Cricket: Kellett drives Tykes victory charge

Lancashire 399-8 dec and 182-3 dec

Yorkshire 300-3 dec and 283-6

Yorkshire win by 4 wickets

YORKSHIRE exacted a sweet and immediate revenge for their four-run defeat in Sunday's spectacular encounter here by winning a second successive Roses match by four wickets with eight balls to spare just after 6.15.

Neil Fairbrother set them to score 282 in what became 59 overs, on a pitch that offered slow turn and inconsistent bounce, but the Lancashire spinners were neither accurate nor penetrative enough to bowl Yorkshire out and Fairbrother eventually had to turn to his three seamers in the hope of staving off defeat.

Sachin Tendulkar and Simon Kellett raised 71 in 13 overs for the third wicket, Tendulkar taking 48 off 36 balls and threatening to win the match on his own when, in charging Alex Barnett, he was stumped by a ball thet flew off Warren Hegg's gloves.

Richard Blakey then joined Kellett to take 121 off the next 21 overs and the fourth-wicket pair appeared to have total control, with only 44 needed off the last 10 overs.

Fairbrother then called on Phillip DeFreitas to bowl to a 7-2 offside field; Blakey was caught on the cover boundary and Kellett at extra cover in the next three overs and it was left to Craig White, Paul Jarvis and Phil Carrick, changing from saunter to scamper, to take the Tykes home.

It has to be said that Yorkshire's task was made that much easier by some sloppy Lancashire fielding. Kellett, adding 89 to his first-innings 91, seems to have shut the door firmly on Ashley Metcalfe for this season; Blakey's batting form is now matching his keeping, which makes him a candidate for India, while Tendulkar, after this weekend, will either be retained as the overseas professional or watch the whole of Leeds walk out on strike.

Lancashire's second innings never developed a momentum after Martyn Moxon had declared 99 behind on Saturday. The one cause for satisfaction was the further advance of Peter Martin as a nightwatchman; on this occasion he scored six boundaries in his 46 off 78 deliveries, much of it against a newish ball, and is now a candidate as all-rounder.