Benson And Hedges Cup: Draw makes Yorkshire favourites (12 May 1998)

12 May 1998

Benson And Hedges Cup: Draw makes Yorkshire favourites

Electronic Telegraph

DAVID BYAS, the Yorkshire captain, yesterday warned his side against complacency after they were installed as the new 3-1 favourites for the Benson and Hedges Cup by bookmakers William Hill.

Yorkshire have not won a trophy since 1987, but they have been drawn at home to Durham on May 27 - a side they routed by eight wickets in their final group match at Headingley on Saturday.

"I have to be delighted with it because on paper they're the least dangerous of the sides left in the competition," said Byas. "But there will be no complacency on our part. They've knocked over some good teams to get this far, so we'll have to be at our best."

The match of the day, however, has to be Surrey's home game with Lancashire, which Surrey chief executive Paul Sheldon predicts will be "like another one-day international" in quality and intensity.

"There could be as many as 20 international players on show that day, so it's definitely the tie of the round," said Sheldon.

In the other games, Kent, Surrey's victims in last summer's Benson and Hedges Cup final, travel to Leicestershire while Middlesex and Essex meet at Lord's in a repeat of a zonal match which Mark Ramprakash's side won by four wickets.

BENSON AND HEDGES CUP.- Qtr-final draw: Surrey v Lancs, Leics v Kent, Yorks v Durham, Middlesex v Essex. To be played May 27.

Source :: Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk)