da brdice： Lancashire, the specialists of one-day cricket, had their sight fixed firmlyon a Lord’s final as they moved so comfortably towards it with an emphaticeight-wicket victory over Surrey, with fourteen overs to spare, in aquarter-final of the NatWest
Andy Jalil26-Jul-2000
Andrew Flintoff – superb exhibition of stroke-play
Photo © CricInfo
Lancashire, the specialists of one-day cricket, had their sight fixed firmlyon a Lord’s final as they moved so comfortably towards it with an emphaticeight-wicket victory over Surrey, with fourteen overs to spare, in aquarter-final of the NatWest Trophy.Going by the performance of these two sides in the other competitions – theyare the top two teams in the county championship and while Lancashire are atthe bottom of Division One in the National League and Surrey on top ofDivision Two – this fixture was expected to provide an exciting tussle and aclose finish.As it turned out, Surrey were totally outplayed on a day when Lancashire’sburly all-rounder Andrew Flintoff produced an awesome batting display. Itwas a superb performance, not one of wild slogging but, indeed, ofhard-hitting, entertaining stroke-play. Surrey’s bowling was depleted in theabsence of the in-form Martin Bicknell, who suffered a back injury bowlingin the nets yesterday. But with Flintoff in such form, a full attack ofSurrey would have made little difference.Dominating partnership – almost 200!Having been set a fair target of 211 for victory, Lancashire lost a quickwicket, that of Michael Atherton, to the third ball of the innings, withouta run on the board. But that was to be Surrey’s only success – and one thatraised their hopes – until towards the end of the innings when SouravGanguly lashed out at a ball from Alex Tudor to be caught at slip havingreached a relatively patient half-century from 85 balls.The magnificent partnership between Flintoff and Ganguly, which ended justten short of a double century, took the game rapidly away from Surrey asFlintoff, in particular, dominated the bowling during his 110-ball innings of 135 not out.Astonishingly, a hundred of those runs came from boundaries and that shouldbe an accurate indication of the power in his shots. With a battingexhibition such as that, and Flintoff in such belligerent mood, Ganguly,himself such a brilliant batsman, was happy to play the supporting role.Flintoff reached his half-century with two sixes in one over from JasonRatcliffe and increased the tempo of his batting as he progressed towardshis century. On 67, however, he was lucky not to have been given out legbefore wicket in Ian Salisbury’s first over and a run later he was droppedin the slips off the same bowler. But, following the pattern of batting inlimited-over’s cricket he went on, undeterred, to see his side home.Surrey’s confident start checked by spinnersSurrey had, earlier, justified their decision to bat first with an openingstand of 80 and then lost wickets to the turning ball as the combination ofoff-spinner Gary Yates and leg-spinner Chris Schofield rocked them back ontheir heels.Alec Stewart had set the scoring pace early for Surrey with his confidentstroke-play and was well supported by Ian Ward. But having got off to a finestart, Stewart, just one short of his half-century, attempted to square-cutleft-arm spinner, Gary Keedy but chopped the ball on to his stumps.The next two wickets went in quick succession with Yates drawing Ward out ofhis crease to be smartly stumped and then he had Alistair Brown caught froma reverse sweep. Surrey were 109 for 3.Schofield takes important wicketsThirty runs later, the Hollioake brothers fell in the same over. Schofieldfirst bowled Adam as he tried to sweep him and four balls later Ben wentdown the wicket, missed the ball and wicket-keeper Warren Hegg did therest.Graham Thorpe meanwhile picked up the runs steadily and when he was finallycaught at deep mid-wicket off a full toss from Schofield, for 55 from 67balls, Surrey were 182 for seven.With the help of Ian Salisbury, 21 not out, Surrey eventually reached 210without further loss, from 50 overs of which Schofield bowled ten andclaimed four important wickets for 41.