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Search forDean tames tourists as Derbyshire look to set up a victory
Wednesday, July 23, 2008, 09:55
It certainly turned out that way for the Bangaldesh A top order batsmen yesterday at the County Ground on the second day of their match against Derbyshire.
Quite how often any of them will have faced a tall left-arm bowler who can make the ball swing both ways on an overcast morning is not known but, at a guess, you would have to say it is probably not many.
Kevin Dean tied the top six in knots, adding to his two wickets on the previous evening with four more in the first hour yesterday and, for a while, people on the ground were wondering if maybe, just maybe, he could be on for all 10.
It is a feat that has been accomplished only 79 times in the history of the first-class game in the world but Dean did not become the 80th and instead had to be content with becoming the 29th Derbyshire player to pass 400 first-class wickets.
Dean is still a thoroughly effective bowler when the conditions are in his favour and, as he showed against Middlesex in his only Championship appearance this season, he can cause problems for better prepared players than the Bangladeshis.
He reduced Bangladesh from 55-2 to 73-6 by taking 4-7 in 14 balls and was to finish the innings with 6-46 in 19 overs.
But the tourists did recover from their potential plight when Dean was taken out of the attack and a very good 50 from the 19-year-old Mushfiqur Rahim, made off 82 balls with seven fours while all around him were struggling, helped them to 190 all out.
By the close, Derbyshire were 122-7 in their second innings, an overall lead of 230, and there is the prospect of an interesting final day.
Derbyshire are effectively two players down because Dan Birch did not field at all and has not batted yet, while Ian Hunter is struggling after hurting his big toe bowling on the first day, though the damage may not be as bad as first feared.
Birch has a swollen knee after the slingy Rubel Hossain – shades of Lasith Malinga and still only 18 – thudded the ball into his pads while the left-hander was opening the Derbyshire first innings.
Jake Needham was drafted in as emergency opener again for the second innings but could not match the standards of his stand against Leicestershire as he was caught behind for three.
Derbyshire struggled after that, with Paul Borrington unfortunate to be run out backing up when the ball flicked the bowler's hand but Greg Smith deserving no such sympathy for being run out at the non-striker's end later on.
Smith had scrapped away well for his 52, off 76 balls with seven fours, and it comfortably his side's highest score of the innings so far but the business of judging what is and what is not a run is becoming a bit of a problem for him – and his team-mates.
John Sadler made hard work of his 21 but got stuck in and after he and Smith were out, the wickets began to tumble.
The Bangladeshis became increasingly excitable, with left-arm spinner Shakib Al Hasan taking three wickets for the first time in his short first-class career.
Perhaps they can sense the chance of victory. Derbyshire will have to be careful not to lose their last three wickets too cheaply or there may well be a Bangladesh win.
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top score: Derbyshire's Greg Smith worked hard for his half-century before being run out at the County Ground yesterday.
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