Lyon strikes before storm curtails the day

Derbyshire 200 for 6 (Reece 54, Hughes 53) v Worcestershire
Scorecard

Nathan Lyon made his first mark in the County Championship on another frustrating day for Derbyshire and Worcestershire in the Division Two match at Derby.

The Australian Test offspinner claimed his maiden first-class wicket for Worcestershire by removing Alex Hughes for 53 before a storm forced play to be abandoned at 5 o'clock.

Luis Reece had top scored with 59 before he and Billy Godleman were dismissed in the space of 10 balls early on the second morning but Hughes and Daryn Smit added 78 in 21 overs to take Derbyshire to 200 for 6.

Worcestershire bowlers could have taken more than three wickets on the first day and they soon had two more with Jack Shantry tempting Reece into pushing at a ball he could have left and Tom Kohler-Cadmore took a good low catch at first slip.

Joe Leach claimed a second victim when Billy Godleman edged behind which left Derbyshire to regroup and Hughes and Smit showed good judgement to bat through 10 overs before rain held up play until early afternoon.

The break appeared to have disrupted the Worcestershire bowlers who struggled for consistency and Hughes took advantage, cutting a short ball from Ed Barnard for his seventh four to move to 50 from 56 balls.

Lyon had looked like a bowler whose last first-class appearance was in the fourth Test against India in the Himalayan city of Dharamsala in late March but he was celebrating before the rain returned.

Hughes moved across to try and work him to leg but was pinned lbw and that was the last action of the day as a downpour left large pools of water on the outfield.

"It's tough to just try and block him because he's so good he will get you sooner or later so you have to try and put a bit of pressure on him," Hughes said.

"I enjoy playing against spin and it's a good test against someone you're used to watching on the TV, especially in India, and do well against even though he's now got me out twice in two games.

"The action he gets on the ball is very different to the average spinner, he gets a lot of revs on it and a lot more bounce. He doesn't bowl many bad deliveries and if this pitch gets dry and I think he could be a tough prospect if we have to bat in the third innings."

Leach said: "I don't think we got our just desserts with the ball, I feel we bowled quite a bit better than 200 for 6 so hopefully that will change and we can knock them over really cheaply in the morning.

"It was good for Nathan to get his first wicket, he bowled very well again today so it was a good reward for him to get off the mark and hopefully he will have a bigger part to play in the rest of this game."