Lancashire exit Twenty20 party with just a whimper

Aug 6 2007 by Our Correspondent, Liverpool Daily Post

LOSING in the first semi-final of the Twenty20 Cup is a bit like getting thrown out of a party when you’ve only taken your coat off five minutes ago and are just beginning to savour the atmosphere.

Lancashire, though, could have absolutely no complaints on Saturday when Chris Taylor struck the boundary which completed Gloucestershire’s eight-wicket demolition of Mark Chilton’s side.

The Lancashire batsmen posted 148 for 6 which was never enough on a true, albeit slightly slow, Edgbaston wicket and the bowlers then failed to defend it.

But even before the Lancashire players had stepped on the Birmingham turf, their day had begun badly. Mal Loye, one of the most destructive batsmen in the shortest form of the game, had been ruled out with a back injury and had been replaced by Chilton who had originally intended to drop himself in favour of Steven Croft.

A re-jigged batting order, which had Andrew Flintoff opening with Stuart Law, managed to sustain a run rate of seven an over but, crucially, never kept the wickets in hand which would have allowed the later batsmen to accelerate towards 160 or so.

Three batsmen departed in the first seven overs, six of which, in Twenty20, are governed by severe fielding restrictions. Law slashed Jon Lewis to slip and an out-of-sorts Flintoff was run out by Craig Spearman having been sent back by Brad Hodge. By then, the Australian had already taken three fours off a Carl Greenidge over but his attempt to make a major contribution was ended when he was well caught by Hamish Marshall for 32 off just 18 balls. Steven Croft and Gareth Cross, two of Lancashire’s younger brigade, mounted a recovery until Cross was run out by Ben Edmondson’s direct hit and when Chilton skied Mark Hardinges to Marshall at mid-wicket for 10, the total had reached just 95 off 13.5 overs.

Croft’s impressive innings of 33 off 29 balls was ended by Carl Greenidge and it needed some typically resourceful hitting by Glen Chapple and Dominic Cork to see Lancashire to the first of the day’s three targets in the 140 region, all of which were overhauled.

Gloucestershire’s pursuit was a procession from the moment James Anderson’s second over went for 23 runs. Andrew Flintoff’s capture of Marshall’s wicket was accompanied by a bullish roar and arms raised in familiarly triumphal fashion – it was his first wicket since May and announced he was back with a bang – but it was to be Lancashire’s last significant success of an innings in which the bowlers provided the slot balls and the batsmen hit the jackpot.

Craig Spearman, who hit five sixes in his majestic 57-ball 86, and Kadeer Ali added 102 in the 11.5 overs which effectively decided the match. Lancashire’s attack contained four Test cricketers with 1,082 wickets between them whereas Jon Lewis, the only Gloucestershire bowler to have played at the same level, has taken just three. Despite Muttiah Muralitharan’s one for 21, there was no doubt which looked the more impressive unit on Saturday.

Dominic Cork, for example, is often hailed as a bowler who makes things happen. This was certainly true on Saturday. He made the game finish earlier than it otherwise would have done. The feisty all-rounder was struck for three mighty sixes by Spearman whose dismissal a few balls later was greeted with sheepish lack of celebration by Chilton’s team. Gloucestershire won with 19 balls to spare.

Lancashire have now lost 10 semi-finals or finals since 1998.