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Lehmann and Hutton shine

Tuesday, May 4 2004

Darren Lehmann and Ben Hutton were the batting stars of the current round of Totesport League Division 2 fixtures.

Grace Road: Leicestershire v Derbyshire
Henderson unplayable

Rain restricted this game to a 20 over a side affair with the home side electing to bat on winning the toss. Unfortunately for them the top order showed no application against the in-form Graeme Welch, and they were swiftly reduced to 55-5 before Jeremy Snape and Paul Nixon added some impetus. Nixon hit 4 of his 6 balls over the ropes for maximums in his 16 delivery innings of 29, and Snape batted through the innings to end up on 33 not out from 29 balls when the overs elapsed at 131-8.

Chris Bassano and Chris Rogers started solidly and put on 44 for the first wicket before Claude Henderson struck in an amazing spell of left arm slow bowling. In his 4 overs allotted he picked up 4 wickets for just 9 runs, and with part time spinner Brad Hodge bowling very tidily in his 4 overs from the other end, Derbyshire were suddenly 57-6. Ant Botha delayed the inevitable with a rapid 22 from 20 balls, but Jon Dakin then wrapped up the tail for a comfortable victory.

Leicestershire 131-8
Snape 33*, Nixon 29, Ali 3-22, Welch 3-22, Hewson 2-33
Derbyshire 98
Rogers 27, Henderson 4-9, Dakin 3-17, Hodge 2-11

Leicestershire (4 pts) beat Derbyshire (0 pts) by 33 runs
CW Man of the Match: Claude Henderson


Lords: Middlesex v Durham
Hutton fireworks

This was another 20 over slog, and the home side decision to put the visitors in to bat was backed up by some consistent bowling from the home seamers, only Lance Klusener really coming in for some stick as the Durham batting lacked application. Only captain Jon Lewis and opener Marcus North got past 20 as the side ended up scoring only 120-7.

Paul Weekes and Ben Hutton looked like winning it on their own for a long time as they added 92 runs in just under an hour for the first wicket. Finally Gareth Breese removed Weekes, and despite the departure of the promoted Chad Keegan and skipper Owais Shah for ducks, Hutton was not to be denied, as he hit 8 fours and a six in his 65 ball knock of 70 not out as Middlesex cruised home with 7 balls to spare.

Durham 120-7
Lewis 31*, Cook 2-10, Betts 2-17, Keegan 2-19
Middlesex 121-3
Hutton 70*, Weekes 28

Middlesex (4 pts) beat Durham (0 pts) by 7 wickets
CW Man of the Match: Ben Hutton


Headingley: Yorkshire v Scotland
Lehmann all-round performer

The home side started as strong favourites to beat the Saltires, whose overseas signings so far this season haven't quite reached the heights attained by Rahul Dravid in 2003, and with their bowling strengthened by the return of England's winter hat-trick hero Matthew Hoggard, it wasn't surprising that Scotland decided to field first on winning the toss.

After a fairly expensive start, the Scots stuck to their task well, as change bowlers Craig Wright and Paul Hoffmann bowled superbly in the middle passage, Hoffmann conceding just 23 runs from his full entitlement of overs, and Wright picking up Michael Lumb and Craig White to catches behind the stumps, as Yorkshire stumbled to 81-3. Darren Lehmann was a different prospect however, as he stood firm in adding 47 with Chris Taylor and 57 with Vic Craven, but the run rate was relatively slow and it was left to the exciting Tim Bresnan to provide impetus in hitting 2 fours and 2 sixes in a 14 ball cameo of 29*. Lehmann and Bresnan added 57 in just 18 minutes as the Scots lost control and were left to chase 240-5.

It was never realistically on, as Chris Silverwood took 2 early wickets, including the crucial one of Sridharan Sriram, as the Scots fell to 38-3. Ryan Watson and Colin Smith staged a mini-revival in adding 51 for the 4th wicket, but the introduction of Lehmann removed both of them and the innings started to fall apart. Yasir Arafat was spirited in his 22-ball 29 not out, but it was former Scotland-seamer John Blain who had the last word as he removed the final 3 wickets to ease Yorkshire to a comfortable win with more than 7 overs unbowled.

Yorkshire 240-5
Lehmann 88*, White 36, Bresnan 29*, Taylor 27, Wright 2-31
Scotland 165
Watson 38, Arafat 29*, Smith 28, Blain 3-34, Lehmann 3-34, Silverwood 2-14

Yorkshire (4 pts) beat Scotland (0 pts) by 75 runs
CW Man of the Match: Darren Lehmann



Posted by Marc