Di Venuto spearheads Derbyshire victory
By Ananova
May 12 2002
Michael di Venuto struck an assured 84 to lead Derbyshire to a six-wicket win over Sussex in their Norwich Union encounter at the County Ground. The Australian left-hander became the last of James Kirtley's three victims when he fell 10 runs short of victory, but by then the hard work had been done.
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Stands of 50 and 91 with Andrew Gait and Chris Bassano respectively formed the bedrock of Derbyshire's successful chase, with Kirtley and Robin Martin-Jenkins - whose nine overs cost just 12 - the only bowlers to emerge with any credit. Dominic Cork applied the coup de grace with two successive boundaries as the hosts reached their target of 167 with three overs to spare. Derbyshire captain hits winning runs It was fitting that the Derbyshire captain hit the winning runs, for it was his economical bowling which had been so instrumental in restricting Sussex to a below-par total off 166 for eight. Cork's nine overs cost just 20 runs while Graeme Welch returned commendable figures of three for 45. Indeed, it was Welch who made the first breakthrough, drawing Tim Ambrose into a tentative prod that Cork pouched at first slip. Adams found the fence six times in a 46-run stand with Richard Montgomerie, with Welch's fuller length much to their liking in one over costing 14. Cork found enough lateral movement to take Chris Adams' edge, though - Bassano doing the rest at second slip - and Montgomerie and Murray Goodwin fell to Jason Kerr and Tom Lungley respectively in the space of four balls. Welch prowess in the field Cottey accumulated steadily - he hit just two of the 47 balls he faced to the boundary - but was held by Cork at backward point after failing to control a cut shot off Welch. Welch showed his prowess in the field with a smart piece of work to dismiss Martin-Jenkins, and picked up the wicket of Will House courtesy of a well-disguised slower ball. Those dismissals sandwiched Kevin Innes' demise, the result of an ugly heave at Lian Wharton. Gait took two straight boundaries off Kirtley in the first over of Derbyshire's reply while Di Venuto feasted on a diet of short-pitched bowling from Billy Taylor, striking nine fours in his 113-ball innings. Gait's dismissal, bowled through the gate by Innes, could not halt the Derbyshire momentum, with Bassano's lofted drive for six off Mark Davis the highlight of a second-wicket partnership that occupied 22.4 overs. Bassano, Dominic Hewson and di Venuto fell for the addition of 16 runs as Kirtley's persistence was rewarded, but Cork needed just two deliveries to seal victory.
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