Lehmann reveals top five Yorkshire innings
HE is arguably the greatest overseas player in the history of county cricket.
During a nine-year association with Yorkshire from 1997, Australian batsman Darren Lehmann averaged a shade under 70 in first-class cricket and just below 50 in the limitedovers format.
In that time, he scored over 14,000 runs for the county including 34 hundreds.
Small wonder that ‘Boof ’, as he is affectionately nicknamed, is one of the most popular characters to have donned the White Rose.
The Yorkshire Post cricket correspondent Chris Waters asked Lehmann to pick out the top-five innings that he played for the club, which was a bit like asking Alan Shearer to pick out his top-five goals or Ronnie O’Sullivan his top-five breaks. After all, where do you start? Well, according to Lehmann, with a double hundred in the greatest county fixture of them all – the Roses.
■ 1 - 252 V LANCASHIRE AT HEADINGLEY 2001
“I think that was my best knock for Yorkshire,” said Lehmann, whose innings remains the highest in a Roses game and came from 288 balls in six hours, four minutes. He also hit 48 in the second innings to give him 300 runs in the match in total as Yorkshire won by seven wickets en route to taking the title.
“The way I played against a quality attack, and to get us into a position to win the game, made it probably the best considering all aspects.
“Lancashire – battle of the Roses – that’s the one that you want to do well in. I got taught very early days at Yorkshire to make sure that you perform against the Red Rose; otherwise, you’re in trouble.
“So to perform that well in front of the Headingley crowd, and to make the biggest score in a Roses game, was great.”
Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack wrote that Lehmann “never offered a chance, and at times toyed with the bowling, periods of relative calm being followed by salvos of audacious shots fired off to all parts of the ground”.
The Yorkshire journalist David Warner wrote in his history of the club that umpire Jeremy Lloyds told him that Lehmann “seemed to be taking the p***” out of the old enemy.
■ 2 – 339 V DURHAM AT HEADINGLEY 2006
“That’s my second-best, I think, for the sheer number of runs and also for the fact that it was my last hit for Yorkshire,” said Lehmann, whose final innings for the county saw him record the highest individual score in a first-class match at Headingley, beating Don Bradman’s 334 in the 1930 Ashes Test.
“To play so well and to thank everyone for the years was quite special, humbling, and a great experience.”
Lehmann’s innings – from 403 balls in eight hours, two minutes, with 52 fours and three sixes – helped Yorkshire to avoid Championship relegation.
He came within three runs of beating George Hirst’s county record of 341 against Leicestershire at Aylestone Road in 1905.
“I never had that record in my head,” said Lehmann, who was bowled by New Zealand offspinner Paul Wiseman.
“But, stupidly, when I did get close to it, I wanted to bring it up – not being a smart-arse about it, just a bit different – with a six, and got bowled trying to hit one for six, I seem to recall.
“I remember thinking, ‘You were a bit silly, there, Darren. You probably should have just hit three singles and away you go.’
“But I’m actually quite glad that I haven’t got the record because I think that a Yorkshireman should have it.”
■ 3 – 191 V NOTTINGHAMSHIRE AT SCARBOROUGH 2001
“For clean ball-striking, it’s hard to go past the 191 at Scarborough,” said Lehmann, whose innings is still the highest for Yorkshire in a one-day fixture.
In the old Norwich Union League (45 overs per side), he scored his runs from just 103 balls in under two hours with 11 sixes and 20 fours.
It was, in many respects, an innings ahead of its time; rarely, in fact, did you see such powerful and prolonged hitting in the pre-T20 era.
“We’d just won the Championship for the first time
for many years and had been partying for a few days,” added Lehmann.
“I was still slightly inebriated and to walk out after not sleeping for about two days and to bat like that… well, that was something I wouldn’t advise kids to do in terms of preparation, that’s for sure.
“I was just so relaxed for obvious reasons, and everything I hit sort of just went where I wanted it to go.
“I remember getting out with about 10 overs to go, so I probably could have got another 50 or 60.
“It was just one of those days. I just kept the strike and got lucky, I suppose.”
■ 4 – 105 V GLAMORGAN AT CARDIFF 1997
“I got a hundred against Waqar Younis in a quarter-final at Cardiff,” said Lehmann, recalling a NatWest Trophy 60-over match in 1997, his first season with Yorkshire.
Lehmann prospered against an attack spearheaded by legendary Pakistan fast bowler Waqar, who was renowned for his prodigious swing and toecrushing yorkers.
Waqar got Lehmann out eventually, caught by Steve James, but not before the Australian had hammered 105 from 103 balls out of a score of 236-8.
Glamorgan slipped to 177-7 in reply but got over the line by one wicket thanks to an undefeated 34 from Waqar himself.
“I was really happy with that innings in a crunch game,” said Lehmann.
“They had a quality attack and Waqar was a great bowler. We ended up losing the game, unfortunately, a game we should have won. Yorkshire had missed out a few times in the latter stages of tournaments, so it was pretty disappointing.”
Another innings in a one-day knockout fixture that Lehmann thought would be match-winning came against Gloucestershire at Bristol in 2004 in the semifinal of the Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy.
He hit an unbeaten 80 from 90 balls that underpinned a total of 243-6 from 50 overs only for the hosts to romp to a fivewicket win on the back of New Zealander Craig Spearman’s undefeated 143.
■ 5 – 216 V SUSSEX AT ARUNDEL 2002
“I remember getting a double hundred at Arundel against Mushtaq Ahmed,” said Lehmann. “He was another quality bowler, so that was pretty special.”
For the record, Lehmann struck 216 from 302 balls in six hours exactly with 25 fours and one six.
He was Yorkshire captain at the time and he also hit 71 in the first innings, Yorkshire narrowly failing to win a thrilling Championship game as Sussex held out with nine wickets down on the final day, Matt Prior finishing on 70 not out and Mark Robinson, the former Yorkshire pace bowler, on four.
In a gloriously quirky development, though no doubt concerning at the time, Wisden reported that “fears that an escapee from the nearby Ford prison had melted into the crowd led to a strong police presence on the second day”.
The almanack said that Lehmann “transformed the match” and that he “scored efficiently with cuts and leg-side clips”.
Lehmann scored another century against Mushtaq at Arundel in 2006 (130 no in an innings defeat), while the Pakistan leg-spinner was playing for Somerset when Lehmann hit his first Yorkshire century in 1997.
When no-one else could pick Mushtaq’s variations in the Championship match at Taunton, Lehmann appeared to read him like a book, striking 177 to serve notice that Yorkshire had signed an exceptional player.
To make the biggest score in a Roses game was great.
Darren Lehmann on his marvellous innings at Headingley.