Lancashire: Atherton facing marathon semi trek (29 Jul 1998)
Marathon man Mike Atherton faces a severe test of even his stamina in the NatWest Trophy semi-finals
29-Jul-1998
29 July 1998
Atherton facing marathon semi trek
The Lancashire Evening Telegraph
Marathon man Mike Atherton faces a severe test of even his stamina in
the NatWest Trophy semi-finals.
Lancashire were today drawn to play Hampshire at Southampton on August
11 - the day after the end of the Fifth Test at Headingley.
It means that if the Test goes the distance, Atherton and Andy
Flintoff, assuming he retains his place, will have to dash almost the
length of the country for another big game.
Lancashire may even consider chartering a plane to prevent them making
a marathon drive.
Hampshire, surprise winners against Middlesex at Lord's yesterday,
have no such problems, with no players in the England set-up.
But it is still a good draw for Lancashire, who have avoided
Leicestershire, impressive conquerors of Warwickshire and keen to make
amends for their Benson and Hedges Cup final humiliation by Essex at
Lord's. They have an East Midlands derby against Derbyshire at Grace
Road in the other semi-final.
Atherton showed terrific resolve yesterday by picking up where he left
off in the Trent Bridge Test.
He set Lancashire well on the way to a target of 250 in 58 overs,
their allocation having been reduced because of a slow over rate, with
a determined 76 from 130 balls.
After batting for more than nine hours at Trent Bridge, he added
another 156 minutes of concentration yesterday, his 12th day of
cricket in the last 15, before edging a catch to Notts wicket keeper
Chris Read.
Afterwards he praised Lancashire for agreeing to England's request to
leave him out of the Championship game against Leicestershire which
starts at Old Trafford tomorrow. "It meant I could give everything in
the NatWest game and also the Sunday League match against Leicester,
knowing that I could take a break in between," he said.
His dismissal left Lancashire 193-4 in the 46th over, with a few
nerves jangling in the absence of the injured Neil Fairbrother.
But Graham Lloyd and Wasim Akram kept their cool and took Lancashire
home with 13 balls to spare in a sensible unbroken fifth wicket stand
of 62. Earlier Jason Gallian had marked his emotional return to Old
Trafford with 83, the top score of the match.
But Glen Chapple led Lancashire's fightback, and made the most of his
recall after being left out of the second round victory over Yorkshire
and last week's Championships game at Colwyn Bay, by claiming five
wickets, including Gallian, caught by Mark Chilton at backward point.
Chilton then linked up with Atherton, eight years his senior at
Manchester Grammar School, in an opening stand of 96 in 26 overs,
hitting 41 from 80 balls including five fours and a swept six.
The third of Lancashire's MGS old boys, John Crawley, contributed 20
in a second wicket partnership of 40 before Andy Flintoff came in to
blaze 27 in 16 minutes, including the biggest six seen at Old Trafford
for years when he struck Notts off spinner Richard Bates over wide
long on, out of the ground and into the Kellogg's car park across the
road. Further evidence that Freddie eats three Shredded Wheat.
Source :: Lancashire Evening Telegraph (https://www.reednews.co.uk/let/)