Derbyshire duo make history against Yorkshire as game goes down to the wire

“Ruddy hell,” the good doctor might have reflected as his involvement in the longest-surviving partnership record for any wicket against Yorkshire fell by the wayside.

“That ruddy Leus du Plooy and Haider Ali… I thought that mine and William Moberly’s record would last forever.”

Sadly not, as du Plooy and Haider shared 277, the highest fifth-wicket stand against Yorkshire in first-class cricket, beating the 261 shared by Grace and the wonderfully named William Octavius Moberly for Gloucestershire at Cheltenham in 1876, in the process turning this match on its head.

At stumps on day three, a Derbyshire side who were 17-4 in their second innings before the pair came together on the second afternoon, all of 225 runs behind, now have a chance of a famous win: they need four more wickets and Yorkshire 65 more runs going into a nail-biting final morning.

On another hot one at Queen’s Park, Chesterfield, where ice-cream sellers did a roaring trade, du Plooy and Haider’s stand was already worth 231 when the action resumed.

Not until the end of the “big first hour” were they finally separated, Haider playing around his front pad to a ball from George Hill that might have gone on to clip leg stump.

At that stage, Derbyshire were 294-5, effectively 52-5, and by no means out of the woods. They went on to post 453 – unimaginable riches from 17-4, and also after they had been bowled out for 111 in their first innings in the opening session of the game, a predicament from which there seemed no return.

Haider has 129 and du Plooy 96 when play began, du Plooy quickly going to his century with a pulled boundary off Matty Fisher.

After Haider had fallen for 146 – he had looked vulnerable, in truth, to ‘falling over’ at the crease – du Plooy found another ally in Brooke Guest, who sounds as though he should be on the set of some Hollywood film as opposed to keeping wicket for Derbyshire.

A busy right-hander, who used his feet well, Guest kept the scoreboard ticking while du Plooy – who rode his luck against the second new ball – unveiled the occasional high-class stroke. It was a captain’s innings from the South African left-hander as Derbyshire’s improbable fightback continued.

It took a change of ball to bring a change of fortunes for Yorkshire after lunch, Hill immediately getting one to spit off a length and move away sharply before Dom Bess struck in the very next over to leave Derbyshire 367-6, ending a stand of 73 between Guest and du Plooy.

Bess seemed to find just a little more turn with the changed ball from the Lake End and Guest, who was squared-up rather, got a leading edge to short mid-on where Ben Cliff, substituting for Dawid Malan, who had a groin niggle, completed the formalities.

It was a welcome reward for Bess, who had suffered a hard time and who might have had another wicket in his next over only for Jonny Tattersall to miss a stumping chance when du Plooy had 153, the ball spinning and bouncing to the wicketkeeper’s left. As so often happens in such cases, du Plooy cut the next ball for four to add insult to injury.

Bess finally got du Plooy for 170 with an edged drive to slip, and then took a third wicket when Mark Watt attempted a brainless reverse sweep and was caught behind. Fisher, unable to bowl for a time due to a niggle of his own, picked up his third scalp when Ben Aitchison was well-caught at point by Matty Revis.

The Derbyshire innings ended with only nine wickets taken as Suranga Lakmal, the last man, was forced to retire out after ducking into a Fisher bouncer. Although Zak Chappell replaced him as a concussion substitute, he was not permitted to bat as a “like-for-like” replacement – Chappell averages 19 in first-class cricket to Lakmal’s 11.

All of which confusion – and quite possibly unfairness – left Alex Thomson high and dry on 39 from 56 balls, a useful cameo that included a brace of sixes off Bess. Might the runs that Chappell have potentially gone on to score yet make all the difference? We shall see.

When Yorkshire replied, chasing 212, Fin Bean picked out cover with the score on 38. Adam Lyth played nicely before being trapped lbw on the back foot; Hill perished running to the non-striker’s end after a mix-up with Shan Masood, his captain; Tattersall was lbw to one that kept low; Fisher, the nightwatchman, was bowled playing back, and the day ended with Revis edging to first slip.

With Masood still there on 68, and with Malan yet to come after his absence meant that he had to bat lower, Yorkshire will fancy their chances still.