Cricket: Stewart's record catches Glamorgan out
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Your support makes all the difference.Glamorgan 161; Surrey 165-5
Surrey win by five wickets
NATWEST TROPHY
SEMI-FINAL DRAW
Surrey v Worcestershire
Warwickshire v Kent
To be played Tuesday, 9 August
SCORING was never easy yesterday on a two-paced pitch at St Helens which was slow and holding, but Glamorgan paid the penalty for bowling too many bad balls at a crucial stage. Surrey were 42 for 2 after 22 overs with their openers gone and it was then imperative for Glamorgan to keep it as tight as possible.
Graham Thorpe was the key batsman for Surrey because his left-handedness, combined with delightful improvisations, managed to unsettle the bowlers. The 50 had come up in the 24th over, the 100 arrived in the 36th, and Surrey won this held-over NatWest Trophy quarter-final with 11.2 of their 60 overs to spare.
Steve Watkin and Roland Lefebvre bowled admirably at the start and then Steve Barwick showed excellent control with his medium-paced seamers. The score was 25 when Barwick frustrated Darren Bicknell and bowled him round his legs as he swept.
Alec Stewart did his best to curb his natural inclination to play strokes. Eventually, though, he too forgot himself and, in playing a firm-wristed push at Ottis Gibson, gave a low catch to mid-on.
Thorpe began with a slashing square drive off Gibson and placing and, deflecting the ball into the gaps, was quick to make the singles count. Soon after tea, David Ward hooked Adrian Dale to fine leg, where Gibson held the catch at the second attempt.
By then, Thorpe had played a delicate sweep which sent the ball fine for four in Robert Croft's first over. Now, with Alistair Brown also eager to attack, the batsmen were given too much opportunity to do so. These two put on 71 for the fourth wicket and, although they were out before the end, they effectively decided the match.
At the start, Cameron Cuffy and Joey Benjamin found plenty of movement and the only real surprise was that the first Glamorgan wicket did not go down until the 12th over. Cuffy took the first two to fall and then Stewart turned to Tony Murphy, who proceeded to bowl straight with some movement away from the bat. He took 6 for 26 in his 12 overs, four more than before in this competition.
Stewart held seven catches behind the wicket, a competition record, and two of them were very good diving efforts. Tony Cottey was the only Glamorgan batsman to hint at permanency, while Gibson played the best stroke, an off-drive for six against Murphy.
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