Twenty20: Foxes end Surrey streak

The Twenty20 Cup 2004

Semi-Finals:
* Lancashire v Surrey
* Leicestershire v Glamorgan

Final: Surrey v Leicestershire
August 7, 2004 at Edgbaston, Birmingham

Australian Brad Hodge guided Leicestershire, arguably the best team on the day, to an easy victory over Surrey in this year's Twenty20 Cup Final yesterday at Edgbaston, thus ending the defending champions' two-year unbeaten run in the competition.

Hodge hit an unbeaten 77 off 53 balls, and was ably supported by England discard Jeremy Snape, who pitched in with some late big hitting, to avoid any last minute hiccups that could have been caused by the potent Surrey bowling. The latter scored the winning runs, a boundary, to take him to 34 not out off just 16 balls.

Earlier, winning the toss and batting first, Surrey got off to a promising start as Alistair Brown batted with his characteristic aggression, and put on a 80-run stand for the second wicket with Scott Newman. Both concerned batsmen were given a let off each, as they made the best out of the opportunity that came their way.

Newman finally fell though, for 21, off an extravagant thrash, that found the fielder at long off. Brown was particularly destructive, as he clubbed nine fours and two sixes in his half century. He was eventually dismissed though, for a well made 64 off just 41 balls, caught by John Sadler in the deep off Protean left-arm spinner Claude Henderson, going for another big hit, but he set the platform for the final fling.

Mark Ramprakash, struggling with a foot injury which kept him from fielding during the first Semi-Final, managed to keep the tempo up with a run-a-ball 24 not out. Rikki Clarke and Azhar Mahmood provided some lusty blows as well, to take the defending champions to a challenging total.

Leicestershire's two in-form batsmen, Hodge and Darren Maddy, who earlier provided some fireworks in the Semi-Final against Glamorgan, continue their familiar dominance over the ball, to take their county to 62 without loss, possibly the best start they could've hoped for.

Even after Maddy's dismissal, Hodge continued to shine, showing signs of the invincible form he displayed in last year's competition, and which was missing this season. He added 55 with Darren Stevens for the second wicket, before falling to Adam Hollioake.

At the point, despite the loss of two wickets, Leicestershire were on top, and it needed Hollioake, the tournament's highest wicket-taker in two years of its existence, for Surrey, to bring the equation in their favor. Hollioake answered the call, following up Stevens's wicket with that of John Sadler.

Leicestershire required 35 off the last four overs, but a couple of boundaries off the forthcoming over from Snape took away any hopes of another close encounter. The off-spinner, who usually isn't known much for his batting, then provided the final telling blow, a six off Hollioake, in the penultimate over of the game.

Needing just four off the last over, it took only one ball for Snape to thrash another boundary, his third to accompany with two sixes, to take the Foxes to victory, and ruin a Lions dream of consecutive Twenty20 titles.

Surrey 168 for 6 in 20 overs
AD Brown 64(41), MF Cleary 38/2(4), CW Henderson 15/2(3)
Leicestershire 169 for 3 in 19.1 overs
BJ Hodge 77*(53), JN Snape 34*(16), AJ Hollioake 36/2(4)

Leicestershire beat Surrey by 7 wickets, to win the Twenty20 Cup 2004.

Posted by Sudeep