenging experience and Josh Dell (0) was caught behind in Rampaul’s first over.

Callum Ferguson (13) nicked a ball of extra bounce to second slip and Mitchell (13) was lbw to Reece.

It became 44-4 shortly before tea when Wessels (13) also went leg before to Hudson-Prentice.

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The same trend continued during the final session as Ross Whiteley (5) was caught behind off an an away swinger from Reece who then had Cox (4) lbw.

Reece enjoyed a fourth success as Barnard (17) drove to point after Rampaul had undone Brett D’Oliveira (5) to leave Worcestershire on 77-8.

Leach (14) and Pennington, who top-scored with 18, put together the best stand of the inning – 33 – before Hudson-Prentice cleaned up proceedings.