Derbyshire cheered by May's century

Cricket

Pakistan A 169 & 201 Derbyshire 148 & 223-3 Derbyshire win by 7 wickets

A maiden century by Michael May guided Derbyshire to a morale-boosting victory over Pakistan A before tomorrow's NatWest Trophy second-round tie against Northamptonshire.

In only his fifth first-class match, May scored the winning run to finish unbeaten on 107 as Derbyshire reached their target of 223 for the loss of only three wickets. It was only their third first-class win of a troubled season, but their second over a touring side following last month's victory over the Australians.

May, a chunky 25-year-old right-hander from Chesterfield, was surprisingly dropped after scoring 67 against the Australians but Derbyshire will be hard-pushed to leave him out of their next Championship game.

He maintained concentration for five hours against some testing bowling and some outrageous appealing to banish any prospect of a weakened batting line-up collapsing. With Adrian Rollins, who followed his first-innings half-century with 77, May added 154 for the first wicket.

Derbyshire won toss

DERBYSHIRE - Second Innings

(Overnight: 19 for 0)

A S Rollins c Akhtar b Ali 77

M R May not out 107

B J Spendlove c Husain Rizvi b Azhar 12

G A Khan c Qadeer b Azhar 4

V P Clarke not out 5

Extras (b2, lb8, nb8) 18

Total (for 3, 79.3 overs) 223

Fall: 1-154, 2-203, 3-217.

Did not bat: D E Malcolm, *P A J DeFreitas, P Aldred, S P Griffiths, K J Dean, S J Lacey.

Bowling: Shoaib 6-0-25-0; Fazl 17-6-43-0; Ali 28-6-65-1; Azhar 22.3-6- 61-2; Mohammad 6-2-19-0.

Umpires: T E Jesty and M K Reed.