Arthur admits Derbyshire ‘got away’ with a draw against Northants as rain has final say

Rain washed out the final day at the County Ground in Derby, denying Northants the chance to go for victory with the home side 202 for three in their second innings, a lead of just nine runs.

Arthur branded his team's performance as being 'disapppointing', and felt that, aside from the opening day when they recovered from 29 for three to close on 216 for four, Derbyshire were second best to Northants.

The home side were rushed out for 307 on day two, with Northants then powering their way to 500 for eight declared to ensure they were the only team in with a chance of claiming a win.

In the end, the weather had the final say, but Arthur was not happy with his team's showing.

“It was disappointing," said the South African. "It wasn’t the standards we’ve delivered over the course of the season so far.

“We’ve got away with this one and certainly our skills weren’t at the level that we all expect.

"There were some good performances and you can never fault the effort, but I thought we were just off it in terms of our skills.

“I thought day one we were exceptional and then from day two we started playing catch up and that was disappointing.

"We are a team that wants to play on the front foot and we were playing on the back foot from lunchtime on day two and that’s not where we want to be.”

Quotes couurtesy of Nigel Gardner