Darren Lehmann

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Darren Lehmann Australia (Aus)
Batting style	Left hand bat
Bowling type	Slow left arm orthodox
	Tests	ODIs
Matches	27	117
Runs scored	1798	3078
Batting average	44.95	38.96
100s/50s	5/10	4/17
Top score	177	119
Overs bowled	162.2	298.5
Wickets	15	52
Bowling average	27.46	27.78
5 wickets in innings	0	0
10 wickets in match	0	N/A
Best bowling	3/42	4/7
Catches/stumpings	11/0	26/0
As of 19 July 2005 Source: Cricinfo.com

Darren Scott Lehmann (born February 5, 1970 in Gawler, South Australia) is an Australian cricketer, primarily a left-handed batsman. His batting technique is quite unconventional; he takes guard outside leg stump, and, just before a ball is bowled, he steps back and across toward and sometimes past off stump. This peculiar technique means that if the ball is short in pitch, he needs not to step back any further. Possessing with a great eye, natural gift and substantial power generated by his large frame, Lehmann is noted for his play against spin, and is also a useful left-arm orthodox spinner himself, (as evidenced when he took six for 92 against Sri Lanka in Colombo). He is relatively accurate, but he has little ability to turn the ball. He is also a reasonable fielder, but his lack of fitness means that his agility is poor.

Contents 1 First Class Success 2 Struggle to Make the Australian Side 3 Controversies, Problems and Miscellaneous 4 Other Accomplishments 5 Trivia 6 References 7 External links

[edit] First Class Success

Lehmann burst onto the scene as a 17 year-old in the 1987/1988 season for South Australia, and scored a brutal 228 runs at the age of 19 in a match against Victoria in the 1989/1990 season. He has had enormous success both for Yorkshire in England and for his home state. He played a crucial role in Yorkshire's first County Championship for 33 years in 2001. In the Roses match against Lancashire he scored a blistering 252. Later in the same season in the National League he hit 191 off just 103 balls at Scarborough - a Yorkshire record for the competition. It is amazing that he did not play his first Test match until 1998, and he held the record for the most number of first-class cricket appearances and runs for an Australian before his Test debut, until recently surpassed by Michael Hussey. He is now the leading runscorer in Sheffield Shield/Pura Cup history and has a first-class batting average of over 56. Darren, in his last match for Yorkshire before retirement, scored 339 runs in the last match of the season to help Yorkshire in their attempt to survive, a figure which was only 2 runs from the highest score by any player for the club (George Hirst getting 341 in 1905 against Leicestershire). It was also the highest score ever made at Headingley. Lehmann will be fondly missed by the Yorkshire faithfull and remembered as a player who was very influential in not only helping them win the county championship more in 2001, but also helped them to promotion back to division one (2005). In his last innings for Yorkshire he prevented them from relegation by scoring his highest first-class score of his career, 339. This was just 3 runs short of a record score for Yorkshire. Durham managed to play out a draw with some record-making themselves, keeping both teams in the 1st division. ^[1].

[edit] Struggle to Make the Australian Side

Despite all of his talent, he has only had limited opportunities at the international level, especially in Test cricket. Considered desperately unlucky not to have been an Australian middle-order regular throughout the '90s, he had to wait until he was 26 to get a berth in international cricket, and even then it was a long time before he managed to cement his place in the Australian Test and one-day sides. His body shape, relative lack of fitness and physical condition, while never dulling his run-scoring capabilities, meant he was never a favorite of the Australian hierarchy, and notably never saw eye to eye with former coach Bob Simpson in the early-mid 1990s and long-serving Australian captain Steve Waugh in later years. Only in later years did Lehmann have any sort of rapport with the selection panel.

Lehmann hit the winning runs in the 1999 Cricket World Cup, but did not find a regular place in the Australian team until 2002 filling the shoes of the recently retired Mark Waugh. He was awarded Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 2001, a truly great honour. However, despite a Test average which hovered between 40 and 55 for most of his career, his stint in international cricket was short. Michael Clarke had an opportunity to debut in Bangalore on the 2004 India tour, when Ricky Ponting broke his thumb, and Clarke scored 151 in his first innings in Test matches. Thus on the return of Ponting, the Australian selectors were obliged to select Clarke, meaning that they would have to drop Lehmann or Simon Katich. Lehmann publicly offered to be dropped following a run of poor form, but the Australian selectors did not take the offer, and the less talented but younger Katich was instead dropped. Lehmann stayed on briefly but a shoulder injury and advancing age meant Katich was again promoted and left Lehmann unable to reclaim a spot, and he has since been left off Cricket Australia's contracted players list. Any last glimmering of hope for an injury-related Test or one-day spot opening has been squashed by Michael Hussey following his recent great form against England in the Natwest Series and Natwest Challenge.

[edit] Controversies, Problems and Miscellaneous

During his international career Lehmann has evoked some controversy. He was suspended for five one-day internationals after making a racist comment against the Sri Lankans, something which he has described as shameful. In January 2004, he found his life and focus on cricket affected after his mentor, David Hookes, passed away after being bashed in front of Lehmann, and had to testify later that year. In December 2004, he was labelled a 'snail' after losing a 100m sprint to New Zealand's slowest cricketer, Mark Richardson in his home capital of Adelaide. He has also released a book, Worth the Wait.

Career record	First-class	List A
Matches	262	347
Runs scored	23659	12304
Batting average	57.70	46.25
100s/50s	76/106	18/89
Top score	301*	191
Balls bowled	8311	5675
Wickets	111	162
Bowling average	35.22	26.19
5 wickets in innings	0	0
10 wickets in match	0	N/A
Best Bowling	4/35	4/7
Catches/Stumpings	138/0	103/0
As of 17 May 2006 Source: [1] Edit this template

[edit] Other Accomplishments

Lehmann was elected President of the Australian Cricketers Association on October 4th 2006. In his appointment, Lehmann becomes the first person to elected to this position whilst still playing the game.

[edit] Trivia

His many nicknames include "Boof", "Darryl" or "Shrek". During Australia's Ashes tour of 2005 (which Lehmann was not a part of), the team bus had a small Shrek doll in the front window.

[edit] References

1. ^ "The consummate overseas pro", BBC Radio Five Live Sports Extra, 2006-09-23. Retrieved on 2006-09-23.

[edit] External links

• Darren Lehmann's cricinfo profile

	Australia squad - 2003 Cricket World Cup
1 Ponting | 2 Gilchrist | 3 Bevan | 4 Bichel | 5 Bracken | 6 Gillespie | 7 Harvey | 8 Hauritz | 9 Hayden | 10 Hogg | 11 Lee | 12 Lehmann | 13 Maher | 14 Martyn | 15 McGrath | 16 Symonds | 17 Warne | 18 Watson | Coach: Buchanan