LONDON, April 27: Australia batsman and Yorkshire captain Darren Lehmann had no excuses after the defending county champions were thrashed inside three days by First Division title favourites Surrey at Headingley Friday.
Mark Butcher’s men, fresh from a 10 wicket mauling of Sussex, made sure spectators would have to do something else on Saturday — the scheduled fourth day — after pulverising Yorkshire by an innings and 163 runs.
“We were totally outplayed in all departments — they batted, bowled and fielded very well and certainly better than we did,” admitted Lehmann as Yorkshire got their title defence off to the worst possible start.
The champions were without England quartet Darren Gough, Craig White, Matthew Hoggard and Michael Vaughan.
But Lehmann refused to use their absence as an excuse. “That has happened a lot in the past and will happen again — but we have still won games and will win again, I hope,” he said.
Meanwhile England batsman Butcher said: “It was a fantastic performance. I could not be happier. We played brilliantly.
“The season is seven days old, and we have played as well as it is possible to play on all seven.”
Only Chris Taylor’s unbeaten 52 gave the home supporters something to cheer with Yorkshire bowled out for 202.
Rubbing salt into Yorkshire’s wounds was the performance of former captain David Byas.
After announcing his retirement at the end of last season, the left-hander stunned Yorkshire by joining arch-rivals Lancashire.
And it looked a good signing as Byas’ 83 not out steered the ‘Red Rose’ county to a six-wicket win over Warwickshire at Edgbaston.
England One-day International and Sussex paceman Jame Kirtley, whose action has been the subject of repeated official scrutiny, took five for 90 as Somerset were bowled out for 401 at Hove.
On a rain-marred day Sussex reached 178 for three in their second innings at the close with captain and former England batsman Chris Adams 68 not out.
At the Rose Bowl, Leicestershire were well on top as Hampshire reached 81 for two at stumps — still 74 behind after following on with one day left.
In the Second Division, Northamptonshire’s Australian captain Mike Hussey led from the front with 170 while fellow opener Mal Loye made 139 out of a total of 380 for two against Worcestershire in what looks like a high scoring draw.
Rain meant there was no play Friday in the other Second Division matches between Derbyshire and Durham and Essex and Gloucestershire.
Friday’s result and scores:
(Day three of four):
DIVISION ONE:
At Southampton: Leicestershire 428 in 120 overs (V.J. Wells 150, D.I. Stevens 82, P.A.J. DeFreitas 51); Hampshire 273 in 97.4 overs (J.P. Crawley 80; D.L. Maddy 4-37) and 81-2 in 34 overs.
At Hove: Sussex 337 in 90.2 overs (M.W. Goodwin 162; M. Bulbeck 4-104) and 178-3 in 42 overs (C.J. Adams 68 not out); Somerset 401 in 111.5 overs (P.D. Bowler 94, J. Cox 65, M. Wood 54; R.J. Kirtley 5-90).
At Edgbaston: Lancashire beat Warwickshire by six wickets. Warwickshire 297 in 78.2 overs (N.M.K. Smith 96, M.M. Betts 56; P.J. Martin 4-77) and 150 in 53.4 overs (P.J. Martin 4-41, K. Hogg 3-16); Lancashire 251 in 78.2 overs (G.D. Lloyd 80; A. Richardson 5-59) and 197-4 in 39.4 overs (D. Byas 83 not out).
At Headingley: Surrey beat Yorkshire by an innings and 168 runs. Yorkshire 140 in 75.5 overs (A.J. Tudor 4-31, Azhar Mahmood 3-33) and 202 in 57.3 overs (C. Taylor 52 not out; Azhar Mahmood 3-18); Surrey 510 in 127.5 overs (A.J. Stewart 96, M.A. Butcher 83, I.J. Ward 70, M.R. Ramprakash 65, Azhar Mahmood 64 not out; S. Kirby 5-129).
DIVISION TWO:
At Derby: Derbyshire 263 in 75.4 overs (M.J. Di Venuto 56, D.G. Cork 56, S. Bukhari 53; N. Killeen 4-52) and 190-9 in 49 overs; Durham 258 in 80.1 overs (N. Peng 108; D.G. Cork 5-72). No play Friday due to rain.
At Chelmsford: Gloucestershire 379 in 110.3 overs (M.W. Alleyne 142 not out, C.M. Spearman 80, I. Fisher 65; J.M. Dakin 4-62); Essex 305-4 in 99 overs (D.D.J. Robinson 127 not out, A. Flower 91). No play Friday due to rain.
At Lord’s: Middlesex 462 in 114.2 overs (E. Joyce 119, O.A. Shah 63, A.J. Strauss 62, P.N. Weekes 50); Nottinghamshire 159 in 60.4 overs (A. Fraser 5-61) and 156-4 in 50 overs (G. Welton 51; A.A. Noffke 4-74).
At Northampton: Worcestershire 524-8 declared in 128.1 overs (D.A. Leatherdale 154, S.D. Peters 146, Kabir Ali 51 not out); Northamptonshire 380-2 in 111 overs (M.E. Hussey 170, M.B. Loye 139).—AFP/Reuters
