Ian Bell leads Warwickshire to victory over Derbyshire

Ian Bell steered Warwickshire to a tense three-wicket victory over Derbyshire in a low scoring Friends Provident t20 game at Derby. Despite Bell's 66 off 56 balls Warwickshire stumbled chasing Derbyshire's 120 for four on a damp, misty night, and there were only four balls to spare when Chris Woakes struck the winning runs. Woakes had earlier conceded only nine runs in his four overs as Derbyshire found scoring difficult on a sluggish surface and they needed a late surge from Robin Peterson, who was unbeaten on 35 from 27 balls, to give them a shot at defending their total. Derbyshire were looking for another explosive innings from Loots Bosman but the South African was bowled first ball by Woakes in the first over and the batsmen struggled all night to get the ball away on a slow, low pitch. Chesney Hughes, dropped at deep midwicket on 13, was in for nine overs for his 24, and at the halfway stage of the innings the home side were 47 for three. Tight bowling and sharp fielding from Warwickshire kept the brakes on until the 15th over when Peterson launched Darren Maddy over long-on for the first six of the night. Greg Smith repeated the shot as 18 came from the over, the most expensive of the innings, but his dismissal for 38 in the next over pegged Derbyshire back again before Peterson's late charge gave the bowlers something to defend. The South African reverse swept Ant Botha for six and four as 17 came from the last over, and those runs looked increasingly valuable when Warwickshire lost Jonathan Trott to the third ball of their reply. The England batsman lofted Steffan Jones to third man and when Neil Carter got a leading edge to extra cover, the visitors were four for two. Bell drove Tim Groenewald for two successive fours but the former Warwickshire seamer had Jim Troughton caught at mid-off for two trying to hit over the top. At 25 for three, the Falcons were well in the game but Bell and Maddy put the visitors back on course with a stand of 58 in eight overs. Bell was dropped by the wicketkeeper Lee Goddard off Garry Park on 41 with the score 56, and he looked like taking Warwickshire to victory before a late wobble gave the game a final twist. Maddy clipped Smith to mid-on, Bell skied a slog-sweep at the off-spinner and the former Derbyshire skipper Rikki Clarke was yorked by Jones to leave the Bears needing 16 off the last three overs. When Ian Westwood was unluckily run out for 12 the game was back in the balance but Woakes hit Smith over the top to seal Warwickshire second win and hand Derbyshire their first defeat.