October 28 Monday 2002
Lehmann blows Test chance as NSW thrashes South Australia

ADELAIDE: Test fringe batsman Darren Lehmann did himself no favours as his South Australian team was blown away inside three days by an impressive New South Wales in their Sheffield Shield cricket match here on Sunday.

Given just one match to prove his form for a Test batting spot if Mark Waugh is dropped by selectors on Monday, Lehmann faltered twice this weekend. Lehmann managed only seven runs - after being dropped once - as South Australia crumbled to be all out for 170 in their second innings, handing NSW an outright victory by an innings and 71 runs just after tea on the third day.

Rushed back after sitting through Australia's 3-0 Test sweep of Pakistan in Sharjah, the SA skipper had been dropped twice in a scratchy first innings knock of 45. His efforts were in stark contrast to the blazing 129 made by 21-year-old Test hopeful Michael Clarke in NSW's only innings, not to mention the 177 by Test discard and man of the match Michael Slater.

NSW, which scored 474 for six declared, took 12 wickets in just over two sessions on Sunday, wrapping up SA's first innings for 233 before enforcing the follow-on. The Blues' cheap dismissals of Lehmann may have done absent NSW team-mate Mark Waugh a big favour. SA coach and former Test skipper Greg Chappell was unwilling to speculate on which way the Test selectors were likely to go, but said Clarke, rated an outside chance of a Test call-up, had impressed.