A 27-year-old left -handed batsman from South Australia Lehmann has not fulfiled the promise of his early years but may make

A 27-year-old left -handed batsman from South Australia, Lehmann has not fulfiled the promise of his early years but may make an impact in county cricket none the less.A Sheffield Shield debutant at 17, he was named in an Australian Test side 12 two days before his 20th birthday. The international career did not happen but he remains one of his country's most consistent run-scorers in domestic cricket.His 7,656 runs in the Shield with South Australia and Victoria have been made at an average of 51.73, including 960 at 53.33 in first-class games this season, batting mostly at No 3. He made a career-best 255 for South Australia.Yorkshire had approached Lehmann on a just-in-case basis and their cricket chairman, Bob Platt, said: "I'm confident that we have secured a player who will give us excellent service. Lehmann is an aggressive run- maker and also has a reputation as a good catcher at slip."He will make his debut against Lancashire in the Benson and Hedges Cup at Old Trafford on 28 April.Yorkshire's young bowlers had a chance to draw attention to themselves here yesterday but did not enjoy the experience as Lancashire overturned the home county's advantage in the first-class Roses friendly, ending the day with a lead of 159.One wicket down overnight, Lancashire soon slipped to 111 for 5, a long way adrift of Yorkshire's first-innings total.The slide was arrested when Mike Watkinson struck a bold 45 off 34 balls and this innings proved the catalyst for a dramatic change in the contest.As an attack including five bowlers with an average age of 21 began to suffer for their greenness on an unhelpful pitch, the partnership of Lloyd and Ian Austin took advantage, adding 248 runs in only 31 overs, a seventh- wicket record both for Lancashire and by any side against Yorkshire.Austin hit 17 fours but was eclipsed by Lloyd's extraordinary approach, which took him to 101 off 76 balls, 152 off 104 and 200 off 130 before he fell to 151st delivery he faced.. David Boon last night celebrated his first win as captain of Durham, after James Boiling, his off-spinner, turned the match in the county side's favour against Oxford University at The Parks. Boon, the former Australian Test player, had to be patient as the students showed they had learnt much from their careless first innings by batting with impressive caution in their second, seemingly towards a draw. However, Boiling, the former Surrey player who has disappointed since his move north, took 3 for 21 in a late decisive spell to break the University side's resistance and secure a 97-run victory. The pace bowler, Simon Brown, made the initial breakthrough, but a determined half-century from Chetan Patel and James Averis's 42 delayed the victory march until Boiling's intervention.Dean Jones was the other Australian skipper with reason to be cheerful yesterday after taking Derbyshire to victory by an innings and 12 runs against Cambridge University at Fenner's.

Devon Malcolm claimed two victims, sending back Steffan Jones for 18 and Jim Freeth for just a single, to finish with 3 for 54 as the students were dismissed for 156 after resuming on a precarious 104 for 6.Cambridge had lost their seventh wicket without adding to their total when Kevin Dean, who took three wickets in six balls yesterday, had David Churton caught without addition to his 15.Vince Clarke wrapped up the win in bizarre fashion by having Ed How caught for a duck off the last ball before lunch when the batsman gave himself out, much to the surprise of the umpire Ray Julian.. As another cricket season wanders warily back to its mark, rubbing the new ball on old flannels immersed in faster-acting Reverse Swingo, there are distinct signs of life in the most unexpected places Lord's, for example And Taunton. If Dermot Reeve had his way, cricket in England would not just be dragged into the 21st century, it would be kicking, screaming and whatever else was necessary to produce results. As captain of Warwickshire, his style - often controversial, always innovative - brought unparalleled success. Now, having been forced out of the game as a player by an arthritic hip condition, he has a chance to take his ideas a stage further as the new coach of Somerset. Reeve, the youngest of four brothers, lived abroad until the age of 18 and it is perhaps not surprising that he approaches the wicket from a slightly different angle It makes him very difficult to pigeon-hole. He has as many enemies in the game as admirers, applauded one minute for turning probable defeat into unlikely victory, castigated the next for daring to break with tradition. Few, however, would bet against him changing Somerset's fortunes for the better."Peter Anderson, Somerset's chief executive, was actually my first captain when I was a 16-year-old making my debut for Hong Kong," Reeve said, explaining his appointment.

"Their approach was first class, I've always liked playing down here and I've always found it a nice part of the world. In my Hong Kong days I used to come back in the summer and I started to follow Somerset because of Richards, Garner and Botham."I wasn't certain how I would take to being a first-class coach straight after being a player, but I've come to terms with it very quickly and I must say, so far, I've enjoyed the coaching more than I did playing. The hardest thing is constantly analysing whether you should talk to a player about a flaw in his technique, for example, whether that's going to be good for his confidence. I want to create what I feel is the right cricketing environment for the players to be able to relax and play good, positive and confident cricket."The contrast between Edgbaston and Taunton is something Reeve is having to adapt to. "The pace of life here's a bit slower, people are a bit more laid back generally.

But it's difficult to compare the clubs at this stage, and I don't want to. You have to talk to the players about experiences but you don't want to harp on about 'this is what we used to do at Warwickshire.' "One of those players, Mushtaq Ahmed, will be expected to play a leading role as a wicket-taker, and Reeve will be only too happy to have the Pakistani on his side at last. He remembers being dismissed by Mushtaq in the 1992 World Cup final in Melbourne, as well as in the last World Cup."We had a team meeting and Ray Illingworth said, 'Can anybody pick him?' from his leg-break to his googly. I just put my hand up straight away because the previous year I'd read him in a county game. I didn't pick all his deliveries immediately, but after a few I managed to pick him for the rest of the innings.

The next day in the group match at Karachi I tried to drive his googly down to long-off, left a gate and it turned back and clean bowled me. The England boys found it highly amusing."For the forseeable future Reeve's views will be confined largely to Taunton, where he has already introduced financial incentives for players to achieve certain fitness levels and where - at the request of his captain, Peter Bowler - Reeve will be in charge of selecting the side. But he also has clear ideas about the direction the game in general should be going in this country."If you take Somerset as an example, down here it's a big, retirement area and most of our membership are elderly. I feel it's very important that cricket competes with other summer sports, to catch youngsters' imaginations. In Australia their imagination was captured by Kerry Packer with coloured clothing, night cricket, music at grounds, electronic scoreboards. Youngsters are attracted by music and colour."We want to get promising young athletes and sports people to think, 'Well I might fancy being a cricketer'.