Matt’s grand finale sets a seal on first Derbys win
MATT Critchley struck the final runs to reach 1,000 for the season and take Derbyshire to their first LV Insurance County Championship win of the season.
After enforcing the follow-on with a lead of 165 at Hove, Derbyshire bowled Sussex out for 187 in their second innings and knocked off the 23 they needed to win by nine wickets with more than a day to spare.
“It was a really enjoyable game,” said Derbyshire captain Billy Godleman.
“The boys were fantastic, particularly today by taking 14 wickets.
“To give us the opportunity to enforce the follow-on and then take 10 wickets I thought was a brilliant achievement.
“We set a brilliant foundation on the first day by scoring 400-plus and then to take 20 wickets in pretty good conditions was a great achievement. We spread the wickets around and reflective of the effort, everyone put a shift in for the team.”
It meant they avoided the wooden spoon as Sussex finished last of the 18 counties for the first time in 21 years.
After being dismissed for 300 in the first innings, Sussex’s hopes of turning the game around disappeared in a three-over spell after lunch when they lost three key wickets for eight runs. They included skipper Tom Haines and Ben Brown, who made a third-ball duck after scoring 157 in the first innings. Haines and Ali Orr had put on 42 without alarm but Orr nibbled at the second ball after lunch from Ed Moulton, who then bowled Brown when he dragged a wide long hop on to his middle stump.
Haines, who was awarded his county cap at tea, took his aggregate for the season to 1,176 but, on 26, he was run out by Ben Aitchison’s throw from midwicket looking for a risky quick single.
Harrison Ward was beaten by legspinner Critchley’s quicker ball and when Dustin Melton returned for a second spell to win lbw verdicts against Ibrahim and Oli Carter, Sussex still needed 49 runs to make Derbyshire bat again.
Delray Rawlins counter-attacked with 58 off 46 balls, including nine fours and two sixes, to make his highest score of the season before he was last out as Wayne Madsen and Anuj Dal wrapped up the tail.
Earlier, Derbyshire enforced the follow-on for the first time since 2016.
Brown added seven to his overnight 150 before edging Aitchison to second slip. His five-hour innings of 190 balls contained 19 fours.
He added 87 with Jack Carson for the seventh wicket and Carson finished 64 not out with 10 fours but Sussex’s last three batsmen all fell for nought, although Sean Hunt hung around long enough to put on 25 with Carson to earn Sussex a third batting bonus point.
That did mean Sussex earned an unwanted world record. Their 300 was the highest score in the history of first-class cricket in an innings that included six ducks. The previous record was the 295 made at Canterbury in 1922-23 on MCC’s tour of New Zealand.