Trevaskis Takes Six In Northants Win As Leicestershire Lift Division Two Title

By Jeremy Blackmore, ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay

Leicestershire 429 all out & 260-5 dec v Northamptonshire 189 & 333. Leicestershire won by 167 runs.

Liam Trevaskis took a career best 6-85 as Leicestershire completed the seventh Championship victory of their resounding title-winning season.

Northamptonshire’s Stuart van der Merwe held up the Division Two trophy presentation with a century on debut during the final day of this Rothesay County Championship match at Wantage Road.

Already assured of promotion and the title, Leicestershire finally wrapped up victory by 167 runs just before tea, bowling out Northamptonshire for 333, led by Trevaskis’ six-fer.

van der Merwe shared a sixth-wicket stand worth 80 with Saif Zaib who rounded off a spectacular year with 58, and a seventh-wicket stand with of 128 off 187 balls with George Bartlett (50).

Earlier Northamptonshire resumed on 120-5, chasing an improbable 501 to win. van der Merwe was dropped off Trevaskis by Rishi Patel at wide first slip, but Zaib soon worked Holland off his legs to bring up Northamptonshire’s 150 in the 53rd over.

He straight drove Holland for four before running a single off the next delivery to reach his 50, before bringing up the 50 partnership with van der Merwe in style by pulling Trevaskis over midwicket for six.

Zaib’s long summer of batting finally ended though when he drove loosely at one from Hull, Stephen Eskinazi taking the catch at gully.

Trevaskis had two lbw shouts turned down against van der Merwe as he went to sweep but with the floodlights on, van der Merwe then took a single to reach 50 off 103 balls. George Bartlett, meanwhile, pulled Chris Wright square for four to get off the mark.

After lunch, van der Merwe and Bartlett both swept the spinners for boundaries, while van der Merwe drove Patel through midwicket to bring up Northamptonshire’s 250.

Van der Merwe had a couple of nervous moments during a testing spell from Wright playing his final game but drove Holland confidently through the covers, while Bartlett punched Holland off the backfoot through cover to bring up the 100 partnership off 160 balls.

In an eventful over from van Beek, Bartlett ran one to reach his half-century. van der Merwe reached three figures off the final ball of the over as he pulled to fine leg, becoming only the third man to score a century on first-class debut for Northamptonshire after Alastair Storie in 1985 and David Sales in 1996.

Bartlett fell to the very next ball though when he steered Hull straight to backward point, with Trevaskis soon trapping both George Scrimshaw and Ben Whitehouse lbw. Finally, the left-arm spinner had van der Merwe brilliantly caught by Budinger at short leg to allow the celebrations to begin.