THE back against the wall is becoming a familiar posture for Derbyshire County Cricket Club and it is skin on brick time again after two days at the Ageas Bowl.
After bowling Hampshire out for 388, Derbyshire struggled to 166-7 at the close in their LV County Championship contest.
They still need another 73 to take the option of enforcing the follow-on away from the home side and the second new ball is available almost straight away on the third morning. It will be a big first session.
The size of the task increased with every dropped catch and every run Hampshire moved closer to 400 in their first innings as a consequence and their seamers came at Derbyshire hard to try to make every inch of that advantage count.
It is a good unit and they bowled very well.
A half-century from Stephen Moore and a determined stand of 59 between two of their younger players, Alex Hughes and Scott Elstone, kept Derbyshire in the battle but four wickets from left-arm spinner Danny Briggs meant they ended the day in deep bother.
Hampshire had earned enough comfort from their overnight total of 332-7 to give them freedom to attack on the second morning but Derbyshire should be reasonably happy to have held them to 56 more runs from their last three wickets.
Though Michael Bates completed his 50, Tim Groenewald had him caught at deep midwicket and Mark Footitt mopped up to leave him with 3-91. Groenewald finished with 3-95 and Tony Palladino 4-97.
Derbyshire needed a solid start and could have done with a bit of fortune to help them on their way. They got neither.
Paul Borrington went just before lunch to Briggs' fifth ball, which leapt at him and took the edge on the way to slip.
There wasn't much he could have done about that, nor could Wayne Madsen have done a great deal differently as he went for 21 to a Sean Ervine ball that found extra lift off just short of a length.
That was 69-2 but Moore was sturdy and passed 50 for the third time in the competition for Derbyshire, off 98 balls with six fours. His partnership with Marcus North promised plenty but, in successive overs, both were back in the pavilion.
North was lbw to Briggs for 14 – his partner said he hit it – and Moore was lbw to an in-swinger from the muscular Kyle Abbott that skipped on low. Suddenly, Derbyshire were 101-4.
It was down to Elstone and Hughes then and they appeared up to the task as they carried the total on to 160.
As they approached the final hour, hopes were raised that the pair could see their side to the close but hopes are not reaching fruition right now. Instead, Derbyshire lost three more wickets for six runs in almost 15 overs to end the day.
Elstone and Hughes went in almost identical fashion. Briggs was not so much turning the ball as making it misbehave out of small indentations on the surface, caused by the pounding it had taken from the Hampshire quicks.
He repeated the trick twice more and Ervine, an excellent slip fielder, did the rest.
Between Elstone falling for 25 and Hughes for 30, Gareth Cross battled 27 balls for one run before he was lbw to Abbott.
And so the day ended with Derbyshire trailing by 222, with David Wainwright and Tony Palladino to face the new ball. Their team is in need of an extra special effort.
