Peakites stay on top

Bassano set Derbyshire on the path to victory

County Championship D2, Trent Bridge, day four of four: Derbyshire 392 & 181-6 beat Nottinghamshire 393 & 175 by four wickets
Points: Derbyshire 19, Nottinghamshire 7

Match scorecard

Derbyshire stayed on top of a fiercely competitive Division Two after Dominic Cork and Chris Bassano took the game into their own hands on the fourth day at Trent Bridge.

With Essex continuing their fine run with a win at Ilford, nothing less than triumph would do if Derbyshire were to retain top billing and they did not disappoint.

Cork took six wickets to play a pivotal role in restricitng Nottinghamshire's second innings to just 175, paving the way for Bassano to fire 79 as the visitors met their victory target with four wickets to spare.

Set a potentially tricky 177 to win, Derbyshire were in early bother on 24 for two after Greg Smith removed openers Michael Di Venuto and Steve Stubbings.

An 82-run stand for the third wicket between Andrew Gait and Bassano settled nerves, although Notts retained hope when Kevin Pietersen bowled Gait for 20.

No safety margin

South African spinner Nicky Boje entered the fray with three quick wickets, including that of Bassano after the right-hander had struck nine fours and three sixes.

But Notts did not have enough runs to play with, and Karl Krikken secured victory in style with a boundary.

The hosts could earlier add only 100 runs to their overnight score of 75 for three, and that damning fact will no doubt figure prominently in their post-match audit.

Pietersen was the first to go, becoming one of four Cork victims of the morning when ruled leg before.

Boje soon followed to a run out, and things went to dust when three wickets then fell for just three runs.

Paul Johnson, top-scoring with 34, sparked that mini-collapse when Cork again had an lbw appeal upheld.

Andrew Harris and Greg Smith put on 47 runs for the ninth wicket but it in the end it was not enough.

And Smith was the last man to go when the Derbyshire skipper grabbed his ninth wicket of the match.

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Nottinghamshire: D J Bicknell, J E R Gallian (Capt), P Johnson, U Afzaal, K P Pietersen, N Boje, C M W Read (Wkt), M N Malik, R J Logan, A J Harris, G J Smith.

Derbyshire: S D Stubbings, M J Di Venuto, A I Gait, M P Dowman, C W G Bassano, D G Cork (Capt), L J Wharton, K M Krikken (Wkt), G Welch, Mohammad Ali, K J Dean.

Umpires: J H Evans and A G T Whitehead