COLWYN BAY (Glamorgan won toss): Glamorgan Dragons (4pts) beat Lancashire Lightning by five wickets
MANY the climax of an old Sunday League season featured a helicopter hovering between rival venues waiting to rush the trophy to its eventual destination. Not so in 2004. Glamorgan have been so far superior to their rivals in the totesport League that it remained only to determine whether they would be crowned champions at Cardiff or Colwyn Bay.
That question was answered on the North Wales coast yesterday as emphatically as Glamorgan have dealt with almost everything else in the 45-overs competition during the summer. Victory over Lancashire, their only rivals still standing, meant they secured the title for the third time in their history, with three games to spare.
Not even the loss of Matthew Elliott, their leading run scorer, and Andrew Davies,their leading wicket-taker, proved enough of a handicap for Lancashire to be able to capitalise. On this ground, with its short boundaries, Lancashire’s 218 for seven always looked at least 30 runs short.
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Robert Croft did not so much chip away at the target as hack out chunks like a wild-eyed forester, striking 11 fours in a 35-ball half-century before settling down once the fielding restrictions were lifted to complete his hundred from 103 balls with 16 fours. His eventual 106 beat Geoffrey Boycott’s record for the highest individual one-day score at the ground.
His excellence as a pinch-hitter — this was his fifth score beyond 50 of the season — is a significant reason behind Glamorgan’s success. The fact that Alex Wharf has batted at No 3 in the same swashbuckling manner underlines the fearlessness within the squad. Having won the title as recently as 2002, they can claim to be the best white-ball team in the country.
The crowd, some sat on the grass banking that forms half of the ground’s circumference, maintained a commendable level of decorum given the game’s significance. Croft’s first contribution was to win the toss. The ground had taken a terrific soaking over the previous days and the pitch began a little damp. Mick Lewis, a seam bowler from Victoria, made an impressive start on his first appearance while David Harrison removed Dominic Cork and Mark Chilton within three balls to reduce Lancashire to 38 for three.
Dinesh Mongia and Chris Schofield patched up the innings with a stand of 96 in 19 overs for the fifth wicket but David Hemp dived to his left at mid-wicket to account for the India batsman when Croft brought himself back into the attack, and Schofield top-edged to deep square leg, leaving Glen Chapple to add some late impetus.
Croft picked up that tempo and only Peter Martin established a semblance of control Martin found a thin edge to dismiss Ian Thomas and the loss of Wharf and Michael Powell in successive overs momentarily threatened Glamorgan’s authority. After reaching 102 from 15 overs, though, overs were not an issue.
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Fittingly, Matthew Maynard, another veteran of the first title-winning side in 1993, joined Croft in the decisive partnership. Maynard scored 63 of the 121 added for the fourth wicket and the introduction of Schofield looked like the last throw of the dice by Carl Hooper. When Sajid Mahmood shaved Croft’s stumps Glamorgan were only 11 runs short.
LANCASHIRE
M J Chilton c Powell b Harrison 17
I J Sutcliffe c Hemp b Lewis 10
D G Cork c S D Thomas b Harrison 7
D Mongia c Hemp b Croft 58
*C L Hooper c Dale b S D Thomas 5
C P Schofield c Lewis b Croft 48
G Chapple not out 32
K W Hogg c Croft b Lewis 15
J J Haynes not out 4
Extras (b 8, lb 3, w 11) 22
Total (7 wkts, 45 overs) 218
S I Mahmood and P J Martin did not bat.
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-25, 2-38, 3-38, 4-62, 5-158, 6-173, 7-193.
BOWLING: Lewis 9-2-38-2; Harrison 8-1-34-2; Wharf 9-2-42-0; S D Thomas 3-0-15-1; Croft 9-0-42-2; Dale 7-0-36-0.
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GLAMORGAN
*R D B Croft b Mahmood 106
I J Thomas c Haynes b Martin 0
A G Wharf c Chilton b Martin 26
M J Powell b Cork 0
M P Maynard c Chapple b Hogg 63
D L Hemp not out 6
A Dale not out 4
Extras (lb 8, w 4, nb 2) 14
Total (5 wkts, 40.2 overs) 219
M A Wallace, S D Thomas, M L Lewis and D S Harrison did not bat.
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-9, 2-74, 3-79, 4-200, 5-209.
BOWLING: Martin 9-1-43-2; Chapple 5-0-33-0; Cork 7-0-42-1; Mahmood 8.2-1-42-1; Hooper 3-0-10-0; Schofield 2-0-18-0; Hogg 6-0-23-1.
Umpires: V A Holder and N A Mallender.