Deadly Donald pounces late

Derbyshire 268 and 31-3 Warwickshire 387-8 dec

A FEROCIOUS spell of fast bowling by Allan Donald, in the day's final hour, violently swung this game Warwickshire's way. With Middlesex stalling on another flat top at Uxbridge, only the weather can stop Warwickshire from winning this game and in all probability their second successive Championship.

Bounding in from the Pavilion End in that relaxed way of his, Donald was unstoppable. In his second over he scattered Kim Barnett's stumps, before removing the night-watchman Steve Griffiths with a throat ball that was fended to third slip.

The hat-trick ball, a searing bouncer that put Adams on his backside, was a waste, but an over later he made amends by dismissing the adhesive Adrian Rollins, this time caught off the splice by Roger Twose in the gully. Those left to bat will not relish Monday morning.

Donald bowled far quicker here than in recent weeks, perhaps fired-up by an alleged ticking off from his club over recent reports in a local paper stating his desire to return to Warwickshire next season solely as coach and trainer. If the claims have substance there will be much celebrating around the other counties and the odd chest protector may get burnt in the delirium.

By keeping one eye on the weather and another on Middlesex, Warwickshire almost forgot the most important rule of all, which is to keep your eye on the ball. Against a Derbyshire attack shorn of Phil DeFreitas and Devon Malcolm, the home side struggled to assert themselves until a typically robust century by Trevor Penney, ably supported by his skipper, Dermot Reeve, put them in control. Reeve declared on 387-8, unleashing five overs of Donald's thunderbolts before the close.

With Twose, Ostler and Brown all back in the pavilion before lunch, Warwickshire were in a serious spot of bother at 124-5. However, you don't win three trophies one year and challenge for three more the next without resilience, and the resurrection once again came in the form of Warwickshire's captain, Dermot Reeve. In the end, though, the star was undeniably Trevor Penney, who was helped by a glut of lacklustre bowling and fielding after twice being missed off the hapless Simon Base.

Once Dominic Cork rested, the Derbyshire bowling was constantly worked to leg as Warwickshire hauled themselves back into the game with their patented mixture of dash and cunning improvisation. In one nine-ball over, Base managed to concede 23 runs, before Reeve's dismissal slowed the charge.

Penney, who rode his luck like a Derby winner, continued to strike the ball cleanly on a pitch of uncertain bounce: one memorable shot off Base was driven high over cover point for six. Penney's century, his fourth of the season, took 180 balls.

More tellingly, for those watching from afar, he is the only Warwickshire batsman to have reached 1,000 runs this season. That says much about the state of the pitches here and should the fair weather and Donald's health hold, this match now has "result" written all over it.