Derbyshire stir thanks to a loanee from... Surrey

Derbyshire 52 for 2 trail Nottinghamshire 229 (Mullaney 76, Palladino 4-44) by 177 runs
Scorecard

The vision of a prosperous future that Derbyshire were eager to embrace after Kim Barnett's dismantling and reconstruction of a failed coaching model over the winter is still more than a little blurred but this was one day, at least, when the picture had a sharper focus.

So far this season, Nottinghamshire have for the most part looked like a team playing in the wrong division. Some of Derbyshire's more cynical supporters have reflected that the same might be true of their side… except there is no Division Three.

For Derbyshire to bowl out the leaders for their lowest total to date - the first time, in fact, they have not passed 300 - therefore came as something of a surprise, although having opted to forego the toss and bowl, skipper Billy Godleman clearly thought there might be something in the conditions to exploit on a warm but overcast morning with rain about.

He also had something new to toss into the mix in Conor McKerr, who became the 14th player to bowl in five first-class matches for Derbyshire this season, which says something about how far they are from a settled line-up, although injuries have been a factor too.

McKerr, on loan from Surrey for 28 days, arrived as an unknown quantity. Aged 19, born in South African and with a UK passport, he had not played a first-class match even in his homeland before this one. All manner of divides - geographical, social - have meant the Peakites have never much cared for the Brown Hats down the years so to be borrowing from their Second XI may for some have been hard to stomach.

Yet it did not take long for it to become clear that bringing him north was a shrewd move on director of cricket Barnett's part, or at least one based on trustworthy advice. Standing 6ft 6ins tall and with a strong upper body, McKerr has a quick arm and some skill too. He took his maiden first-class wicket with his fourth ball.

There was a rocky patch after lunch when he conceded 25 runs in three overs but the other 15 cost only 28. That he could come back from that mauling and take his second wicket with the second ball of his next spell suggests a strong temperament too. Had Tony Palladino, at the other end of the experience scale, not dismissed three of Nottinghamshire's top four, McKerr could arguably have claimed to be Derbyshire's bowler of the day.

"It all happened pretty quickly," Kerr said. "I got a phone call from Alec Stewart and he said there was an opportunity to go to Derby, would you like it? There wasn't even a debate. That's the dream, that's what I moved from South Africa to England for, I couldn't be happier."

It was a strange day for the leaders. They were asked to bat first in their first two home matches and made well in excess of 400 in both. Even after Jake Libby's early demise, edging McKerr to first slip, there looked every prospect of the pattern being repeated.

Cheteshwar Pujara, after his home debut century last week, fell for 29 when Palladino had him taken behind the wicket (where Daryl Smit has displaced Gary Wilson), but when Steven Mullaney and Samit Patel then began picking off boundaries seemingly at will, Godleman might have wished he had paid more heed to what happened to Gloucestershire last week, and to Sussex before them.

In less than 10 overs, the third-wicket pairing added 72 runs. The punishment suffered by McKerr - slapped almost nonchalantly for six over cover by Patel - was meted out also on Tom Taylor, who leaked 28 runs in three overs. Mullaney took him for four boundaries in five deliveries in one of those.

But then, almost out of the blue, Palladino dismissed them both within half a dozen balls, in remarkably similar fashion. Patel, driving extravagantly, missed what appeared to be a fairly straight delivery. Mullaney, similarly loose, followed suit in the next over. Perhaps there was some movement in the air, although by no means substantial.

Thereafter, although Riki Wessels tried to rebuild it, the momentum of the innings rather dribbled away and Derbyshire had reason to feel that they had put it a satisfactory shift.

They lost two wickets in the 19 overs that remained either side of an eight-over stoppage for rain, the dismissal of Shiv Thakor to a sharp slip catch by Patel in the last of those overs leaving them a tad disappointed. Irrespective of that, it was still their day.