Madsen misses ton but Derbys secure draw with Leics

Wayne Madsen narrowly missed out on a 41st century of his long first-class career in the draw with Leicestershire

Rothesay County Championship Division Two, Uptonsteel County Ground, Leicester (day four)

Leicestershire 484 & 357-9: Ahmed 77; Tickner 3-82

Derbyshire 393 & 305-4: Madsen 96, Jewell 73, Guest 68*

Leicestershire (16 pts) drew with Derbyshire (14 pts)

Match scorecard

Maximum bonus points was enough to keep Leicestershire at the top of the early Division Two table after their County Championship match against neighbours Derbyshire ended in the draw that had looked nailed-on throughout the final day, despite visiting captain Wayne Madsen inevitably making runs.

Out for 96, 41-year-old Madsen missed out on notching his seventh century in this fixture. Nonetheless, his record in 26 first-class matches against Leicestershire stands at 2,150 runs at an average of 63.23.

The home side, leading by 382 overnight, batted on for a further eight overs in their second innings before declaring nine wickets down to set Derbyshire an unlikely target of 449 from a minimum 86 overs. They were 305-4 with a possible six more overs remaining when the sides shook hands on a draw.

Australian Caleb Jewell's 73 extended his start as a Derbyshire player to four half-centuries in four innings, while Brooke Guest finished 68 not out.

The pitch had yielded runs at a healthy 4.36 per over across the first three innings but 5.22 per over always looked a mightily tall order for the team that finished bottom of Division Two last season, even though they also opened the new campaign with a win.

Likewise, taking 10 wickets with little evidence of deterioration in the surface looked a remote prospect for the home side.

As Derbyshire began the nominal pursuit of their target, Logan van Beek had David Lloyd caught by captain Peter Handscomb at second slip in the sixth over.

The combination of Jewell and Madsen took out another 20 overs before the Leicestershire attack could make further inroads. The Australian left-hander, who has made half-centuries in each of his first four Derbyshire innings, was impressive in making 50 from 53 balls but had become a little bogged down when he was bowled off a bottom edge by Scriven for 73.

He and Madsen had added 87, the latter passing fifty for the 20th time in first-class matches against Leicestershire.

While he and Jewell were together, the more optimistic Derbyshire followers might have imagined they had a chance.

Madsen kept it just about alive, surviving a difficult chance to wicketkeeper Ben Cox off Ben Green on 64.

After adding a six down the ground off Rehan Ahmed to 13 fours, another hundred looked his for the taking until, one more boundary away, he dragged one on from Ben Mike.

With a minimum 24.4 overs still potentially left, Leicestershire might have caused some panic for the visitors had they been able to whip out another couple quickly, but Brooke Guest and Luis Reece denied them.

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Leicestershire head coach Alfonso Thomas said:

"It was a good pitch, a bit of pace and some turn towards the end, on the last day. But in the end we didn't have enough time to force a result.

"If we had not lost time at the end of the third day, we would have given consideration to pulling out overnight but to be honest it had been a quick-scoring game and if you have made all the play throughout the game you don't want to give them a chance they could have chased down comfortably.

"I didn't know we were still top of the table. At this early stage you don't look at that. But when you have started the season with a win you want to build up a bit of momentum and if you look at this game and Cardiff last week, we've played 21 sessions and only lost two of them.

"We are happy with where we are at the moment and it is nice to have some momentum going forward."

Derbyshire head coach Mickey Arthur said:

"They put us under pressure in the early part of the game but I felt we came back well. Apart from maybe three sessions of the game it has pretty even stevens.

"In the end, the target they set was just too many. We've ended up 305-4. If it had been 380 you would think you could really have a crack.

"They played well and put us under the pump. If we had been in the same position we would have done the same thing in terms of the declaration. As the season progresses you would look at making more sporting declarations but not at this stage, it is too early.

"We've started with a win and a draw is a decent return for us. There are a lot of good things happening in the dressing room. We've got a lot of belief in our ability to do well this year."