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Derby Win Low Scoring Contest

Wednesday, June 9 2004

In a low scoring affair Derbyshire defeated the winless Scottish outfit at the County Ground, Derby by 25 runs.

Derbyshire won the toss and elected to bat first and the decision by Sutton seemed to be proved correct as Derbyshire rattled along to 66 for no loss, however the wicket of Walker for 43 (27 balls) sparked a major collapse as Derbyshire fell to 66/3 with Yasir Arafat picked up two of the three.

They say that in cricket if you get a wicket there is every chance of getting two (or three as above) and the case was again proven as Derbyshire lost two wickets for no addition run with the score on 74, the top order batsman adding just nine runs between them.

With Derbyshire in deep trouble at 74/5 it was the lower order that dug in and it was Welch and Botha who steadied the ship with 20’s, but it was the winter signing from Warwickshire Sheikh who provided the Derbyshire side a fighting total as he scored a fine 50* from just 58 balls.

Derbyshire were bowled out for 182 with just ball remaining of their allotted 45 overs. The star with the ball was easily Wright as he bowled a stunning spell only going for seven runs from his nine overs and taking two wickets in the process.

In reply Scotland required 183 runs @ just over 4 runs per over.

Scotland made a solid through Watts, but unfortunately for Scotland the other end wasn't fairing to well as wickets fell too regularly (every 20 or so runs) for the batsman to make an impact into the total.

When the score reached 74/2 Scotland had a hope of victory but an inspired spell of bowling by Havell and Botha saw the runs dry up and the next 7 wickets falling for just 51 runs.

With the number 9 and 11 at the crease and another 58 runs needed for victory the result was never in doubt, but credit to the Scottish team as they showed fight and added 29 runs for the last wicket to at least make the result appear slightly better.

Derbyshire winning by 28 runs and the result leaves the surprise package of Scotland from last year still looking for their first victory in the 2004 campaign, seeing them on the losing side for the first 7 games of the season.


Match Summary

Derbshire: 182ao (44.5 Overs): Sheikh 50, Walker 43; Yasir Arafat 3/53 (9), Wright2/7 (9) & Sriram 2/28 (9)

Scotland: 154ao (44.5 Overs): Watts 45; Botha 3/24 (9), Sheikh 3/26 (7) & Havell 3/28 (7.4)

Derbyshire Won By 28 Runs

Posted by Richard