Published: Feb 25, 2016, 06:51 PM (IST)
Edited: Feb 25, 2016, 08:03 PM (IST)
Former Australian cricketer Darren Lehmann‘s son Jake Lehmann scored a tenacious century for South Australia against New South Wales in their Sheffield Shield encounter at Coffs Harbour. This is also Lehmann’s third ton in five appearances. He is certainly following his father’s footsteps and doing a commendable job with the bat. Darren is the current Australian coach and also the all-time leading run scorer in Sheffield Shield whose son Jake scored a determined 122 and helped his side Redbacks post a decent total of 298 on day one. The Blues at present are 1-31; they lost the wicket of Ed Cowan early on in the innings for 10.
South Australia were asked to bat first and looked to be cleaned out for cheap as at one stage they were 123 for the loss of five wickets. But Lehmann stuck to his guns and played the pumped bowling attack with unmatched confidence. With this ton, he now hails of an average of 56 in his first full season for Redbacks.
Lehmann was quoted in a report from cricket.com.au saying, “The old man actually texted me this morning saying ‘the last time I played at Coffs Harbour I got 100’, so my reply was ‘I will get one for you if we bat. And luckily enough it happened, so it’s quite funny how it played out. It is always good to do something for the team, and to get that 100 and keep us in the game.”
A result is on the cards with the match being evenly placed at stumps on Day 1.
“If we can get a couple of early wickets tomorrow it will set us up a little. We have two pretty handy spinners so that could leave us well placed on the final day,” Lehmann further added.
Lehmann have just played seven First-Class matches, and this was definitely a day to remember for the young batsman. His teammates Jake Weatherald, who also debuted in this game made 58, whereas wicketkeeper-batsman Alex Carey also contributed with 48 runs.
Nic Maddinson got the better of Lehmann with his left-arm spin and picked his career best figures 2-10. Arjun Nair too was impressive and had two scalps to his name.
“I think Arjun made an impact immediately, and it was great to see a 17-year-old kid have a great day like that,” said Blues pacer Trent Copeland.
“We bowled really well in the first session, but the wicket got better as the day went on. Overall we were happy to knock them over for under 300.”
The match is being played as a tribute to the late Phil Hughes. He belonged to Macksville and featured for both NSW and South Australia.
NSW XI: Nic Maddinson (captain), Daniel Hughes, Ed Cowan, Kurtis Patterson, Ben Rohrer, Ryan Carters, Trent Copeland, Sean Abbott, Gurinder Sandhu, Arjun Nair, Doug Bollinger, Will Somerville (12th man).
SA XI: Mark Cosgrove, Jake Weatherald, Sam Raphael, Travis Head (captain), Jake Lehmann, Alex Ross, Alex Carey, Joe Mennie, Cameron Valente, Tom Andrews, Daniel Worrall, Gary Putland (12th man).
