Madsen fights lone battle in latest loss

ANOTHER superb effort from Wayne Madsen brought no reward for Derbyshire as, in the end, he fought a lone battle as they chased the 174-6 set them by Worcestershire at the Central Coop Count Ground.

- By COLSTON CRAWFORD

No-one could stay with the veteran batsman to add more than the 16 apiece scored by Caleb Jewell and Martin Andersson as they fell 12 runs short with Madsen on 77 not out from 53 balls.

This year's Vitality Blast has been full of games in which the county have performed only in parts rather than putting it all together and this eighth defeat in 11 games was another - the visitors managed only one partnership over 50, taking it to 85, Derbyshire could not match it and that proved the difference.

Worcestershire won the toss and chose to bat but there was a first over bonus for Derbyshire when Isaac Mohammed, having hit Alex Thomson for a four, miscued the last ball high to midwicket, where Pat Brown took the catch.

In the second over, Damien D'Oliveira paddled Mohammed Ghazanfar unconvincingly for four but then edged to Wayne Madsen at slip to make it 9-2.

With both opening spinners on 1-5 from their first overs, it got better for Derbyshire when Kashif Ali swung at Zak Chappell's second ball and picked out Brown in the deep as well.

Adam Hose was then bowled first ball to make the score 10-4 and Chappell completed that rarity, a T20 maiden.