DERBY–Captain Wayne Madsen produced an excellent batting display–finishing with a season-high 152–before chipping in with an early run out to leave the LV= County Championship fixture with Surrey nicely poised in England, yesterday.Madsen completed his highest score of the campaign, before a late rear-guard 72 from Richard Johnson–equalling his career-best first-class score–guided Derbyshire to a total of 452 in their first innings.
And skipper Madsen was involved again shortly after the restart running out the in-form Rory Burns in the opening over, as Surrey closed Day 2 at the County Ground on 35-1, trailing by 417 runs.Derbyshire began the second day on 232-2, after a lengthy rain delay meant only 55 overs were possible on Day 1, with Shivnarine Chanderpaul unbeaten on 112 and Madsen 92 not out–and the pair quickly continued where they had left off the night before.
The captain wasted no time compiling the eight runs he required to complete his 13th first-class century for the Club pushing Zander de Bruyn to the backward point boundary to complete a magnificent 100 from 176 balls, which included 11 fours. The magnificent partnership continued to grow with the duo exchanging boundaries off Chris Tremlett and Tim Linley on their way to a 250-run stand, extending their already record-breaking knock.
But the West Indies left-hander could only add 17 runs to his overnight score as his imperious innings was finally ended when he gloved a lifting delivery from Stuart Meaker to Ricky Ponting at slip for a season-high 129–simultaneously putting a stop to the outstanding 265-run partnership with Madsen.The hosts quickly lost a second wicket just before the lunch interval, but Madsen and Slater–who was making his first-class debut–safely navigated the last 20 minutes to the break, after Captain Madsen reached his second milestone of the morning moving onto 150 from 248 balls.
The pair, however, were both dismissed shortly after the restart, as Tremlett removed Slater for 7 and Meaker clean bowled Madsen for a sensational 152 to reduce Derbyshire to 337-6 after 88 overs.(WICB Web site)