Report

Anthony McGrath and Gavin Hamilton dashed Somerset's hopes of taking over as National League leaders by inspiring a 32-run Yorkshire victory at Taunton. The pair shared an unbroken fourth-wicket stand of 124 after acting-captain Darren Lehmann had won the toss and opted to take first use of an excellent batting pitch.

At 125-3 after 27 overs, with danger-man Lehmann dismissed for 38, Yorkshire might have settled for a final score of around 220.

That would have been par for the course. But McGrath and Hamilton built their partnership steadily before unleashing a savage final onslaught that brought 54 runs from the last five overs.

The Yorkshire total was suddenly 249-3 and Somerset faced a victory target that was beyond even their long batting line-up. They managed only 217 all out off 43.3 overs in reply.

Lancashire began the final day of this match needing 399 to win, but more conceivably knowing that they had survived one hundred and forty overs to achieve a draw against Somerset recently. The pitch was good, the sun was out and the loss of nearly a day to rain had ensured that the wicket had not dried out as much as it might at this point in the game. Lancashire were also able to call on a batting line-up which with Fairbrother and Flintoff on form and Crawley having scored centuries in two of the last three matches, they also have the services of a Ganguly top Indian batsman who set last year's world cup alight and the Australian Joe Scuderi and the rugged Warren Hegg who scored ninety five in this fixture last summer.

Unfortunately that was the end of the good news for the visitors, they were up against a bowling attack that averages under seventy five overs to get a side out this summer and against which they had capitulated, chiefly to the pace of Alex Tudor, for just 120 yesterday. Tudor made the early breakthroughs disposing of makeshift opener Chapple early and then last week's centurion Flintoff with the power of his pace alone (although he was ably assisted by the almost black hole like catching of Ben Hollioake on both occasions) while Bicknell remained unlucky, but almost impossible to score from at the other end. Cricket may not have a ladies day, but the last day at Kennington remains firmly enshrined as spinners day, and Saqlain came into the game early on. Lancashire in the usually spin resistant persons of Fairbrother and Ganguly resisted well initially after the loss of Crawley to yet another catch to Adam Hollioake at his customary loopy mid off position. They stayed together until shortly before lunch when Salisbury's box of tricks supplied a ball to slice through Ganguly's defences bowling one of the worlds best players of spin to leave Lancashire four down at the lunch interval.

Lloyd departed to yet another Hollioake catch (Adam this time) to give Saqlain yet another victim before Scuderi emerged to begin a prolonged pause in the home teams progress. Each played well, as they had in the first innings, but each fell making the fatal mistake of believing that Salisbury is still the same fragile bowler he was when he first came to the Oval and tried to get at him. A few loose balls were dispatched to the boundary by each of them through the huge gaps in the attacking field, but Fairbrother swept hard to send up trivially simple looped catch - this time, novelly, to Ali Brown before Heggs momentary visit to the crease gave Sali his second victim of the over to put him ahead of Saqlain head count for the first time in the innings. Chris Schofield was winkled out by Saqi a few overs later to leave Scuderi with the support of just the two non-batsmen Keedy and Smethurst. The Australian managed a couple of clubbed fours as a swan song before he too surrendered to the inexorable march of the spinners and supplied a catch at the wicket to Batty. This left little to the contest apart from the question of who would take the final wicket, Smethurst who kept Lancs in the game initially with his excellent first innings bowling, cracked first and sent a high looping edge to the capable waiting hands of Martin Bicknell at mid off, Bickers raised his hands theatrically in triumph, Salisbury had netted another five bag to take Surrey's total to 13 fivefers in the season to date.

Lancashire will return to Old Trafford for three of their remaining four games in the hope that they will be ready to turn the tables on the champions who so comprehensively massacred them here, on a pitch their coach described as an excellent track, in the last game of the season. Whatever happened here they are still a good side (as they proved in the natwest trophy), but they will be eagerly looking forward to getting Martin back fit, and they and Yorkshire will do all they can to take the championship down to the wire.

The figures speak for themselves. Curtly Ambrose: 27 overs 7 maidens 70 runs 4 wickets. Courtney Walsh: 27 overs 14 maidens 50 runs 4 wickets. Again, the "Old Boys" were magnificent. Again, the West Indies owe a tremendous debt to these absolutely unsinkable battleships, perhaps aging, but definitely still as dangerous, especially when given just a whiff of an advantage. With Ambrose's dismissal of English batting hero Alex Stewart with the 2nd ball of the 3rd day, for his overnight 105, that whiff was immediately present. When Walsh bowled Marcus Trescothick off of his pads, things smelled even better for the West Indies. Even without any real help from the back-up bowlers, Ambrose and Walsh saw their team through a good 3rd day.

This was enhanced even more when the West Indies openers, Sherwin Campbell and Adrian Griffith, with some panache, attitude and aptitude too, managed to defy the English fast bowling, and off spinner Robert Croft, for 96 runs, the best opening partnership so far this tour. Had Campbell not received the proverbial "unplayable" delivery, from the surprisingly quick Craig White, which Campbell actually did play, somewhat unintentionally with his bat handle, to backward point for Dominic Cork to take a brilliant running cum diving catch, the West Indies might have even closed without losing a wicket. To close at 131-1, and Adrian Griffith batting all of 3 hours 20 minutes for 41 not out, showed that the West Indies can muscle up some resolve. Only in deficit to the England lead of 146 by 15, the West Indies could look back on Day 3 as the turning point of Test 3.

While England did make 303, thanks to Stewart's 105, Marcus Trescothick's 66 and a wonderful rear-guard effort by the late order English batsmen, after the team had slumped to 210-6 from the overnight 196-3, England should have been disappointed at the final score. 400 seemed more possible.

Duncan Fletcher, England's Coach, explained Day 3: