Scotland v
Derbyshire
Scotland were left to rue a suicidal middle-order collapse at Forfar yesterday as Derbyshire scraped their way to an uneasy three-wicket victory in the final Benson and Hedges group tie.
Play had been held up in the late morning to allow a mother duck to cross the outfield with her 10-strong brood. But it was lemmings that the home batsmen resembled as they manufactured their own downfall with a spate of senseless run-outs.
That, in tandem with two dubious lbw verdicts, meant that the Scots - having been coasting at 100 for three - could set a total of only 174.
There could be no complaints, however, about the performance of the home bowling attack. They had the county reeling at 116 for seven, but could not quite complete the job. Scotland coach Jim Love said: ''Our middle-order fell apart, but I was pleased with the way we defended such a total.
''There have been more plus points than minus ones from our four matches. In three of them, we have competed for seven-eighths of the time, but haven't been able to ram it home.''
Craig Wright responded to the challenge of taking the new ball by removing Ian Blackwell and England all-rounder Dominic Cork with only 24 on the board.
Blackwell survived a chance to Dougie Lockhart at slip, only to edge to keeper Alec Davies next ball. Cork looked in ominous form as he launched James Brinkley out of the ground, but almost immediately he tried to swing Wright to leg and also got the faintest touch to Davies. When the scalps of Adrian Rollins, Phil De Freitas, and Vince Clarke were captured, Derby were on shaky ground.
Their plight seemed hopeless when Ben Spendlove and Kim Barnett were dismissed to make it 116 for seven. However, the county's strength in batting depth shone through as Karl Krikken and Tim Tweats cautiously steered them past the target.
The Scots had been given another solid start with a stand of 26 before Bruce Patterson was brilliantly held by Spendlove off Andrew Harris for 9. Skipper Lockhart and Bryn Lockie continued until the former was trapped in front by Clarke for 24. Drew Parsons quickly followed in identical fashion off Barnett's gentle medium pace.
Lockie reached his second half-century on the trot off 79 deliveries - only to be trudging back to the pavilion one run later after unwittingly deflecting a less than threatening Clarke delivery on to his leg-bail.
Mike Allingham had reason to feel aggrieved at being given out lbw to Paul Aldred when the ball had clearly struck his bat before thudding into his front pad.
The dubious decision sparked the suicidal collapse which effectively turned the game in favour of the county as a promising total of 137 for four almost instantly became 140 for eight.
James Brinkley had only faced two balls when he was sent back by Greig Williamson after calling for a quick single. The instant the run was aborted, there was no hope of him regaining his ground.
Wicketkeeper Alec Davies fared even worse, perishing in identical style without even having faced a delivery. Worse was to befall the stuttering Scots and it seemed inevitable that Williamson would soon follow.
Scott Gourlay responded positively along with Wright to repair the damage to a small extent. Their stand was worth 34, with Gourlay making a sensible 24 before he became run-out victim No.4.
Scotland
B G Lockie b Clarke ................................... 51
B M W Patterson c Spendlove b Harris ....... 9
D R Lockhart lbw b Clarke ........................ 24
R A Parsons lbw b Barnett ........................... 4
J G Williamson run out ............................... 20
M J D Allingham lbw b Aldred ................... 12
J E Brinkley run out ...................................... 0
A G Davies run out ....................................... 0
S Gourlay run out ........................................ 24
C M Wright c DeFreitas b Harris ................ 9
N R Dyer not out .......................................... 0
Extras 21. Total (49.4 overs) ................. 174
Fall: 1-26, 2-84, 3-100, 4-108, 5-137, 6-137, 7-137, 8-141, 9-174.
Bowling: DeFreitas 4-0-18-0; Harris 8.4-2-22-2; Aldred 10-0-38-1; Cork 9-0-30-0; Barnett 10-2-35-1; Clarke 8-2-22-2.
Derbyshire
D G Cork c Davies b Wright ...................... 14
I D Blackwell c Davies b Wright ................. 0
A S Rollins lbw b Brinkley ......................... 16
K J Barnett c & b Gourlay .......................... 37
P A J DeFreitas c Davies b Williamson ........ 7
V P Clarke b Williamson ............................ 14
B J Spendlove lbw b Dyer ............................ 5
T A Tweats not out ....................................... 42
K M Krikken not out .................................. 22
Extras 20. Total (for 7, 49 overs) .......... 177
Fall: 1-0, 2-24, 3-43, 4-57, 5-79, 6-94, 7-116.
Did Not Bat: P Aldred, A J Harris.
Bowling: Brinkley 10-2-31-1; Wright 10-2-37-2; Allingham 7-0-24-0; Williamson 10-0-45-2; Dyer 8-0-25-1; Gourlay 4-0-14-1.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article