DERBY (Middlesex won toss): Middlesex Crusaders (4pts) beat Derbyshire Scorpions by four wickets
IT HAS been a good weekend for Middlesex in the East Midlands. Their victory at Trent Bridge on Saturday has probably ensured continued first division cricket in the championship next year and their win here puts them in the promotion places in the National League, a competition in which they have not yet escaped the bottom tier.
As toiling bowlers the world over know too well, one-day matches are specifically designed for left-handed batsmen. Seven of the top ten in the international rankings prosper that way and Michael Di Venuto’s maiden league century for Derbyshire was answered by fifties from Andrew Strauss and Paul Weekes, fellow left-handed openers.
However, it was eventually Owais Shah (66) and David Nash (38) who effectively saw Middlesex home, in a right-handed fifth-wicket alliance through 13 overs that plundered 82 runs. When they fell in successive balls, only six were needed from two overs.
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Di Venuto made 48 of his first 53 runs in boundaries and kept up sufficient momentum to establish a total of 259 for eight, after the Scorpions had been 44 for two and 96 for four. Luke Sutton, with 39, and Dominic Cork, with 41 from 30 balls, supported.
For 30 overs, Di Venuto’s only real opponent was Tim Bloomfield, who would not have played but for injury to Ashley Noffke. Bloomfield, a seamer, bowled his overs without break. He claimed the first four to go, recording competition-best figures of four for 25, before catching Sutton superbly at mid-on.