Leicestershire 122

Derbyshire 326-7 (du Plooy 94, Madsen 67, Mulder 5-55)

Despite stoppages for rain, Derbyshire made good progress at the incora County Ground today.

There may have been a temptation to try and push it along more than they did, with the forecast for tomorrow being far from encouraging. However, there was more play today than was suggested by the Met Office and the skies above, and tomorrow may not be as bad as currently projected, for all we know.

Either way, by the close of play Derbyshire had reached a lead of 204 and should no cricket be possible tomorrow, they will be able to declare early on Sunday, in the hope of bowling out the visitors in the final innings.

Today they were indebted to Wayne Madsen and Leus du Plooy, who shared a partnership of common sense and sound judgement. They kept pace with one another well, until Madsen was dismissed after his 111th score of 50 or more for the county, an astonishing record.

du Plooy looked set for a century, but was dismissed for 94 soon after another restart. Lamb never really got going, but enabled the lead to grow, while Leicestershire were able to keep their senior bowlers on for longer than might otherwise have been the case, by the rain stoppages. They were not helped by some poor catching, a couple of relatively easy ones at this level being put down that would have made a difference.

Mulder bowled very well for them and is an excellent cricketer, just the sort you want as an overseas professional.

Derbyshire will have been encouraged by the ball continuing to move around all day, especially in the final session, when Mulder bowled very well. Similar assistance would be appreciated on the final day and if Derbyshire bowl as well as the South African did, a win is not yet out of the question in this match.