Wickets tumble on the first day

Derbyshire opted to bat and were dismissed for 108 in 44.2 overs with Worcestershire club captain Joe Leach and Charlie Morris inflicting most of the damage. The home side then also struggled for runs and were bowled out for 113 in 39.5 overs with Luis Reece their chief destroyer.

Derbyshire openers Billy Godleman and Luis Reece then survived seven overs in reaching 19-0 by the close in their second innings. There was some swing and seam movement, although not excessive, and both sets of bowlers asked plenty of questions.

But there were few demons in the wicket to suggest there would be such dominance of ball over bat.

Only Derbyshire opener Luis Reece batted for a substantial amount of time as a constant procession of batsmen made their way to and from the pavilion.

Worcestershire bowling coach Alan Richardson said: “A day to be a bowler? It looks that way doesn’t it. It’s not often I want to strap them back on but it felt that way today.

“Both attacks bowled really well to be fair and put both batting unites under a lot of pressure and to take 20 wickets in a day shows it’s been a bit more conducive for the bowlers than the batting side.

“It has swung for both sides the whole day and that certainly helps and there has been a little bit of assistance from the pitch, although quite slow.

“Both bowling units have been really patient and bowled lots of maidens, not gone for many runs, and forced the batters to make a mistake.

“We have come out even at the end of the day but now it has basically turned into a one innings game.

“I think we approach it with the ball exactly as in the first innings, try and build as much pressure as possible and hope they make mistakes.”