A salvo of sixes from Derbyshire opener Gary Park sunk Yorkshire Seconds in their three-day friendly match at Belper.

The South African, who steered the hosts to a one-wicket victory at Christ Church Meadows with seven sixes and 16 fours in his undefeated 165, had a point to prove after being dropped from the first team. He double-underlined it.

The match was set up by three declarations. Yorkshire closed their first innings six wickets down at 343 - a century from left-hander Joe Sayers being the main feature - followed by a Derbyshire coming in nine wickets down but 80 runs short of Yorkshire half an hour before the close on Day 2.

It remained for the visitors to set a target: an unbeaten century from Sayers’s opening partner, Gary Ballance, against his former county allowed Yorkshire to set Derbyshire 275 to chase off the minimum of 78 overs left in the match...and it was not plain sailing for the home side.

Four wickets fell in the 45 minutes before lunch as Derbyshire ran aground – Yorkshire boosted by two run-outs from direct hits. Park remained firmly anchored, and partnerships of 60, 83 and 62 kept the innings afloat. The last hour was signalled with 66 needed off the 16 or more overs to be bowled – provided that Yorkshire did not capture the last three wickets.

Two wickets were taken - but not Park’s! Five sixes, all over the shorter leg-side boundary off seven deliveries from Yorkshire’s most successful bowler, Gurman Randhawa, hastened the end which came with a four from the first ball of the last of the statutory overs.

Another close finish at Belper - four runs were Derbyshire’s winning margin in a Trophy match on Yorkshire’s only previous visit to the Meadows. The formula was right, but Park’s swashbuckling epic had not been factored into the declaration calculation.

Yorkshire Seconds have next week off...and then it’s down to the real business with the first Trophy and Championship matches, against Nottinghamshire at Headingley and Barnsley, in the first  week of May. See you there?

Second XI Friendly Derbyshire v Yorkshire

April 19-21,2011 (11:00) at Christ Church Meadows, Belper

Derbyshire Won By 1 wicket

Yorkshire won toss and decided to bat

Yorkshire (1st Innings) Derbyshire (1st Innings)
343 for 6 dec (100.0 overs) 263 for 9 dec (87.4 overs)
5 Hours, 51 Minutes. 5 Hours, 16 Minutes.
Yorkshire (2nd Innings) Derbyshire (2nd Innings)
194 for 3 dec (39.0 overs) 278 for 9 (77.1 overs)
2 Hours, 39 Minutes. 4 Hours, 38 Minutes.

Yorkshire (1st Innings)

Batsman   Runs Balls Mins 4s 6s S/r
GS Ballance c T Poynton b RA Whiteley 15 22 21 3 0 68.18
JJ Sayers c J Needham b TC Knight 128 225 263 16 0 56.89
CJ Geldart c M Lineker b J Needham 49 108 144 8 0 45.37
AZ Lees c T Poynton b J Needham 27 60 60 3 0 45.00
LJ Hodgson c M Lineker b TC Knight 38 97 110 4 0 39.18
Azeem Rafiq c J Needham b RA Whiteley 24 43 41 3 0 55.81
AE Lilley not out  16 33 47 1 0 48.48
JE Lee not out  23 16 15 4 0 143.75
Did not bat: GS Randhawa, JC Wainman, BP Gibson+ and JAR Blain*
Extras 1b 9lb 5w 8nb 0pen 23
Provisional Score For Innings 343
Penalties awarded following Innings 0
Total 343 for 6

Bowler O M R W Wd Nb S/r Econ
A Sheikh 6.0 0 41 0 0 (0) 3 (6) 0.00 6.83
RA Whiteley 12.0 5 25 2 0 (0) 0 (0) 36.00 2.08
B Cotton 9.0 2 33 0 1 (1) 1 (2) 0.00 3.67
Ahmed Mehraj 8.0 2 30 0 4 (4) 0 (0) 0.00 3.75
TC Knight 26.0 3 95 2 0 (0) 0 (0) 78.00 3.65
J Needham 25.0 5 75 2 0 (0) 0 (0) 75.00 3.00
Usmaan Muzzafer 14.0 2 34 0 0 (0) 0 (0) 0.00 2.43

Batsman Fall of Wicket Partnership Batsmen Over
GS Ballance 1-23 23 GS Ballance (15) JJ Sayers (3) 5.4
CJ Geldart 2-160 137 CJ Geldart (49) JJ Sayers (72) 45.1
AZ Lees 3-222 62 AZ Lees (27) JJ Sayers (34) 63.5
JJ Sayers 4-251 29 JJ Sayers (19) LJ Hodgson (10) 75.5
Azeem Rafiq 5-279 28 Azeem Rafiq (24) LJ Hodgson (3) 87.6
LJ Hodgson 6-312 33 LJ Hodgson (25) AE Lilley (8) 95.4

Derbyshire (1st Innings)

Batsman   Runs Balls Mins 4s 6s S/r
M Lineker c Unknown b JC Wainman 39 106 123 7 0 36.79
GT Park lbw b JE Lee 6 27 38 0 0 22.22
C Williamson c CJ Geldart b JE Lee 5 23 38 0 0 21.74
T Poynton+ run out (LJ Hodgson)  25 42 49 4 0 59.52
AL Hughes c GS Ballance b JE Lee 90 158 188 6 1 56.96
M Fletcher lbw b GS Randhawa 52 110 120 7 0 47.27
J Needham* c JC Wainman b Azeem Rafiq 27 35 41 3 0 77.14
Ahmed Mehraj c Azeem Rafiq b GS Randhawa 3 12 14 0 0 25.00
TC Knight not out  11 10 14 2 0 110.00
A Sheikh c JAR Blain b GS Randhawa 0 3 5 0 0 0.00
Did not bat: RA Whiteley, B Cotton, Usmaan Muzzafer and CM Durham
Extras 1b 3lb 1w 0nb 0pen 5
Provisional Score For Innings 263
Penalties awarded following Innings 0
Total 263 for 9

Bowler O M R W Wd Nb S/r Econ
JE Lee 19.0 3 58 3 0 (0) 0 (0) 38.00 3.05
JC Wainman 11.0 3 30 1 0 (0) 0 (0) 66.00 2.73
Azeem Rafiq 21.0 6 50 1 0 (0) 0 (0) 126.00 2.38
GS Randhawa 16.4 2 53 3 0 (0) 0 (0) 33.33 3.18
LJ Hodgson 11.0 2 32 0 1 (1) 0 (0) 0.00 2.91
AE Lilley 9.0 3 36 0 0 (0) 0 (0) 0.00 4.00

Batsman Fall of Wicket Partnership Batsmen Over
GT Park 1-23 23 GT Park (6) M Lineker (15) 12.2
C Williamson 2-34 11 C Williamson (5) M Lineker (5) 18.6
M Lineker 3-77 43 M Lineker (19) T Poynton (24) 32.4
T Poynton 4-78 1 T Poynton (1) AL Hughes (0) 33.3
M Fletcher 5-186 108 M Fletcher (52) AL Hughes (55) 69.6
J Needham 6-238 52 J Needham (27) AL Hughes (24) 79.4
Ahmed Mehraj 7-252 14 Ahmed Mehraj (3) AL Hughes (11) 83.6
AL Hughes 8-258 6 AL Hughes (0) TC Knight (6) 86.4
A Sheikh 9-263 5 A Sheikh (0) TC Knight (5) 87.4

Yorkshire (2nd Innings)

Batsman   Runs Balls Mins 4s 6s S/r
GS Ballance not out  101 147 159 12 2 68.71
JJ Sayers c GT Park b Ahmed Mehraj 7 22 48 0 0 31.82
CJ Geldart c CM Durham b GT Park 31 59 89 3 0 52.54
AZ Lees c M Lineker b J Needham 1 5 5 0 0 20.00
LJ Hodgson not out  17 9 16 2 1 188.89
Did not bat: Azeem Rafiq, AE Lilley, JE Lee, GS Randhawa, JC Wainman, BP Gibson+ and JAR Blain*
Extras 6b 3lb 11w 17nb 0pen 37
Provisional Score For Innings 194
Penalties awarded following Innings 0
Total 194 for 3

Bowler O M R W Wd Nb S/r Econ
A Sheikh 6.0 0 38 0 0 (0) 5 (10) 0.00 6.33
B Cotton 6.0 2 16 0 0 (0) 2 (5) 0.00 2.67
Ahmed Mehraj 7.0 0 44 1 5 (11) 0 (0) 47.00 6.29
TC Knight 5.0 0 10 0 0 (0) 0 (0) 0.00 2.00
Usmaan Muzzafer 3.0 0 11 0 0 (0) 0 (0) 0.00 3.67
GT Park 6.0 0 28 1 0 (0) 1 (2) 37.00 4.67
J Needham 6.0 0 38 1 0 (0) 0 (0) 36.00 6.33

Batsman Fall of Wicket Partnership Batsmen Over
JJ Sayers 1-44 44 JJ Sayers (7) GS Ballance (25) 10.1
CJ Geldart 2-155 111 CJ Geldart (31) GS Ballance (55) 33.1
AZ Lees 3-158 3 AZ Lees (1) GS Ballance (2) 34.3

Derbyshire (2nd Innings)

Batsman   Runs Balls Mins 4s 6s S/r
GT Park not out  165 215 278 16 7 76.74
M Lineker c AE Lilley b JE Lee 0 8 9 0 0 0.00
C Williamson run out (AE Lilley)  4 4 8 1 0 100.00
AL Hughes run out (JJ Sayers)  0 9 13 0 0 0.00
M Fletcher c BP Gibson b GS Randhawa 1 5 7 0 0 20.00
CM Durham c JJ Sayers b GS Randhawa 36 55 63 6 0 65.45
J Needham* c BP Gibson b JC Wainman 38 65 69 6 0 58.46
Ahmed Mehraj c BP Gibson b GS Randhawa 0 11 9 0 0 0.00
TC Knight  b GS Randhawa 21 72 66 2 0 29.17
A Sheikh  b Azeem Rafiq 1 13 13 0 0 7.69
B Cotton not out  0 6 17 0 0 0.00
Did not bat: T Poynton+, RA Whiteley and Usmaan Muzzafer
Extras 6b 5lb 1w 0nb 0pen 12
Provisional Score For Innings 278
Penalties awarded following Innings 0
Total 278 for 9

Bowler O M R W Wd Nb S/r Econ
JE Lee 6.0 0 33 1 0 (0) 0 (0) 36.00 5.50
JC Wainman 7.0 3 8 1 1 (1) 0 (0) 43.00 1.14
Azeem Rafiq 28.1 4 94 1 0 (0) 0 (0) 169.00 3.34
GS Randhawa 27.0 6 98 4 0 (0) 0 (0) 40.50 3.63
LJ Hodgson 9.0 1 34 0 0 (0) 0 (0) 0.00 3.78

Batsman Fall of Wicket Partnership Batsmen Over
M Lineker 1-7 7 M Lineker (0) GT Park (6) 2.2
C Williamson 2-12 5 C Williamson (4) GT Park (0) 3.6
AL Hughes 3-23 11 AL Hughes (0) GT Park (11) 6.4
M Fletcher 4-30 7 M Fletcher (1) GT Park (6) 8.3
CM Durham 5-90 60 CM Durham (36) GT Park (19) 26.5
J Needham 6-173 83 J Needham (38) GT Park (42) 45.6
Ahmed Mehraj 7-174 1 Ahmed Mehraj (0) GT Park (1) 48.6
TC Knight 8-236 62 TC Knight (21) GT Park (40) 70.4
A Sheikh 9-257 21 A Sheikh (1) GT Park (20) 73.5

Match Report

Weather: Sunny Pitch: Hard
Umpires: PK Baldwin NR Roper
Scorers: M Snook TM Cottam

Words and Statistics: MICHAEL SNOOK