NCL Division 1, 13 July

For only the second time this season, the unthinkable happened (at least as far as southern newspapers are concerned) - Surrey lost a match, this time to Warwickshire.

Warwickshire v Surrey, Edgbaston

Adam Hollioake won the toss and elected to take first strike on the hottest day of the year so far in front of a shirt-sleeved crowd at Edgbaston. For once, Mark Butcher had an off-day, losing his wicket in the second over as Waqar Younis demonstrated his undoubted class as he has done so frequently in the past.

Ally Brown set off in his usual hectic fashion, crashing four boundaries off the first 13 balls he faced, but when his personal contribution had reached 20 out of 28, he became Waqar's second victim when Nick Knight took the catch.

Mark Ramprakash, a man seemingly recapturing his finest form this season, added a degree of stability to the Surrey upper order but at the other end Graham Thorpe soon added to the ever-growing bag of Waqar scalps when he only found the waiting gloves of the evergreen Trevor Penney to leave Surrey on 45-3 with three of their more prolific one-day scorers kicking their heels back in the pavilion.

Ian Ward joined the solid Ramprakash at the crease and the pair took the score on to 87 before first-change Neil Smith drew Ward forward out of his ground. Penney, batsman, medium-pacer, spinner and now wicket-keeper, showed that he is more than adequate behind the sticks by having the bails off in a trice.

Surrey skipper Adam Hollioake added some much-needed impetus to proceedings as the team continued to play around Ramprakash, especially after the introduction of Collins Obuya. Despite being struck to the boundary on more than one occasion, the Kenyan World Cup star ended Hollioake's assault just as it was getting going, clean-bowling the former England man when he had made a quick-fire 25.

The key to posting large totals in any form of cricket is partnerships, and on this occasion Surrey were pegged back too regularly for two players to become established at the crease for any significant period of time. When Dougie Brown rattled Ramprakash's timber for a hard-fought 57, Surrey were in serious trouble at 150-6.

Tails are relative, and with the Surrey lineup containing no less than ten players with first-class centuries to their name, that is one reason why they are so difficult to beat. One by one the lower-order batsmen came in, made a not insignificant contribution and then contrived to lose their wickets in search of quick runs at the end of the innings.

Obuya came in for some fearsome tap, especially from the reliable Salisbury who smashed three sixes in his 17-ball 33, but the Kenyan had the last laugh, picking up the wicket of his opposite number with the final ball of the innings as Surrey eventually managed to eke out a challenging 242-9.

The Warwickshire reply commenced in circumspect manner with Nick Knight almost becalmed early on. Martin Bicknell and Azhar Mahmood shared the new ball and Neil Carter, playing freely, used the pace to grab three early boundaries only to perish in the hands of Ally Brown off the bowling of Mahmood.

Knight was accompanied by Jonathan Trott and the pair proceeded to refresh the Surrey memories with respect to how to win games. Starting slowly then gradually accelerating, especially against the bowling of Hollioake and Ormond, the partnership began to bear fruit as both players gained full benefit of anything which penetrated the infield to race across the huge square.

The partnership had added 131 before Knight top-edged an attempted sweep off Salisbury straight to Graham Thorpe for a fine 74. The dismissal sparked a mini-collapse as first Trott (51) holed out to Azhar Mahmood and then the out of touch Jim Troughton was trapped in front by James Ormond for a second-ball duck to leave the home side decidedly uncomfortable on 152-4.

Once again, a partnership was key to the ultimate victory charge as Ian Bell blasted an unbeaten 59 in just 47 balls as he and Mike Powell steered the home side to their fourth successive victory in the competition with almost three overs to spare.

Warwickshire 244-4 (Knight 74, Bell 59*, Trott 51)
beat
Surrey 242-9 (Ramprakash 57, Waqar Younis 4-35, Obuya 3-65)
by 6 wickets


Glamorgan v Essex, Cardiff

A high-scoring affair with scintillating centuries on either side of the interval ended with the home team emerging victorious - a win which draws them to within just two points of long-term leaders Surrey at the head of the table.

Essex won the toss and elected to bat first but had an early setback, losing Andy Flower to the bowling of Michael Kasprowicz off just the second ball of the day. Skipper Ronnie Irani joined England's former one-day skipper Nasser Hussain at the wicket and the pair lost little time in putting the early loss behind them.

The pair added 148 for the second wicket with Hussain playing the lion's share of the big shots and Irani content to rotate the strike and put the bad balls away before one scampered single too many saw Irani back in the pavilion, run out for 63.

Aftab Habib launched an extraordinary assault smashing three sixes in the space of 25 balls before a missed heave saw him stumped by Mark Wallace off the bowling of Dean Cosker. By then, Hussain had passed his century and he cut loose at the end, eventually finishing undefeated on a career-best 144* with 17 boundaries and two sixes.

Glamorgan always fancy their chances when chasing as has been proved on more than one occasion this season, and in skipper Robert Croft they have an opening bat who comes off more often than not.

His partner, Jimmy Maher, was eager to make an impression on his return from Queensland and the pair started in hectic fashion, bringing up the hundred partnership as early as over 14.

Croft, for once, left the big hitting to his partner as he stroked the ball around, content to give the greater bulk of the strike to Maher who took advantage to full effect. When the pair had added 181 at better than even time Croft departed, beaten by the medium pace of Ravinder Bopara for a fine 64.

Maher progressed to his century off 93 balls, then launched a shot-a-ball assault on the Essex bowlers before he perished on a career equal-best 142 which included 18 fours and four maximums.

It was left to Powell and Matthew Maynard to see the home side safely home which they did with almost seven overs to spare.

Glamorgan 269-2 (Maher 142, Croft 64)
beat
Essex 267-6 (Hussain 144*, Irani 63, Cosker 2-43)
by 8 wickets



Leicestershire v Worcestershire, Oakham

The Oakham School ground hosted this clash - only the fourth time that Leicestershire had staged a fixture of any sort there since the commencement of World War II and only the second occasion of the helter-skelter affair that is one-day cricket.

Leicestershire won the toss and lost no time at all in setting themselves up for an enormous total on a splendid batting track. Trevor Ward and Virender Sehwag proceeded to give Worcestershire a batting lesson, caning the ball to all parts in a hectic opening stand of 129 before Ward was expelled from the crease having contributed 68 from just 44 balls.

Sehwag (76) and Brad Hodge (38) compiled a half-century partnership but in the face of some determined bowling by Batty and Leatherdale, it was left to Darren Maddy (58) to bat through with the lesser Leicestershire lights as the home side eventually closed on a season's best 295-7.

After Worcestershire had lost Vikram Solanki early in their reply, Stephen Peters and Anurag Singh added 86 for the second wicket before Sehwag demonstrated that he can be useful with the ball too, removing the dangerous Singh for 44 with the reply on 112.

Ben Smith stayed awhile as he and Peters added a further 66 for the third wicket, but when Peters followed him shortly afterwards for 82 to give Jeremy Snape the first of three victims, the writing was definitely on the wall.

Of the last seven batsmen, only Matthew Mason managed to make it into double figures as the pressure eventually told. Leicestershire continued to put the ball in the right place as wickets fell steadily with Brignull and Maddy doing the bulk of the damage, and when Maddy finally caught Steven Rhodes off his own bowling, the last eight wickets had gone down for just 41 runs.

Leicestershire 295-7 (Sehwag 76, Ward 68, Maddy 58, Batty 3-51)
beat
Worcestershire 219 (Peters 82, Snape 3-35, Brignull 3-40)
by 76 runs



Posted by Eddie