Marcus Harris surfs the luck wave in chilly Derby

Australia’s Marcus Harris surfed through the luck wave on a start-stop rain-hit Day 1 in Derby after being dropped twice. 

The left-hander opener kept his concentration sky-high to score an unbeaten 77 from 147 balls at the County Ground at Stumps. Derbyshire's David Lloyd called it right at the toss on a cool, chilly morning and inserted Leicestershire to bat first. It was butterfingers throughout as the hosts put three down.

The rain gods seemed desperate to be a part of the fixture taking away a huge chunk of the day with them. With 50 overs down, Leicestershire banked on Marcus Harris who had replaced Will Pucovski for the first five games of the Championship who suffered a concussion during a Sheffield Shield game. 

Wayne Madsen put one down when Blair Tickner nicked one off Harris on two. But Harris put the blip of concentration to bed with his array of drives to take him to double figures. There was yet another hump on the road for Harris which he escaped while speeding when Madsen puffed him for the second time in under four overs on 26.

It was no looking back from then on for the Australian batting sensation as he piled on the misery backing his technically sound ability to see a good Derbyshire attack on a green-tinged surface. 

The hosts also dropped Rishi Patel who went on to make a decent 36 from 60 rocks. The weather gods made yet another appearance when Harris was on 44. After the restart, it was picking the gap cricket. Harris reacting to the ball late, not trying to overhit, going through the ball, and standing still scored an unbeaten 77 putting Leicestershire in the driver’s seat. 

With only 48.2 overs on Day 1, Leicestershire scored 176 for the loss of two wickets with Harris scoring 77* and skipper Lewis Hill making an unbeaten 44. Sam Conners and Tickner bagged a wicket each bowling over 50% of the overs.