Wins for women’s and men’s Australian Aboriginal XI squads in Derby

Alex Broun 15:03 11/06/2018
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  • Dan Christian (r) presents Tomas Wood, captain of Derby, with a ceremonial stump before the match.

    It was two from two for the women’s and men’s Aboriginal XI squads at the 3aaa Country Ground in Derby today with both recording comfortable victories.

    The women crushed the National Cricket Conference by 137 runs while the men defeated hosts Derbyshire by 7 wickets with 17 balls to spare.

    Being sent in after losing the toss the women’s Aboriginal XI suffered an early set back with star opener Hannah Darlington bowled for just 3.

    Darlington’s dismissal brought skipper Ashleigh Gardner to the crease and combining with Sara Darney the pair made their intentions clear immediately as they went after the NCC opening bowlers.

    Gardner was instrumental belting the tour’s first century off just 60 balls and eventually carrying her bat through the remainder of the innings to finish on 129 not out off 71 balls including fifteen 4s and four 6s.

    She was well supported by Darney (17), Christina Coulson (22) and Naomi Woods (11*).

    Gardner’s avalanche of runs saw the women’s Aboriginal XI post a massive 4-199 off their 20 overs.

    In reply some tight early bowling from Darlington and Woods kept the run rate to around 3.00 off the first five overs.

    Zoe Fleming then virtually put the game beyond reach for the hosts claiming two quick wickets on her way to figures of 2-13 off fours overs.

    The NCC fought hard to ensure they batted out their full allocation, but in the end, fell well short on 5-62.

    Along with Fleming other strong performances with the ball came from Sally Moylan and Naomi Woods.

    In men’s match against Derbyshire the Aboriginal XI won the toss and sent the hosts in to bat.

    This decision backfired early as Derbyshire openers Thomas Wood and Chesney Hughes exploded out of the blocks racing to 0-96 off 10 overs.

    However just when the game was slipping away from the Aboriginal XI squad, Nick Boland claimed the key wickets of Wood and Hughes and young spinner Brock Larance clean bowled Dan Birch and Derbyshire had lost 3 for 9.

    After the collapse Derbyshire struggled to recreate their earlier form and with Larance and the Boland brothers tightening the screws with the ball, Derbyshire were restricted to 6-156.

    In reply the opening combination of Brendan Smith and Damon Egan put the visitors in the box seat with an 85 run opening stand off just 9.3 overs. Smith smashing his second half century of the tour that included five 4s and four 6s.

    The departure of both Smith (57) and Egan (38) didn’t alter the momentum though as captain Dan Christian was joined at the crease by the in-form Ben Patterson.

    The pair continued to find and clear the fence at regular intervals and despite Patterson being dismissed for 16, the Aboriginal XI chased down the target in 17.1 overs with 7 wickets in hand.

    Attention now turns to the final match day of the tour in Tuesday at Trent Bridge with the women taking on an ECB Academy squad and the men taking on Nottinghamshire.

    Full scorecard of Aboriginal women v NCC HERE

    Full scorecard of Aboriginal men v Derbyshire HERE

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