Lehmann lashes seam and swing

Yorkshire Phoenix 161-8 Gloucestershire Gladiators 91 Yorkshire win by 70 runs

Darren Lehmann collected his Norwich Union Player of August award and then made a strong bid for the September prize. He appeared when Yorkshire were 2 for 2 in three overs and, when fifth out 32 overs later, had contributed 69 of the 113 runs added. In Yorkshire's order he towers like Gulliver among the Lilliputians; when he fails, which is rare, they usually lose.

He was sorely needed yesterday. David Byas chose to bat on a faintly green pitch under a dark grey sky and with a cold north wind blowing over the pavilion. Gloucestershire, already without the injured Ian Harvey, lost Jack Russell in the knock-up so Mike Smith was hurried into his first one-day match of the season to shore up a sadly depleted side. He responded with figures of 9-3-18-2, which so atrophied Yorkshire that defeat, and consequent relegation, seemed certain.

Lehmann signalled his intentions by lifting Smith for a massive six over long on and, with every other Yorkshire player barely surviving against a seaming, swinging ball, he made his runs off 86 deliveries. Not until he was joined by Richard Blakey, who does have the necessary technique, did the innings take shape.

Gloucestershire, who now have to win their last match, against Surrey to hope to survive in the First Division, must have seen 162 as attainable as the cloud lifted into a sunny, but still chilled, afternoon for a 3,000 plus crowd. Four wickets in 10 balls to Darren Gough and Matthew Hoggard, in the first eight overs, left Mark Alleyne the captain of a sinking ship.

He was helped by the debutant Alex Gidman, a Cheltenham player hurriedly recruited from the MCC groundstaff, and Martyn Ball and was himself seventh out after facing 54 balls. Ball cheered the Gloucestershire handful by lifting Lehmann for successive sixes to rally the tail, which provoked Byas into recalling Gough to give the Dazzler a mopping up. He bowled well, winning a final cheer by running out top scorer Ball with a direct hit from square of the wicket.