Date-stamped : 19 Aug96 - 22:30 AXA Equity & Law Sunday League 1996 Derbyshire v Nottinghamshire County Ground, Derby 18 August 1996 ====>REPORT (18 August 1996) Notts share lead as Barnett fades By Nigel Gardner at Derby HOPES of Nottinghamshire ending a downbeat season on a high note were raised when they maintained their challenge for the Sunday League title with a comprehensive eight-wicket victory at Derby. There were 19 balls to spare when Chris Cairns drove Paul Aldred to the boundary to lift his side to joint op of the table. The fact that a ninth success in the competition was achieved in relative comfort was due to Derbyshire falling short of a demanding total on an easy-paced pitch. Kim Barnett, who missed his first Sunday League century for six years by one run, and Chris Adams raised ex- pectations with a punishing second-wicket partnership, after Richard Bates had claimed the crucial wicket of Dean Jones, lbw aiming a paddle shot at the off-spinner. Matthew Dowman compensated for an over which cost 12 runs with two outstanding catches, but Derbyshire lost momentum after go- ing into the final 10 overs well placed on 171 for two. The loss of the potentially destructive Phillip DeFreitas and Tim O`Gorman in the same over disrupted their progress and Bar- nett tired in the sapping heat. Intelligent bowling at the death, particularly from Cairns, left Derbyshire at least 20 runs short of a win- ning score on such a big ground and their hopes of early wickets were denied by Tim Robinson and Dowman. Andy Harris, returning after a month`s absence with a side muscle injury, had Dowman caught off a miscued pull, but Ro- binson and Paul Johnson advanced confidently to- wards their tar- get in a second-wicket stand of 87 in 14 overs. Robinson fell when he aimed an ambitious pull at Harris but, with Johnson scoring his runs off only 59 balls and Cairns providing a late flourish, the outcome was never in doubt. Source :: Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk) Contributed by Ravi (sista@*.latech.edu)