Warwickshire v Derbyshire: Palladino leads Edgbaston rescue

Tail-ender Tony Palladino led the rescue for newly-promoted Derbyshire with a half-century to hold up county champions Warwickshire on the first day of the new season at Edgbaston.

With New Zealand Test spinner Jeetan Patel taking 3-37, the Bears had Derbyshire in trouble on 117-7.

But Palladino made 68 to help the visitors reach 226, Chris Wright also weighing in with three wickets.

Warwickshire then moved to 14-0 in four overs before the close.

Even without three frontline seamers, Chris Woakes (rested on ECB orders) and injured pair Boyd Rankin and Keith Barker, Warwickshire captain Jim Troughton had backed the Bears' below-strength attack by choosing to bowl first on a hazy morning.

They looked to have too much firepower until being held up by Palladino's spirited knock, the former Essex fast bowler hiting eight fours and a six to earn his side a batting bonus point before ending up last out to youngster Tom Milnes.

It took a fine catch by Bears captain Jim Troughton, running back from mid-off, to end Palladino's last-wicket partnership of 55 with Mark Turner.

But the key wicket was Patel's removal of former Warwickshire batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul.

In his last spell in England with the Bears in 2011, the West Indies left hander scored 539 runs in seven inning. But, on his return to Edgbaston, he took nearly two-and-a-half hours to make 15, the second of Patel's three victims inside 19 deliveries.

On the day he was awarded both his county cap and a new four-year Bears contract, Wright made an impact in front of watching national selector Geoff Miller, earning two slip catches inside the first hour on his way to a haul of 3-48 in 26 overs.