Derbyshire retain North Group edge after Critchley, Dal fifties secure draw

Half-centuries for Matt Critchley and Anuj Dal kept Derbyshire top of the Bob Willis Trophy North Group as their clash with fellow pacesetters Yorkshire finished in a draw at Emerald Headingley.

Both sides have now won two and drawn their other fixture. With only two games remaining, the race to finish top of the group for potential Lord's final qualification intensifies.

Only the two best-placed group winners from the North, South and Central advance, and Derby have a two-point lead over Yorkshire.

While Yorkshire have had the better of a heavily weather-affected fixture which saw 138 overs lost across four days, Derbyshire dominated the second half of the final day when play began at 2.30pm.

Replying to Yorkshire's first-innings 400 for 6 declared, they advanced from 198 for 6 from 70 overs to close on 300 for 7 declared from 107.1.

Critchley and Dal frustrated the hosts in impressively calm and assured fashion, sharing 104 for the seventh wicket inside 36 overs. It was Derbyshire's first ever seventh-wicket century stand achieved in matches at Headingley.

The pair came together late on day three, Derbyshire on 174 for 6, with the 201 follow-on target still in doubt. That was passed three balls into the fourth day when Critchley uppishly drove Duanne Olivier for four, securing a first batting bonus point in the process.

Batting points two and three were to follow, with the added bonus being that they prevented their hosts from sealing a third bowling point which would have come with taking nine wickets.

Critchley and Dal did not encounter too much trouble from the home bowlers in reaching their first fifties of the summer.

Critchley was first to that milestone in the final 20 minutes of the afternoon, off 127 balls with five fours. Dal was more positive in reaching his fifty shortly after tea off 86 balls with nine fours.

The evening started with 16 overs left to accrue bonus points, and Critchley and Dal began to expand.

Yorkshire's breakthrough came via 19-year-old new-ball seamer Dom Leech when he uprooted Critchley's off stump, leaving the visitors at 278 for 7 in the 101st over. But when Dal drove Harry Brook through the covers for four to reach 300, the declaration came immediately to end the match.