Pietersen's sizzling seven skittles out Denmark

Colin Crompton
Tuesday 03 May 2005 19:00 EDT
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Charl Pietersen enjoyed a dream Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy debut for Northamptonshire as Denmark collapsed to the lowest score in the competition's history yesterday.

The South African Pietersen took 7 for 10 off eight overs - the best by a Northamptonshire bowler in the competition - to skittle out the Danes for just 56 at Svanholm in a match that was all over by 1.15pm. No Danish batsman made double figures as Pietersen ran riot in favourable conditions, with 24 extras edging the hosts past 50.

The 22-year-old left-armer said: "The ball was swinging about and they were perfect conditions for bowling. I got lucky with a couple of wickets but any bowler is happy to take seven. I got a few to nip back to the right-handers, had a couple of lbw decisions and a couple caught behind. I just concentrated on getting the ball in the right areas and the conditions did the rest."

Pietersen was playing league cricket in Loughborough last year when the Northamptonshire academy director David Capel offered him a trial. Two impressive performances in the second XI led to a two-year contract. Pietersen said: "I'm grateful for the opportunity I've been given. But one performance won't get me in, I've got to be consistent with my wicket-taking and my economy."

Ben Phillips started the rout when he had Mickey Lund caught behind by Rikki Wessels for four - but Pietersen was soon in on the act when he bowled Lund's opening partner Rashid Ali for eight. Steffan Jones then trapped Johan Malcolm in front for eight before Pietersen took centre stage, dismissing Carsten Pedersen and Mickael Pedersen before going to work on the tail.

The Danish refused to lie down in the field, however, with the openers Bilal Shafayat and Martin Love both caught behind by the wicketkeeper Darren Treumer before Tim Roberts steered the visitors home with a quickfire 20.

The Danish coach Peter Palle Klokker said: "We knew it was going to be difficult. We are a little bit behind the other European countries at the moment. These matches against counties can only help the players and it's a learning curve for all the players. We have a lot of young players and it was good for them to test themselves against the professionals."

Two Matthew Hoggard wickets put Yorkshire in the driving seat before the weather intervened to leave Ireland struggling on 33 for 3 in Belfast.

The England captain Michael Vaughan was playing his first match of the summer but it was his opening bowler, Hoggard, who lit up a dreary day with the wickets of the Irish captain Jason Molins and Andre Botha as the hosts struggled to come to terms with bowler-friendly conditions.

The all-rounder Tim Bresnan had already taken the first Irish scalp when he trapped the Australian Jeremy Bray in front for a golden duck with the score on just one.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in