COULD Derbyshire have made a more perfect start to the new LV County Championship season?

They completed a 208-run victory over Surrey at The Oval yesterday and there can be absolutely no doubt that they thoroughly deserved their success.

One result should never be enough to make the world jump up and down in excitement but the way Derbyshire played over these four days makes it possible to believe this can be a memorable season.

There were only 6.5 overs remaining in the game when the final Surrey wicket fell, which was close enough to set a few nerves jangling, but having made the early breakthroughs they needed, they remained patient enough to winkle out a home side whose ambition was solely to survive.

The most significant difference already between this season and last is that when they had the opposition on the ropes they did manage to find the knockout punch.

Robin Peterson finished the job with the last three wickets of the Surrey second innings but the seamers – particularly Mark Footitt and Tim Groenewald – did a terrific job in tearing through the top of the batting order.

Set 374 to win off a minimum of 76 overs when Derbyshire declared their second innings on 274-6, Surrey saw even the remotest chance of a win disappear before lunch as they slumped to 10-2.

Footitt, fast and aggressive, took the first wicket when Arun Harinath chopped the ball on to his stumps.

But the second was the dagger through Surrey hearts, as Mark Ramprakash was emphatically beaten and had his off stump flattened by Groenewald before he had got off the mark.

In the second over after lunch, Usman Afzaal was bowled by Greg Smith and, at 16-3, it was then a matter of whether Derbyshire had the guile to finish the job.

Graham Wagg chipped in with the wicket of young captain Rory Hamilton-Brown and Smith switched to spin to bowl Matt Spriegel at 67-5.

It was never likely to be easy from then on and Derbyshire were held up by ex-Worcestershire pair Steven Davies and Gareth Batty for a while.

It was a testing stage of the contest but Derbyshire's firm discipline never wavered and the reward came two overs before tea when Groenewald got Batty lbw. Four to go.

Davies looked comfortable on his way to a second half-century of the match but the return of Footitt was his undoing as he was beaten for pace and chopped the ball on to his stumps.

That was 126-7 with still at least 28 overs remaining and the most glaring factor of the day to that point was that Peterson (pictured) was wicketless, though his first spell was pretty good.

The script, however, was written. In the 64th over, the South African left-arm spinner beat the defensive push of Stuart Meaker and bowled him.

In his next over, he ended Andre Nel's dogged stay with a full-length ball for lbw and then got one to turn and bounce to give Wagg a catch at slip to remove Jade Dernbach.

A dream four days in the capital was complete and there may be many similar days up and down the country to come.