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Yuzvendra Chahal, a leg-spinner, spun Northamptonshire to their first Vitality County Championship victory of the season in three days, posting career-best match statistics of 9 for 99.
The seasoned white-ball player from India followed up his first-inning five-wicket haul with four wickets at Wantage Road, destroying Derbyshire for a mere 132 runs in the second innings.
Rain had ruined the day, but Chahal and off-spinner Rob Keogh persevered through most of the last session. Keogh took 5 for 44 in the match, a season’s best of 8 for 110.
Despite bowling Northamptonshire out for 211 earlier in the day, the visitors, whose defeat keeps them at the bottom of Division Two, never appeared poised to mount a serious threat to their goal of 266.
After resuming their second innings at 178 for 5, Northamptonshire was able to add 33 more runs to that total. Keogh reached his third half-century of the year prior to being removed for 63.
Jack Morley, a Derbyshire spinner, got some turn after Ben Sanderson and Justin Broad were both caught at slip, and Martin Andersson lofted Dom Leech’s middle stump for a huge six.
After bowling Keogh around his legs, Andersson concluded the innings with figures of 3 for 23, leaving Derbyshire to chase 266. In the 40 minutes that remained before the rain came, Derbyshire managed only to reach 26 for 2.
Harry Came was the first to go, as Broad brought one back to catch him lbw, while Chahal’s last ball of the session foxed Brooke Guest after he had punched his opening delivery to the cover fence.
Partner Luis Reece and the Northamptonshire fielders followed Guest, as weather forced an early lunch break and ended the afternoon practice with even another torrential downpour.
Not long after the game resumed, Chahal dismissed Reece by playing for turn to a ball that kept straight on and smacked his off stump. He may have also removed Wayne Madsen with an edge that escaped the slip fielder.
The experienced Derbyshire batsman seemed to have a lucky life at times, trying to late cut one or two of Chahal’s deliveries that whistled just over the stumps and then nearly played on to Keogh with a reverse sweep.
The visitors were in further difficulty when Lewis McManus used deft glovework to stump David Lloyd and then grab a leg-side catch off Keogh to dismiss the threatening Aneurin Donald. This made Madsen’s presence in the centre of the pitch even more crucial.
Andersson was bowled swinging across the line at Chahal, while Keogh continued to drive nails into the Derbyshire coffin, removing Zak Chappell lbw before Alex Thomson and Harry Moore were caught close in.
Morley held Northamptonshire up for almost five overs before he was bowled sweeping at Keogh, who completed his second five-for of the season against Derbyshire and left Madsen high and dry on 48 not out.