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Match Report:

Scorecard

Warner, Marsh fire in tour match

Australia openers find varying ways to hundreds but some big-name players miss out

In times growing distantly past, the occasion of an Australia Ashes party turning out for a fixture against their British county counterparts was only marginally less noteworthy than the Test matches they interweaved.

Bradman’s 1948 Invincibles racked up 12 before they made it to their opening Test, ended up playing 22 amid the five Tests of that undefeated campaign and even a handful of others – including a Lord’s encounter with a ‘Gentlemen of England XI’ – after the Ashes games were done.

In contrast, Australia will play just four county games on this Test tour (including a pair of four-day outings to acclimatise before the battle proper began in Cardiff) with the others gathering no greater relevance than a net session from which the nets have been pulled down.

For a scorebook reader, a stumps total of 9-413 after one of three days against the Midlands mid-table division two county side Derbyshire would represent a commanding, if not an utterly dominant day.

A more thorough de-brief might reveal it was a mixed day for those who were looking for tangible outcomes a week before the third Test begins but a short drive away through the Midlands at Birmingham.

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Shaun Marsh, who might be in line for a Test return if incumbent opener Chris Rogers’ ear-related balance issues don’t mend, was untroubled by an earnest if modest Derbyshire bowling attack and retired upon the stroke of reaching his second century of the tour.

David Warner has picked up where he left off at Lord's, racing to a score of 87 at lunch on day one of Australia's clash with Derbyshire

That was two hours after his opening partner for this match David Warner had done precisely the same, with the same score as well as ‘retired out’ albeit with a greater regularity of controlled strokes.

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But from there, the Australia batters who most needed some time at the crease to prepare them for a significantly more searching examination in a week’s time found themselves short-changed by a pair of impertinent youngsters making their first appearance in first-class company.

Skipper Michael Clarke batted with all the freedom of a man wearing a cast-iron corset and managed a solitary boundary in his 42-minute innings of 16 before he reached gingerly for an off-side drive and nicked off to second slip.

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It provided a memorable moment for 19-year-old Will Davis, who captained Derbyshire’s cricket academy last year and toured with England’s under-19s to Australia, who can dine out for the rest of his playing days and beyond that his inaugural first-class wicket was a Test captain.

The lively right-armer doubled that tally two deliveries later when he trapped Adam Voges in front of his stumps, which meant the middle-order batsman, who may also be feeling pressure from Marsh for his place given the hip injury he sustained at Lord’s, boasted but a single to his name.

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Voges, who was hobbled when he wore a frightening slog-sweep to his right hip bone while fielding at short-leg in the second Test, has yet to reach 50 in his five innings on this tour having scored a memorable century on his Test debut in the Caribbean last month.

And Peter Nevill, who is expected to take the ‘keeping gloves in Derbyshire’s innings tomorrow while Brad Haddin will fill that role in the unlikely event that the home team bats twice, also had his innings curtailed on one when he sliced a square drive to point.

Haddin meanwhile scored 32 in the hour he spent at the crease with his only concern being a bout of cramp to his left hamstring which required treatment on the field but was likely the result of the extra gym and training work he’s been doing since withdrawing from the second Test for family reasons.

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Nevill batted two berths above Haddin in the Australians’ order, and a notch above Shane Watson who won the duel of the bludgeoning all-rounders with his 61 from 45 balls (with five boundaries and four sixes) pipping Mitchell Marsh’s marginally less brutal 53 from 81.

Both having played innings of similar character and content, the current Test all-rounder and the veteran he deposed both fell in mirror-image fashion caught down the leg side by a wicketkeeper who appeared straight out of junior primary school by another pace bowler making his first-class debut.

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Indeed, it wasn’t only the notable absence of facial hair that gave the fixture the distinct look of a mans against boys contest.

The average age of a Derbyshire XI that includes only one player with international experience – their New Zealand import Hamish Rutherford – is just 25 while the Australians is closer to 31.

And while the tourists boast a combined aggregate Test match total of 358 matches (with spinner Fawad Ahmed the only uncapped player) there is just 14 Tests combined for the county team that in its recent past has been captained by Dean Jones, Simon Katich and Rogers.

So the end-of-day score, upon which Australia is likely to declare given the forecast of persistent rain in Derby tomorrow that may even extend into the nearby preparations for Test starting on Wednesday, must be viewed in context.

Given a three-day match with weather about is never likely to yield a result, then all that can be gained by the visitors is some match-assimilated batting practice while for the home team it’s a chance to welcome some fans and notch up a few anecdotes for the post-career speaking circuit.

In the first instance, the Australians will doubtless assess that it was an innings that delivered in some respects but was unsatisfying and too often unchallenged – particularly in a listless opening session and a half from the Derbyshire bowlers – in others.

In the second, there’s a couple of greenhorn bowlers who between have a swag of big-name scalps on which they will forever be able to hang their future caps.

Australia XI for clash with Derbyshire: David Warner, Shaun Marsh, Michael Clarke (captain), Shane Watson, Adam Voges, Mitch Marsh, Brad Haddin, Peter Nevill, Peter Siddle, Pat Cummins, Fawad Ahmed.

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