Derbyshire vs Sussex: County Championship day 3 match report

Brooke Guest had a day to remember as Derbyshire had the better of the action against Sussex in the LV= Insurance Division Two County Championship match at Derby.

After the first two days were washed out by rain, Guest marked his 100th appearance for the county as a wicketkeeper by taking seven catches to equal the record number of dismissals in an innings for Derbyshire.

Sam Conners and Zak Chappell both took four wickets to dismiss Sussex for 100 and in reply, Derbyshire closed on 94 for 1 with Luis Reece unbeaten on 50.

Only three players made double figures for Sussex after Derbyshire took full advantage of winning the toss.

The tone was set in the fifth over by Ali Orr who aimed a big drive at Zak Chappell and gave Guest his first victim.

Tom Alsop, leading the side in place of the suspended Cheteshwar Pujara, also played a loose drive at Conners three overs later and when James Coles tried to hit at a wide ball from Anuj Dal, Sussex were 40 for 3.

Tom Clark pulled a short ball from Pat Brown for six but Dal found some late movement to have him caught behind.

Dan Ibrahim was drawn into playing at a ball that left him to give Guest his fifth catch, the first time a Derbyshire wicketkeeper had achieved the feat before lunch since Bernie Maher on Royal Wedding Day in July 1981.

Oli Carter was cleaned up playing back to a full length ball from Conners and after Chappell struck twice in successive overs, Sussex went into lunch on 77 for 8.

Just three overs were bowled after the interval before heavy rain delayed the game until 4.30pm but the second ball after the restart, Wayne Madsen damaged a finger trying to take a catch at second slip and left the field in obvious distress.

Former Derbyshire all-rounder Fynn Hudson-Prentice took Sussex to three figures before Jaydev Unadkat pulled Conners to mid-wicket.and the innings ended in the next over 

Hudson-Prentice skied a pull at Chappell to give Guest his seventh catch which equalled the record set by former England great Bob Taylor in 1966 who then matched it in 1975 before Harvey Hosein achieved the feat in 2014.

It was the first time this season a wicketkeeper has completed seven dismissals in an innings in first-class cricket.

The Sussex bowlers didn’t match the consistent lines of Derbyshire’s attack which allowed Reece and Harry Came to add 65 in 18 overs before Came miscued a pull at Sean Hunt to mid-wicket.

That brought Guest back out to the middle and at stumps he had helped Reece take Derbyshire to within six runs of Sussex’s total.

Report provided by the ECB Reporters' Network