Records tumble at Derby as Notts bat out draw

John Morris marked his last appearance at the County Ground in Derby with a second century in a game that died a slow death on the fourth afternoon.

Kevin Pietersen scored his maiden double hundred and with Morris, shared a Nottinghamshire sixth-wicket record stand of 372.

When the game was finally laid to rest at 5.20pm, 1,665 runs had been scored which is the highest match aggregate in Derbyshire's history.

The fact that only 25 wickets fell on four days uninterrupted by the weather indicates how dead the pitch was and much of the last two sessions was an exercise in futility.

Derbyshire had been in with a chance of victory in the morning when Kevin Dean took three wickets in 27 balls to reduce Notts to 185-5, only 139 in front.

He must have been close to trapping Morris lbw before he had scored but once the former Derbyshire batsman had negotiated an uncertain start, the game moved towards stalemate.

Pietersen played superbly when the contest was still very much alive and then plundered some undemanding bowling, including seven overs from wicket-keeper Karl Krikken, to race towards his double century.

He clubbed nine sixes and 23 fours in his unbeaten 218 and Morris hit two sixes, 17 fours and one five in 136 not out which took his personal tally for the game to 306.

Morris is retiring at the end of the season and he was given an affectionate send-off on the ground where he started his career back in 1982.

The sixth-wicket record in England of 411 was in their sights but Morris had started to block long before the end and Pietersen also played a dead bat through the closing overs of a game that also yielded 159 extras, another record for a Derbyshire game.