Lancashire fight back against Derbyshire at Southport

Lancashire were made to work hard on the opening day of their LV= County Championship match against Derbyshire at Southport, but they responded well after the visitors had dominated the first half of the day.

Derbyshire reached 238/2 with the help of their South-African Test ace, Hashim Amla (69), but the visitors lost six wickets for 63 runs, including three wickets in as many overs as Tom Bailey (3-73) and Kyle Jarvis (3-110) had strong days with the ball.

The visitors closed on 335/9, a score which represented a tremendous comeback from Lancashire, who were dejected by the rate at which their opponents had scored before lunch on the first day.

Ben Slater (69) and Billy Godleman (75) batted for the entire morning session, adding 141 runs for the first-wicket partnership to vindicate Derbyshire's decision to bat first at Trafalgar Road.

Godleman - playing as captain in place of the injured Wayne Madsen - made a brisk start to the innings in his first appearance since serving a two-game ban. He and Slater enjoyed an incredible start, reaching the fifty partnership in only ten overs as Lancashire's attack failed to make an early breakthrough.

The hundred-partnership also came up in next to no time, with Slater and Godleman both working their way towards half-centuries without any harm from the hosts, but the loss of both batsmen shortly after the lunch break forced Derbyshire to steady the ship as progress became much more gradual.

Godleman made 75 as he top-scored for Derbyshire as stand-in captain.

Godleman had been the initial instigator of Derbyshire's quick scoring, but he was soon overtaken by Slater, who was first to reach fifty in 60 balls with seven fours. The stand-in captain followed at a comparatively steady rate of 88 deliveries, also with seven boundaries as he stood tall and played well off the back foot against the pace bowlers.

The pair continued their formidable partnership untroubled by a few half-hearted shouts for lbw, reaching 129 without loss at lunch. In the fifth over after the interval, Lancashire finally made their first breakthrough, removing Slater for 69 when he edged to Paul Horton at first slip to give Tom Bailey his first wicket of the day.

Wickets are often comparable to London buses and this analogy was prudent once again as Godleman followed 16 balls later to Kyle Jarvis, with Karl Brown taking a sharp catch at gully to remove the Derby captain, as the visitors lost their second wicket for 14 runs.

This wicket did however bring the South-African Amla to the crease and with a Test average of well over 50 runs per innings, his wicket was certainly the vital scalp for the Division Two leaders. He played an effortless hand for the visitors, as he worked his way towards the third fifty of the innings in similarly untroubled fashion to that of the Derbyshire openers and with Chesney Hughes for company, they added 83 runs for the third-wicket stand.

Hughes made a century against Northamptonshire in his last innings for Derby and he was more than capable of taking a typically aggressive stance against Lancashire's spinners, who seemed to be able to restrict the flow of runs marginally better than the likes of Bailey and Jarvis, who had received a hammering from Slater and Godleman.

Bailey claimed three more wickets after his career-best performance against Leicestershire last week.

Arron Lilley (0-52) - playing his first Championship game for Lancashire since August 2013 - and Simon Kerrigan operated in tandem for long spells, but they were unable to make a breakthrough, as Amla and Hughes added fifty runs in just under eleven overs to continue Derbyshire's brisk progress.

With four balls to go before tea, Bailey claimed a timely breakthrough for the Red Rose, encouraging Hughes to edge behind to Alex Davies for 37 to end his partnership with Amla with the score at 238/3.

Amla remained the prized wicket for Lancashire, but despite his resilience the home side showed tenacity of their own, as Kerrigan (2-33) claimed two wickets in as many balls with Lancashire striking twice in the fifth over after tea.

Both Scott Elstone (8) and Shiv Thakor (0) were trapped lbw by the left-arm spinner, as Derbyshire lost three wickets for 15 runs in the space of 34 balls. This gave the scoreboard a far more balanced complexion, but Amla continued to be the backbone of Derbyshire's innings as he calmly reached fifty in 81 balls.

Derbyshire's South-African batsman had played with a conservative approach, scoring five boundaries on his way to fifty, but he remained a dependable figure among the chaos that was to unfold in the evening session.

Amla showed his experience and class with an assured 69 before he was bowled by Jarvis.

Amla and Harvey Hosein dug in to add 37 runs after the loss of two wicket in quick succession, but when the latter was dismissed the visitors suffered a mini collapse, losing three wickets for seven runs in the space of 13 balls.

Hosein (18) was the first casualty in this disappointing period for Derbyshire, mistiming a cut shot straight to Jordan Clark at gully for a routine catch. David Wainwright (5) was next to go, as Tom Bailey got the ball to shape back into the left-hander and hit middle stump, claiming his third wicket of the day.

No more runs were added before Jarvis had the dangerous Amla bowled for 69, hitting the top of off stump with a ball that moved in a touch to sneak between bat and pad. Tom Taylor and Matt Critchley (13*) added a very useful partnership worth 34 runs after a bad spell for Derbyshire, but the pattern of Lancashire claiming wickets at important times continued, as Taylor fell in the final over of the day to Clark (1-61).

Taylor added a quick fire 21 at a run-a-ball before he edged to Steven Croft at second slip, who took a good low catch to claim Derbyshire's ninth wicket with the score at 335/9. The players left the field with the match evenly poised, but this could easily have been a day dominated by the batting side if they had continued to go along at the same rate as their openers managed to in the first session.