SURREY
SQUEEZE HOME IN THE DARK WITH ONE BALL TO SPARE by Marcus Hook
Surrey Lions 285-8 (38.5 Overs) v Lancashire Lightning 290-6 (40
Overs). Surrey Lions win by 2 wickets (D/L method).
In fading light, Surrey squeezed home with two
wickets and one ball to spare in their Clydesdale Bank 40 League
Group A curtain-raiser, against Lancashire at Whitgift School. When
Rory Hamilton-Brown and Steven Davies were in full flow it looked as
though the Lions would romp home with ease. Their first wicket stand
of 133 in 15 overs got the hosts off to a blistering start in
response to the Lightning's highest one-day total against Surrey.
But the Lions faltered after the departure of Usman Afzaal in the
27th over. They were eventually seen home by Stewart Walters and Rao
Iftikhar Anjum, who squirted the penultimate delivery to the rope at
third man. Earlier, the visitors were indebted to an innings of 118
off 96 balls from Stephen Moore, who marked his one-day debut for
Lancashire with a new List A career best.
With Davies taking three boundaries in an over off
Kyle Hogg, Surrey were already 30 without loss three overs into
their pursuit of Lancashire's 290-6. Hamilton-Brown brought the
fifty up with a straight six off Daren Powell in the 7th, which he
followed up with a checked drive straight down the ground for four.
Davies took the Lions' total to 99 by depositing
Tom Smith into the Brighton Road. In the next over Hamilton-Brown
and Davies recorded a new record opening stand for Surrey against
Lancashire in limited-overs cricket, beating Darren Bicknell and
Alistair Brown's 100-run alliance at the Oval in 1993.
In the same over, the 12th, Hamilton-Brown posted
his first half century in one-day cricket, which came from just 35
balls, and Davies reached his own fifty off 37 deliveries. Steven
Croft's solitary over included two straight sixes, the second of
which, struck by Hamilton-Brown, landed in Nottingham Road.
Davies eventually dragged Smith on to his stumps
to finish with 59. Three overs later, Afzaal cover drove Powell for
a maximum, to bring up the 150, before Hamilton-Brown pulled another
six, this time over the head of the man at long leg.
The Surrey skipper went in the 22nd over, caught
at straight mid-wicket attempting to pull Stephen Parry from outside
his off stump for a 64-ball 92. Parry shelled a routine caught and
bowled chance off Afzaal, who celebrated his reprieve by clubbing
the very next delivery over extra cover for six to bring up the 200.
When Afzaal was defeated by Sajid Mahmood's slower
ball, the Lions were left needing 82 runs off 13 overs for victory.
A brief shower saw the target reduced to 283 to win off 39 overs
under Duckworth-Lewis. But until the ball found the middle of
Walters's bat in the 36th over, it looked as though the Lightning
had managed, by some twist, to turn things around.
Earlier, after losing the toss and being invited
to bat, Lancashire lost Paul Horton in the second over, caught at
backward point off Andre Nel. Smith and Moore both hit sixes over
mid-wicket - Smith off Iftikhar in the fifth over and Moore off Nel
in the eighth.
In the tenth over Smith fell to a swirling catch
at long-off off the bowling of Jade Dernbach, after which the
visitors went five overs without hitting a boundary
Moore brought his fifty up in the 17th over off
just 44 deliveries. With the 29-year-old sweeping Matthew Spriegel
for a maximum in the 20th over, Lancashire were 132-2 at the halfway
stage in their innings.
Two overs later Moore, on 67, offered Davies a
difficult chance behind the stumps off the bowling of Stuart Meaker.
Aswell Prince was just starting to flay the Lions' attack to all
parts when he was caught at long-off off Hamilton-Brown's third
ball.
Moore posted an 85-ball hundred in 33rd over
before being caught on straight boundary off Iftikhar four overs
later. 245-4 became 254-5 when Croft, who had hit Spriegel for a low
and straight for six in the 29th over, played on to Nel.
But thanks to skipper Mark Chilton hitting three
sixes, off Meaker, in the penultimate over of the visitors' innings
and another maximum off Dernbach in the 40th, Lancashire recorded
their highest total against Surrey in one-day cricket; beating the
279-6 they made at Old Trafford in 1990.
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