County Championship: Derbyshire draw with Gloucestershire in rain-hit game

Leus du Plooy's unbeaten 61 made sure there was no late drama at the Incora County Ground

Derbyshire captain Leus du Plooy steered his side to safety with an unbeaten half-century on the final day of the County Championship match against Gloucestershire.

Gloucestershire were in with a chance of victory when Derbyshire slipped to 28-3, but Du Plooy's 61 off 77 balls guided the hosts to 166-5 to secure the draw.

The visitors claimed their first batting points of the season before being bowled out for 383, a lead of 132, with Ben Charlesworth, Zahar Gohar and Matt Taylor scoring fifties.

Gohar and Taylor shared a ninth-wicket stand of 99, a Gloucestershire record against Derbyshire, to set up the prospect of a tense finale, but Du Plooy stood firm.

Any late drama looked unlikely at the start when Gloucestershire's main objective was to secure batting points.

Charlesworth was also eying a maiden first-class century and, with Tom Price, carried his side to within five runs of 250 when Derbyshire broke the partnership.

Price had already been dropped twice, at short midwicket off Suranga Lakmal and a caught and bowled chance to Alex Thomson, before he went for a big swing at the off-spinner and miscued to cover.

The pair had put on 63 from 129 balls and Charlesworth, who had passed his previous best score of 77 not out, secured the first point when he cut Henry Brookes over the slips for four.

Charlesworth was caught behind off a short ball from Brookes for 87 and Marchant de Lange's attempts to hit the ball out of the Incora County Ground resulted in a broken bat before he edged Lakmal to second slip

But that was the home side's last success for 18 overs.

Taylor drove Luis Reece for six to bring up 300 and dispatched Brookes for another maximum on his way to a 60-ball 50.

Gohar drove Lakmal for six to reach his 50 from 65 balls before he skied the Sri Lankan to mid off.

The innings ended in the next over, but Gloucestershire now had a big enough lead and enough overs left to put the home side under pressure.

Any chance of the game meandering quietly to a conclusion vanished when Derbyshire lost three wickets in the space of 17 balls, with the arrears still in three figures.

Harry Came held his team together in the first innings, but this time he lasted only five overs before he got an edge on to his pad and was caught at gully.

Price struck in the next over with a full-length ball that hit Haider Ali in front and alarm bells were ringing when Wayne Madsen went without scoring.

The veteran right hander had his off stump knocked back by a ball from Price that straightened to leave Derbyshire in trouble.

Du Plooy decided to be positive from the outset, dancing down the pitch to drive Taylor for six over long off, but he was close to being run out just before tea, which was taken with Derbyshire 64 behind with 40 overs remaining.

Brooke Guest stayed with his skipper for 13 overs before pulling Ajeet Singh Dale to midwicket the over after Du Plooy was dropped on 33 by Miles Hammond at slip off Gohar.

Mitch Wagstaff, in his second first-class innings, shared a stand of 43 from 70 balls, although Gohar thought he had him caught and bowled on seven, only for the umpires to rule the ball had not quite carried.

Wagstaff faced 48 balls before he fell cutting Gohar ,but Derbyshire were now in front and Reece joined Du Plooy to finally close the door on Gloucestershire.

Derbyshire head of cricket Mickey Arthur:

"With us losing time it always made it difficult in terms of trying to push for something.

"We had the worse conditions. It was a good toss to win. We would have bowled really well in those conditions as they did.

"They got a 99 partnership for the ninth wicket and then we went bang-bang in the second innings which puts you under a little bit of pressure but other than that we've chipped away and been very good in terms of our disciplines and being more like the brand of cricket we want to play."

Gloucestershire head coach Dale Benkenstein:

"That extra day would have made it a really interesting game. I felt we were in a commanding position but at the same time we dropped a few catches.

"Over two-and-a-half days of cricket we've given ourselves a chance to win, obviously we don't get any rewards for that.

"But, to be realistic you can't judge yourself on a result, the way we are playing our cricket is what we want to focus on and I feel there's huge improvements."

Report supplied by ECB Reporters' Network.