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| Saturday, 31 August, 2002, 17:40 GMT 18:40 UK Elliott's class decisive
Yorkshire's season, which has been dominated by off-field ructions has, at least, been boosted by their victory in the C & G Trophy. It was a superb achievement to score the 257 set by Somerset as batting second in a final is always a difficult proposition. For that they must thank their Australian batsman, Matt Elliott, who was playing for Yorkshire because he is not good enough to be chosen for his country!
He dominated the run chase with an innings full of flowery drives through the off side, and the occasional thump over mid-wicket. With Michael Vaughan, he rescued his team after Richard Johnson grabbed three early wickets and reduced Yorkshire to 64 for three. Their partnership added 93, with Vaughan making 31 and after the England opener fell lbw to Jones, Elliott and Anthony McGrath finished Yorkshire's task with a riotous stand of 103 from only 88 balls. The pressure became too intense for Somerset, and the quality of their ground fielding deteriorated markedly as Elliott and McGrath took the bowling apart. Welcome return Somerset's total was built around Peter Bowler's 67, while Keith Parsons made 41 towards the end. But possibly the most important contribution came from Marcus Trescothick who scored 27 from 25 balls in his first match for seven weeks.
Showing no discomfort from his broken thumb, we will now wait to see if this is enough to convince England's selectors that he is fit enough to play in the deciding Test against India on Thursday. The squad will be announced on Sunday morning and Friday night's meeting must have been one of the most complicated for many years because there is no clear-cut solution to the absence of Andrew Flintoff. It might be that Robert Key - in the event of Trescothick returning - will move down the order to number 6, with Stewart at 7. This would mean that England could play only four front line bowlers: can they risk that after their last two bowling performances? Another option is to recall Ronnie Irani. This would give Hussain another bowling option, but Irani has only recently returned after knee surgery. Another candidate would be Adam Hollioake. A second spinner, perhaps Yorkshire's Richard Dawson, will probably be selected, but unlikely to make the final XI and with the extra bounce that the Oval provides in mind, the tall Steve Harmison is also likely to be retained in the squad. |
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