Stubbings guides Derbyshire to victory

By Ananova
June 24 2002

Stephen Stubbings hit a magnificent unbeaten 98 as Derbyshire beat Lancashire by seven wickets to move joint top of the Norwich Union League Division Two.

Derbyshire's bowlers did most of the damage as they restricted Lancashire to 174 for seven. Stubbings and Dominic Cork guided Derbyshire to victory with nearly four overs to spare.

Stubbings batted throughout the innings, striking 12 boundaries, although he was dropped by Neil Fairbrother in the covers when on 18. His opening partnership of 52 with Andrew Gait gave the home side a firm foundation on which to build the rest of their innings, and captain Cork weighed in with a characteristically flamboyant 28 from 26 balls.

Lancashire's search for a breakthrough led to them using seven different bowlers, but only John Wood and Peter Martin troubled the Derbyshire batting. Wood yorked Gait for 16 before trapping Graeme Welch (two) leg before, while Martin had Michael di Venuto (11) caught behind by Warren Hegg in a disciplined seven overs that went for just 15 runs.

Earlier, Cork showed his ability to maintain a tight line and length on the way to posting figures of two for 28. He trapped opener Chilton leg before for 13 in his first spell, before returning to have Driver (25) caught by Di Venuto at point.

Kevin Dean finished with two for 29, tempting opener Fairbrother (one) into edging to Cork at first-slip in the second over of the day, before bowling Glen Chapple for 10 with a delivery that straightened on the Lancashire number three.

Hegg top-scored for the visitors with a patient 29, but Australian Stuart Law (25) looked the man most likely to break loose before he mistimed a drive off Jason Kerr to offer a well-taken caught and bowled opportunity.

Chris Schofield slogged two sixes over mid-wicket from the penultimate over of the innings on the way to making an unbeaten 18, but Lancashire still slumped to their fourth Norwich Union League defeat of the season.

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