Alas for Durham, Morris could not hold a straightforward catch and Johnson grew in assurance so much that he made 49 off the next 32 balls which did much to turn the match.Johnson is renowned as a destroyer of slow bowling so it was bold of Durham to use James Boiling, their off spinner, near the end, particularly with one short boundary. This was on the off side for him, but Johnson still managed to get inside him to lift him for six over extra cover when 47 were required from seven overs.That blow, along with several others from Chris Cairns, who made 46 from 33 balls, left Durham’s attack with no real margin for error on this pitch. Cairns has plainly inherited his father’s ability to hit the ball vast distances and once, when Manoj Prabhakar surprised him with a full toss as he came down the pitch, he not only middled it but hit it out of the ground.For Durham Wayne Larkins, Prabhakar and Morris all made half-centuries but none of them stayed in to supervise the assault in the closing overs.Prabhakar showed that he will give a welcome ballast and balance to Durham’s often quirkish stroke players; but he too can improvise with the best of them as he showed by lifting Cairns for six with a controlled slash over the square third man boundary.Larkins had played one of his more sober innings until he was leg before playing half forward while Morris’s 50 from 34 balls seemed just what his side needed until he went down the pitch and missed in an attempt to assault Cairns, whose four-wicket haul allied to his later pyrotechnics made him the obvious man of the match.. Whereas they had contrived to lose their last seven wickets for six runs in 13 deliveries, Nottinghamshire were mostly able to bat with a sedateness more in keeping with a four-day game until, with wickets in hand, they threw the bat effectively to reach their target.An opening partnership of 103 at four an over by Tim Robinson and Paul Pollard saw to it that, initially, Nottinghamshire were never under pressure, though the scenario might have changed dramatically later had Paul Johnson been caught on the midwicket boundary by John Morris off Simon Brown.At that point Nottinghamshire still needed 91 from 11 overs. MIKE CAREY

reports from Stockton
Durham 268Nottinghamshire 261-5Notts win by 5 wicketsAs Durham lurched to defeat here with seven balls remaining yesterday, they may well have remembered the tale of the hare and the tortoise.

The pair of them put on 60 before Brown became the fourth victim of a generally accurate Sussex attack. When Stephenson had him leg before to the fifth ball after lunch Brown’s tally of boundaries was modest by his own big-hitting standards – two sixes and half a dozen fours.Unfortunately the remainder of the Surrey batting lacked the urgency displayed particularly by Ward as the innings drew to an inadequate close.. His career-best 187 against Gloucestershire at the weekend served notice of his intent to be regarded as a serious batsman, yesterday’s innings underlined that.It formed the focus of the Surrey innings, which was further boosted by the contribution from David Ward. He still produces some colourful strokes, but now more attention is paid to detail, the broad, brash brushwork of his previous couple of seasons is used sparingly, but tellingly. Bill Athey, now 37 and fresh from a pair in Sussex’s dismal defeat against Derbyshire, stroked his way to a Benson and Hedges best of 97 ( he has yet to reach three figures in the Cup in 74 matches) and virtually ensured that Surrey would not progress to the knock-out stages.After Athey departed, having hit two glorious sixes and eight fours to lift the gold award, Neil Lenham steered Sussex home with 17 balls to spare, having made an assured, unbeaten 73.Earlier Surrey’s Alistair Brown had been a study in concentration – once he had got over giving a couple of chances at 15 and 22, both off Ian Salisbury’s bowling. Neil Kendrick and James Boiling left The Oval in the winter but Nowell, 19, is a slow left-arm bowler who really looks the business.But it was a man of nearly two score years, 20 of them in the competition, who showed the Surrey youngsters the way.

However, Surrey’s bowling shortage has uncovered one promising talent in teenager Richard Nowell. And they must be concerned after the eight-wicket thumping they received at the hands of Sussex.While no single Surrey bowler could match Jason Lewry’s blank return for 71 runs, similarly nor did they they have a pair to Ed Giddins and Franklyn Stephenson, whose economy was punctuated with wickets at crucial times to confine Surrey to a disappointing total on a benign pitch. Martin Bicknell is crocked, Mark Butcher can bat but not bowl and, of course, there is no Waqar Younis.Surrey admitted they would still like to have him back when he becomes available again in 1997 – assuming he tours over here with Pakistan next summer – but the confusion over Waqar’s state of health (is his back bad or not?) prompted them to sign Rackemann and, subject to a Home Office work permit, the burden of strike bowler will fall on his 34-year-old shoulders later this month.Rackemann cannot come soon enough as far as Surrey are concerned. DAVID LLEWELLYN

reports from The Oval
Surrey 239-7Sussex 240-2Sussex win by 8 wicketsThe quicker Carl Rackemann turns up at The Oval the better Surrey’s attack is looking pretty sorry already.

Racing along at six an over they had brought the target down to a manageable 128 with 20 overs left.By then, however, Ostler had just gone, somehow picking out Watkinson in the otherwise deserted off-side field of the off spinner Gary Yates. Although Warwickshire still had wickets in hand, it proved an important breakthrough, for neither Roger Twose nor Trevor Penney could offer Moles support.When Yates then took a superb return catch to remove Moles, the contest was fast slipping away from the home side and in the end the margin was comfortable for Lancashire, with just under four overs to spare.Scoreboard,West Indies’ task, page 38. It was to his cost, too, that Burns put down Fairbrother.To win Warwickshire would have needed to surpass the 291 for 5 they made in defeating Lancashire at Old Trafford in 1981 which, until Lancashire’s unlikely victory over Leicestershire last week, had been the highest winning total in the competition for a side batting second.They suffered a setback when Nick Knight perished in the seventh over but an attractive partnership of 158 for the second wicket between Andy Moles and the impressive Dominic Ostler gave them a chance. Welch bore the brunt of Fairbrother’s ferocious advance to 50 in 29 balls and took from the match the unwanted distinction of being the first bowler in the competition’s 24 years to concede more than 100 runs.On a pitch which offered little obvious encouragement there were few anxieties for Lancashire’s batsmen, but if any of Warwickshire’s quintet could count himself unlucky it was Gladstone Small, who not only gave away a mere 25 runs in his 11 overs but caused Gallian several difficult moments in the first hour. The pugnacious left-hander, an established master in this kind of cricket, entered Lancashire’s innings at a critical point after both Atherton and John Crawley had been out in the space of two overs.He was dropped second ball without scoring, a routine chance at the wicket for Michael Burns, standing in for the injured Keith Piper. But thereafter he confronted the demands of the situation so effectively that Lancashire’s total grew by 91 runs in less than 10 overs after Crawley’s dismissal and Fairbrother was two-thirds responsible.Burns would have been especially unpopular with Graeme Welch, the rookie in a seam attack still missing Tim Munton. He found an admirable ally in Jason Gallian, who enhanced his own growing reputation with an unbeaten 116, but there was at least equal merit in Neil Fairbrother’s undefeated 60.

Lancashire maintained a 100 per cent record after three group games in the Benson and Hedges Cup and left the holders, after one win in three, with only an outside chance of surviving to the knock-out stage.After Mike Watkinson had chosen to bat first, Atherton contributed 114 runs of the highest calibre off 142 balls to a partnership of 210 in 43 overs for Lancashire’s first wicket. I think I am good enough to be a legend; good enough to be great.”. CRICKET

JON CULLEY
reports from EdgbastonLancashire 305-2Warwickshire 265Lancashire win by 40 runsWhatever doubts Michael Atherton may privately harbour about his future as Ray Illingworth’s first officer, there are none surrounding his current form.With the outfield lightning fast on the warmest day of the new season at Edgbaston yesterday, the England captain confirmed his well-being in pure cricketing terms with his second century in five days and his highest score in one-day cricket. The third round I will go out to physically win him over.”I think I have definitely got a gift and been blessed.