NORTHAMPTON (Northamptonshire won toss): Northamptonshire (2pts) beat Derbyshire by one run
THE Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy has been much criticised this season for producing too many dead games, but there was no sense of that yesterday as two sides with no chance of winning the North Conference fought hard in a nail-biter. Pity Steve Stubbings, who batted through the innings for a magnificent maiden one-day hundred before being run out by a direct hit by Usman Afzaal, from short mid-wicket, off the penultimate ball of the innings as defeat was snatched from the jaws of victory.
The game came down to a simple equation; one ball left, one wicket left, one run to tie, two runs to win. Jake Needham, the 19-year-old No 10 whose off breaks had earlier given Derbyshire some control, must have felt his heart pounding. Matt Nicholson, the Northamptonshire seamer, bowled a low full toss, Needham got underneath it and watched it lob over the bowler’s head, where Lance Klusener took a simple catch running round from mid-on.
One man breathing a big sigh of relief was Rob White. David Sales had dropped Stubbings at slip on five in the second over off Ben Phillips, but White put down Stubbings, who drove airily straight to deep extra cover, on 91 in the 46th over, off Nicholson.
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Having elected to bat on what looked like a worn surface but which proved excellent for the batsmen, Northamptonshire must have felt that a total of 257 was too small.
Sales tucked into the medium-pace bowlers, cutting and driving on the up as he motored to his fifty in 40 balls. But as was the pattern to the day, for all but Stubbings, batsmen gave it away. Sales cut a short ball from Ant Botha, the left-arm spinner, straight to point, then Bilal Shafayat took up the cudgels before running himself out.
Derbyshire were missing several players because of injury, including Graeme Welch, their captain. It gave a debut to Greg Smith, the 23-year-old South African all-rounder, who made up for some charitable medium-pace bowling with three good catches. Graham Wagg took his first wickets for his new county and finished with four for 59.
In Derbyshire’s innings, Michael Di Venuto spooned the ball to short mid-wicket, Travis Birt smashed it there, Adnan clipped it there and Botha was run out from there as Monty Panesar dried up the runs.
Needing six an over off the last ten, Derbyshire had got it down to 12 off the last two overs thanks to Stubbings, the 28-year-old left-hander playing in only his eleventh C&G game in his tenth season at Derbyshire. He drove, clumped and worked the ball around for 110 from 137 balls, with eight boundaries. Nine runs were required off the last over, with Stubbings at the wrong end, after Klusener’s over went for three.