Cricket: Udal celebrates in style
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Hampshire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .603-7 dec
Hampshire win by innings and 68 runs
SHAUN UDAL was hardly suffering from a shortage of reasons to be cheerful here, the off-spinner's third return of 10 wickets in a match adding spice to a welcome invitation to join England's Texaco Trophy party. Nor did the celebrating end there yesterday, Hampshire blowing Surrey away to continue a late run of success in the Championship.
Udal left to pack his bags for the first of the one-day internationals against South Africa at Edgbaston on Thursday with figures of 10 for 163 from what one would hesitate to call a contest. While Hampshire recorded their fourth victory in five matches, Surrey were sent packing soon after midday, having surely kissed goodbye to the title.
Bearing no resemblance to the spirited team leading the race just over a month ago, Surrey were an embarrassment to themselves during the first two days here as it became obvious that a third successive defeat beckoned. Bowled out cheaply first time around, Surrey's collective body language suggested nothing else as Hampshire amassed their biggest total at this ground in 109 years.
With Alec Stewart one of three on Test duty, the performance said nothing for Martin Bicknell's leadership in the absence of his captain. And while a century from Mark Butcher on Saturday delayed the inevitable, only David Ward's constant geeing up in the field provided a reminder of true competitiveness as Hampshire went on accumulating.
Yesterday, hope long since vanished, Surrey needed another 130 from their last five wickets to make Hampshire bat again. Udal, 5 for 26 in the first innings, swiftly ensured there was no such necessity when called upon to open the bowling.
Though Monte Lynch, in his first Championship match for Surrey this summer, survived a bat-pad appeal to complete a half-century, he became Udal's second victim of the morning once his sixth- wicket partner, Andy Smith, had fallen to the spinner. Graham Kersey and finally Martin Bicknell joined the list, Udal making short work of the mopping up with 4 for 22 from 10.1 overs.
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