Bartlett 'gutted' as battling Northants effort falls short in Derbyshire defeat

Darren Lehmann's side were outplayed over all four days as they slumped to a first defeat of the summer.

Derbyshire controlled the game once they made a huge 604 for seven declared, and then made the County follow on after they were dismissed for 228 in their first innings.

It meant Northants knew they had to effectively bat four sessions to try and save the game, and despite sliding to 122 for five midway through the final day and then 222 for nine with 30 overs still to play, they very nearly did it.

That was mainly down to two dogged innings, firstly from Nathan McSweeney who made 62 from 145 balls, and then Bartlett, who grafted his way to 65 not out from 175 balls.

Fast bowler George Scrimshaw also dug deep, making 11 from 55 balls as he and Bartlett put on 41 for the last wicket over the course of 21.1 overs.

But it was to end in agony for Northants, as Scrimshaw's dismissal saw them suffer an innings and 113-run defeat with just 11 overs left to play.

Bartlett, who also made 95 not out from 197 balls to steer Northants to a draw against the odds in their season opener against Lancashire last month, was left deflated not to have got his team home again.

"I'm gutted to be honest," said Bartlett. "We tried to just do it in overs at the end and we did get close.

"As soon as you get into those single digit overs it becomes very realistic so it's very disappointing, but everyone tried their hardest and we made a good fist of it.

"When it gets towards the tail you try and take the strike and do the best you can but we couldn't pull it off unfortunately."

Asked about how he handles having to bat in such a pressure situation with the lower order and tail, Bartlett added: "I think it's a case of when you have a partnership you need to keep going and not give your wicket away.

"I was trying to do it over by over, we didn't have targets, it was just if you get in, make the most of it.

"We had good contributions on all four days, Calvin (Harison, who made 107 in the first innings and 37 from 84 balls in the second) was unbelievable and played with great fluency all game."

The defeat sees Northants slip to third in the division two table, 25 points adrift of leaders Durham but only two points behind second-placed Middlesex.

In an incredibly tight division, just eight points separate Middlesex and Worcestershire in sixth.

Northants are back in action on Friday when they go to rock-bottom Gloucestershire, who suffered a two-wicket home defeat against Kent on Monday.

Quotes courtesy of Nigel Gardner