County Championship: Gloucestershire and Derbyshire play out draw

Alex Thomson is Derbyshire's leading wicket-taker in this season's Championship with 24

Ed Middleton marked his first-class debut with a composed innings to ensure a draw for Gloucestershire on the final day of the County Championship match with Derbyshire at Bristol.

After bowling their opponents out for 403, the hosts had slipped to 131-6 in their second innings, a precarious lead of 105, when 22-year-old Middleton walked out to join skipper Graeme van Buuren.

Together the pair snuffed out any hope of a Derbyshire victory, Middleton making 39 and van Buuren 48 in an unbroken stand of 77 that saw their side to 208-6 at the close - off-spinner Alex Thomson finishing with 4-79.

The result left both teams still without a Championship win this season. They had to settle for 11 points apiece from a largely forgettable encounter.

• Relive day four in the County Championship as it happened

A draw looked long odds-on favourite at the start of play, with Derbyshire leading by 21 with only one first innings wicket in hand andf they were able to add just five runs before last man Pat Brown fell leg before to Zafar Gohar.

Skipper Leus du Plooy was left unbeaten on 108, having taken his Championship run tally for the season to 1,160 at an average of 89.23, while Gohar's wicket gave him figures of 5-122.

The pitch had offered little assistance to the seamers all match and there were few problems for Gloucestershire openers Chris Dent and Ben Charlesworth in a stand of 68 before the latter was bowled by lefrt-arm spinner Mark Watt attempting a reverse sweep.

Gloucestershire suffered another setback from the last ball before lunch when James Bracey, on eight, pushed forward to Thomson and edged to Wayne Madsen at first slip.

The third ball after the interval saw Dent, who had played well for his 38, bowled between bat and pad by Watt with a ball that turned from outside the left-hander's off stump.

Derbyshire sensed an opportunity and Miles Hammond had made only 12 when well caught low down by Harry Came at second slip off Thomson.

When first-innings centurion Ollie Price became the second Gloucestershire player to be dismissed reverse sweeping, top edging a catch to short leg via a deflection off wicketkeeper Brooke Guest, the scoreboard read 111-5

That became 131-six when Gohar swept a comfortable catch to Brown at backward square to give Thomson his fourth wicket and Gloucestershire were in danger of self-destructing.

They led by only 105 with a possible 43 overs left in the day's play but fortunately, 22-year-old Middleton was ready to adopt a more textbook approach to trying to save the game against a turning ball, taking few risks and producing the shot of the day with a straight driven boundary off seamer Brown.

By tea, he and van Buuren had taken the total to 169-6 and the final session saw the pair able to play with more freedom in bright sunshine.

By the time the players shook hands at 4.20pm, van Buuren had led from the front, facing 100 balls and hitting six fours, while Middleton emerged with equal credit from a 91-ball innings also featuring six boundaries.

Ultimately, the only winner was a largely docile pitch that made it a tough four days for bowlers on both sides in what was often energy-sapping heat.

Gloucestershire debutant Ed Middleton:

"At one point in the middle session we were under a bit of pressure, so it was nice for me to help the captain put a partnership together.

"Graeme van Buuren was good at keeping me quite calm. Their spinners had settled into a good rhythm, so we wanted to take the attack back to them.

"It was nice that some of the Derbyshire players came up to me at the end to say well done. I had played against them for Oxford University in April 2022 and some of them remembered me from that.

"Hopefully, I have put a marker down for the start of next season and put myself in contention for our final game this summer against Sussex. We want to make sure we don't go through the Championship campaign without a win."

Derbyshire head coach Micky Arthur:

"There was enough in the pitch for us not to think about a contrived finish, which I don't believe in anyway.

"For a period this afternoon I thought we were going to end up chasing 120 or 130, which would have made for a good finish.

"It was always going to need just one partnership to take that prospect away from us and credit the two Gloucestershire lads for sticking in there.

"Leus du Plooy was again outstanding, as was Anuj Dal in setting up the possibility of a win for us. Pat Brown will get better and be a massive asset for us. With other additions, we will have a strong squad."

Report supplied by ECB Reporters' Network.