Derbyshire beaten by promotion-chasing Leicestershire as Ahmed rewrites the records
Leicestershire took another big stride towards promotion when they finally overcame stubborn Derbyshire by 189 runs in the Rothesay County Championship Division Two match at the Central Co-op County Ground Derby.
Once again England all-rounder Rehan Ahmed enjoyed another memorable day, taking three wickets to end with 7 for 93 and match figures of 13 for 144 to become the first Leicestershire player to take more than 12 wickets and score a century in the same game since Fred Geeson in 1901 at Glossop.
Leicestershire’s sixth win of the season takes them 34 points clear of second place Glamorgan with Derbyshire dropping down to third.
Derbyshire head of cricket Mickey Arthur said: "If you have a poor day on day one you are always fighting the game, particularly on a wicket like that.
"They probably got 150 runs too many in that first innings and that's the difference in the game unfortunately.
"I thought Luis Reece adapted to conditions incredibly well and he carried that attack on his shoulders and did a wonderful job for us.
"When we analysed the teams, we thought spin was where we potentially had the edge which wasn't the case, Rehan (Ahmed) was outstanding, bowled superbly and had a wonderful game, I thought he batted brilliantly as well .
"Once you get the conditions you want you've got to perform on them . You can set everything up but ultimately the performance is what counts."
Derbyshire can take consolation from the way they made the visitors work hard for the win before they were bowled out for 256.
After Zak Chappell made 50, the last pair of Alex Thomson, who scored 55, and Jack Morley with 12, resisted for 156 balls before Ian Holland clinched victory with 23 overs remaining.
The previous evening Derbyshire captain Wayne Madsen had spoken about the importance of showing resilience and his team certainly did that starting with the overnight pair of Brooke Guest and Aneurin Donald.
Ahmed continued to bowl from the City End while England pace bowler Josh Hull peppered the pair with short pitched deliveries.
Guest was struck on the hand and Donald took a couple of blows to the body along with one to the helmet but the readers were frustrated until a change of bowling did the trick.
Ben Green took over from Ahmed and in his second over he brought one back to beat the forward defensive push of Donald.
Ahmed switched ends and he celebrated his fifth wicket of the innings and 11th of the match by having Guest caught at short leg for 32.
Another bowling change brought the next wicket with Louis Kimber taking over from Ahmed and trapping Luis Reece lbw with one that straightened to hit him in front.
Derbyshire got to lunch without further setbacks and when Leicestershire took the new ball, Zak Chappell took three fours from a Liam Trevaskis over.
The entertainment continued with Chappell reverse sweeping Ahmed for his 1oth four to reach 50 from 78 balls but when he went for another big shot against the leg-spinner he was caught at wide long on.
When Ahmed bowled Blair Tickner in his next over, it seemed only a matter of time but Thomson and Morley dug in to delay the tea interval.
Thomson edged Logan van Beek past a diving Peter Hanscomb to reach 50 but when Holland was brought on for the first time, his third ball was edged by Thomson and Rishi Patel took a one handed catch at slip to end a compelling contest.