da heads bet： A round-up from the latest round of C&G matches as the race for a Lord’s final hots up
Cricinfo staff11-Jun-2006Points TablesNorth Group
Mal Loye cracked an unbeaten 120 as Lancashire crushed Derbyshire © Getty Images
Mal Loye put Lancashire one step closer to Lord’s were a typicallypowerful century to end Derbyshire’s own final ambitions. His 120ensured light work was made of the 194 needed and an opening stand of 104with Mark Chilton did a lot of the work before Brad Hodge helped finishthe chase. Lancashire were again impressive in the field with SimonMarshall, a young legspinner, putting in a promising spell and theevergreen Dominic Cork bagging a four-wicket haul. A win in their finalmatch against Warwickshire will put Lancashire in the final, but ifresults go their way they may not even need that victory.Durham’s first Lord’s final is still within their grasp after a 28-run victory over Nottinghamshire, butthey had to survive a scare after an astonishing innings by Chris Read.Notts were in tatters at 95 for 8 but Read began to cut loose, adding155 for the ninth wicket with Andy Harris. Read’s century came from 93balls before eventually falling for a career-best 135 with 10 fours andsix sixes. Jimmy Maher and Jon Lewis gave Durham an outstanding platformwith an opening stand of 155 and Maher pushed on to his second C&Ghundred of the season off 120 balls. Ottis Gibson then ran through theNottinghamshire top order with three early wickets, leaving only ChrisRead to make an impression with the bat. But what an impression it was.Worcestershire beat their Midlands rivals Warwickshire by 58 runs at Edgbaston. Stephen Moore andVikram Solanki laid the platform for Worcestershire’s healthy 267 with asecond-wicket stand of 111. Solanki was especially fluent in his 55-ball60. The Warwickshire attack pulled the innings back marginally with NickJames, the England Under-19 left-arm spinner, being the pick of theattack on his debut. Jim Troughton struck a half-century in reply, butno one could build the necessary momentum for Warwickshire as GarethBatty and Ray Price shared five wickets.South GroupSussex are on the verge of the final after Richard Montgomeriehit an unbeaten 108 against Ireland. A targetof 217 proved a walk in the park for Sussex with Chris Adams clubbing 65in a stand of 130 with Montgomerie. It was a commendable effort fromIreland to pass 200 after being reduced to 10 for 3 by James Kirtley andJason Lewry. Pete Gillespie hit 51 and Kyle McCallan a useful 41 toboost the Irish total. Luke Wright also impressed with 4 for 56.Middlesex convincingly won their London battle with Surreyas they cruised to a 108-run win at Southgate. Surrey fielded a veryyoung side and were never in the hunt once Owais Shah (76) and Ben Scott(73 not out) turned the innings around from an unsteady 129 for 5. ForScott it was a career-best score, coming at a run-a-ball, and he added84 with Shah. Johann Louw took two early wickets and Rikki Clarke’sfirst-ball run out meant Surrey were always struggling. Scott Styrischipped in with two as did Chris Peploe.Andy Flower showed how to play on a turning pitch and guidedEssex to a comfortable five-wicket win againstGloucestershire. James Middlebrook and Tim Phillips, the Essexspinners, had found plenty of help from a dusty surface and 217 did notappear to be too far from a par score. However, Flower produced theperfect finishing innings and, along with useful contributions fromMiddlebrook and James Foster, eased Essex home with 15 balls to spare.Phil Weston had made Gloucestershire’s only half-century and otherbatsman were guilty of throwing away good starts.Kent blitzed the Glamorgan attack for 332 then eased to a41-run win at Cardiff. Neil Dexter, 21-year-old batsman fromJohannesburg anchored the innings with 135 with his first one-daycentury while Andrew Hall hit 100 off 91 balls. However, Darren Stevenswas the most destructive of the top order, launching the innings with arattling 65-ball 82. Glamorgan never threatened the total despite somefeisty lower-order hitting and Amjad Khan finished with three wickets.