Rothesay County Championship, Division Two, cinch County Ground, Northampton (day four)

Derbyshire 372 & 286: Andersson 62; Guthrie 3-61

Northamptonshire 310 & 326-6: Vasconcelos 132; Randell 3-54

Northants (13 pts) drew with Derbyshire (14 pts)

Match scorecard

Promotion hopefuls Northamptonshire’s hopes of pulling off a County Championship win over Derbyshire were denied by bad light and rain with victory looking certain.

Chasing 349, which would have been the fifth-highest successful run chase in their first-class history, Northamptonshire were 326-6, needing 23 more in 22.2 overs, with Ricardo Vasconcelos having led the charge with 132, his sixth century of the season.

George Bartlett was nicely placed on 24 not out off 22 balls, having just hit six, when the umpires took the players off at 16:20 BST, the match being declared a draw 90 minutes later.

It means Northants are four points behind second-place Kent in the Division Two table going into next week’s final round of games.

Earlier, with the hosts resuming on 37 without loss, Vasconcelos mounted a 152-run opening stand with Luke Procter (51), the fifth century partnership between the pair this year, in addition to their 97 in the first innings.

Northamptonshire lost three quick wickets after lunch before Vasconcelos was joined by Calvin Harrison (50) in a 78-run partnership to bring the target below 100 by tea. Three further wickets fell after the interval, but Barlett looked in complete control before the umpires called time.

After a nervy final session yesterday, Northants’ openers took the positive route, running hard and keeping up comfortably with the required rate, adding 115 during the morning.

Vasconcelos duly passed 50 for the second time in the match before pulling Nick Potts dismissively and reaching the 1,000-run landmark shortly after while Procter was content to fill the anchor role.

Northamptonshire were handily placed at lunch on 152-0, needing 197 more, but lost three wickets for 36 after the interval. Procter was adjudged lbw to Muhammad Abbas, although replays suggested the ball was sliding down leg side.

With Shoaib Bashir finding turn from one end and Abbas beating the bat at the other, Northants found scoring challenging. Derbyshire kept Vasconcelos starved of the strike to target Gus Miller, which dried up scoring further.

Four byes off Bashir followed by a Vasconcelos dab down to third off Abbas brought some relief, but Derbyshire made a second breakthrough when Miller chopped onto his stumps against Brett Randell.

Vasconcelos was dropped on 103 when he offered a sharp chance to first slip off Bashir, but Northants lost a third wicket when Zaib smashed an off-cutter from Randell straight back to him.

Harrison cracked Bashir through the covers, while Vasconcelos meted out similar treatment to Randell before taking a single to bring up Northamptonshire’s 200 and, with the target below 150, Vasconcelos and Harrison started to accelerate.

Twenty runs came from the next two overs as Harrison smashed Bashir over cover, before both batters clipped off their legs against the returning Nick Potts. The pair also kept pressure firmly on the fielders by running quickly between the wickets.

Harrison dispatched a short ball from Potts over backward square-leg for six, but scoring slowed as Bashir and part-time spinner Matt Montgomery bowled in tandem, although Harrison struck Bashir over long-on for six.

Resuming on 261-3 after tea, Harrison reached 50 with a cover boundary off Abbas but was bowled next ball by one that nipped back. Vaconcelos, too, was bowled five balls later when tried to cut a Randell nip-backer.

With clouds gathering over the ground and runs at a premium, Sales broke the tension with a boundary over mid-on, while George Bartlett stepped across and whipped Abbas through midwicket. The pair also played some wild shots which fell just short of fielders.

Sales pulled Abbas through midwicket and carved through cover, forcing Derbyshire to take the defensive route, dropping all their fielders back on the boundary.

Sales chopped onto his stumps against Abbas, but Bartlett looked set as he swung Martin Andersson over cow-corner for six, going past 4,000 career first-class runs.

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