A most accomplished batting performance by Middlesex, led by a splendidinnings from their captain Justin Langer, set a target which appeared far toodaunting for Nottinghamshire in this third round NatWest Trophy clash whichgave Middlesex an
Andy Jalil21-Jun-2000A most accomplished batting performance by Middlesex, led by a splendidinnings from their captain Justin Langer, set a target which appeared far toodaunting for Nottinghamshire in this third round NatWest Trophy clash whichgave Middlesex an effortless victory by 128 runs.Langer, who has hit two centuries and had a score of 96 in the countychampionship this season, scored his first hundred in limited-overs matchesand was supported superbly along the way by the elegant Owais Shah and AndrewStrauss who chose to hit his highest score in One-Day cricket on his debutNatWest match.The three batsmen dominated the game during their time at the crease and madethe Nottinghamshire bowling look quite innocuous.At no stage during their brief reply, which lasted as few as 37 overs, didNottinghamshire’ s batsmen appear to be in control of the task that lay aheador, indeed, even look comfortable against an attack that gave very littleaway.Veteran pace bowler, Angus Fraser, who struck the early blows for Middlesex,finished his first spell of seven overs with 2 for 19 and was not required tocontinue with his good work later as Aaron Laraman with his medium pace hadaccounted for four wickets for 39.Nottinghamshire’s innings, which totalled only 146, never appeared to stage arecovery after losing 4 for 48 and whatever little hope they might have heldof putting up a reasonable reply, disappeared after the 31 run stand betweenChris Read and Usman Afzaal who were both run out in succession, Afzaal topscoring with 31. Read had gone first with 13 and having dropped two catchesearlier, in Middlesex’s innings, did not have a good match. It will not havebeen a good week for him, having also been excluded from the England One-Daysquad in the forthcoming International series.Earlier, Langer seemed to have done everything right to give his side a greatstart. Having called correctly at the toss, he decided to make first use of afine batting pitch and then featured in two excellent partnerships.Having lost Mark Ramprakash in only the third over, Langer and Strauss begana stand which dominated the Nottinghamshire bowling from the start. Langergot off the mark with a boundary to fine leg and Strauss pulled Paul Franksfor four, having also opened his account earlier with a boundary, off AndrewHarris.Despite the overcast conditions which prevailed for most of the morningsession, Nottinghamshire’s pace bowlers were unable to get any significantball movement that would cause much concern to either batsman. Harris hadconceded 25 runs in his first four overs and Chris Tolley who replaced himwas unfortunate to have Langer, on 15, dropped by Read behind the stumps offhis first ball.That was the only chance that the left-handed Australian was to give in hisentire innings during which he faced 126 balls. Runs came quickly, theyreached 53 from as many balls. The first ten overs had gone for 57 and atthat point the second bowling change took place. Paul Reiffel, who arrived inthe country two days ago from Australia as a replacement for the county’sinjured fast bowler, Shoaib Akhtar, was brought on for his first bowl forNottinghamshire.During his spell of ten overs for 52, without a wicket, there were signs thathe will take, not surprisingly, a little time to acclimatize and settle. Hisfirst spell of five overs had conceded 21, the same as Paul Franks whom, hehad replaced.Meanwhile runs were coming freely to Middlesex. Strauss reached 40 with apull off Reiffel after Langer had driven him to the extra-cover boundary. Thehundred was up from 126 balls and Strauss reached his first fifty inlimited-overs cricket for his county, from 73 balls.Langer reached his fifty in style, lifting Harris for six over mid-on andflicking the next delivery to the fine-leg boundary. The scoring rate rapidlyincreased with both batsmen going neck and neck, on 56, when Strauss fell toa catch at backward point off left-arm spinner Richard Stemp.The next partnership between Langer and Shah proved even more damaging toNottinghamshire with Shah forming an excellent understanding with Langer forrunning between the wickets. The two hundred of the innings came in the 39th.over, it’s the first time this season that Middlesex has reached this figurein One-Day matches.It took only 101 balls for the hundred of the partnership to come up andLanger’s century had taken 128 balls. He had hit six boundaries and a six offHarris who had later been hit for two more sixes by Keith Dutch.Finally, with the total on 235, Langer was run out, going for a second run,to the non-strikers end. One run later Shah, was stumped, just one short ofhis fifty which came from only 53 balls and was another entertaining knock inthe Middlesex innings of 274.