Charles Randall: Surrey hope to cash in on euphoria of England win (10 Jun 1997)

Tuesday 10 June 1997

Surrey hope to cash in on euphoria of England win

By Charles Randall

SURREY will be hoping to glide on the residual elation from England`s Test victory and sweep aside Leicestershire in their semi-final of the Benson and Hedges Cup at the Oval today.

Surrey have not reached a Lord`s final in either of the two major one-day competitions for six years and have not won a trophy there for 15 years. Their only previous Benson and Hedges Cup success arrived back in 1974.

It would be surprising if Surrey`s three Test players from Edgbaston, plus Adam Hollioake, a squad member, do not bring back a glow of inspiration with them.

The fact that victory against Australia was achieved in four days allowed a full day of relaxation and practice yesterday, which would not otherwise have been available.

Dave Gilbert, Surrey`s Australian coach, has openly criticised a system that expects a player to jump straight from a five-day Test into an important semi-final. This time he will have been mollified.

A crowd of 6-10,000 is expected - the club gave up attempting accurate predictions years ago - and Saqlain Mushtaq, the imported Pakistan off-spinner, has been brought into the squad.

Leicestershire have not beaten Surrey in three previous cup meetings, but they have enough quality to run them close. Gregor Macmillan is expected to replace Ben Smith, who sustained a hand injury in the championship match at Lord`s last week and could be out for a fortnight.

Northamptonshire, last year`s beaten finalists, will be attempting to upset Kent at Canterbury without David Capel, their inspirational all-rounder, who has withdrawn with a knuckle injury. Mohammad Akram, the Pakistan fast bowler, has been having treatment for a boil on his neck.

The loss of Capel, who almost single-handedly subdued Yorkshire with five wickets and an innings of 67 in the previous round, must reduce the chance of repeating their quarter-final win at Northampton last summer.

Kent have won 10 of their 11 one-day games this season, and they have Martin McCague and Dean Headley back from injury to lead the attack. Paul Strang will play despite having a broken finger and they are also hoping that Graham Cowdrey will have recovered sufficiently from a hamstring injury to play.

With Mark Ealham back from England duty they remain overwhelming favourites to please a large crowd at the St Lawrence Ground.

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