Date-stamped : 01 Jul96 - 18:17 AXA Equity & Law Sunday League 1996 Northamptonshire v Derbyshire County Ground, Northampton 30 June 1996 ====> REPORT DeFreitas turns tables on Northants By Peter Deeley at Northampton Derbys (222-6) bt Northants (132) by 90 runs NORTHANTS again lived up to their tag as the Jekyll and Hyde team of English cricket with this severe mauling from Derbyshire. Their second defeat on the run after riding on the crest of a winning wave in 13 previous one-day games means they have lost their place to Middlesex at the top of the table. It comes only a fortnight before their Benson and Hedges final against Lancashire and the sudden collapse in form - too many ex- tras and fumbles in the field - is the last thing the Northants captain, Rob Bailey, wants. Yet on the other side of the coin, 24 hours earlier Northants had achieved their first championship success of the season here over Derbyshire - on a very different pitch where sea- mers held sway. That lifted them from the bottom of the four-day table - so in the space of one day their whole world has turned turtle. To confuse matters further, Derbyshire, who would have topped the table if they had won their championship game here, now climb out of the Sunday league depths with their second win in this competition - largely due to an astonishing all round per- formance from Phillip DeFreitas. The real villain of the piece was a desert of a pitch tailor- made for the spinners. The Northampton square has already been the subject of close scrutiny by the TCCB pitches committee and could now face further comment. Bailey chose to give Derbyshire first knock, fearing later rain (which never came) and when Derbyshire were 148 for six with five overs left, it seemed that decision would be justified. John Emburey took two wickets and gave away only 15 runs. Then DeFreitas and Dominic Cork came together. They put on 76 in 43 balls with DeFreitas scoring an unbeaten 61 from only 33 deliveries. Bailey himself came in for heavy punishment, DeFreitas hitting him for two of his three sixes in an over which produced 24 runs. Devon Malcolm was not needed to bowl as Dean Jones wisely put his trust in a largely spin attack. The last eight Northants wick- ets went down to the slow bowlers and DeFreitas - sending down off-spin - produced two huge turners which bowled David Sales and that other master of the spinners` art, Emburey. DeFreitas finished with three for 38, Matthew Vandrau also took three and even Jones`s occasional turn of the arm earned him two at the end. Bailey confessed to "great disappointment" afterwards but re- fused to make any comment about the pitch, though clearly groundsman Ray Bailey (no relation) has a considerable job on his hand to improve conditions here. Source :: Electronic Telegraph (http.//www.telegraph.co.uk) Contributed by Shash (shs2@*.cwru.edu)