Clark magic sets up Rose Bowl semi-final

11:09am Wednesday 13th June 2007

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HAMPSHIRE 182-7 (48.2 OVERS), BEAT SURREY 181 (49.5 OVERS) BY THREE WICKETS

You cannot deny that Stuart Clark has made an impression in his all-too-brief stint as a Hampshire player.

SURREY: Benning (0) Brown (10) Ramprakash (0) Newman (1) Batty (13) Mahmood (4) Clarke (55) Schofield (75*) Nicholson (8) Doshi (0) Akram (0) HAWKS: Carberry (36) Crawley (55) Lumb (14) Benham (28), Ervine (25) Mascarenhas (9) Pothas (0) Warne (3*) Udal (0*) Tremlett (dnb) Clark (dnb)

His 7-82 against Lancashire last month was the best analysis in the Championship by a Hampshire bowler for six years, while his match-winning 6-27 at the Rose Bowl yesterday has taken the Hawks to within a win of a second Lord's final in three years.

Clark is irreplaceable on this form but Hawks fans should enjoy his time on the south coast while it lasts.

His six weeks at the Rose Bowl will be over by this time next week but he has already produced the best figures by a Hampshire player in the competition now sponsored by Friends Provident for 42 years.

Shane Warne took 6-42 in the South Conference fixture against Surrey at Whitgift School last season.

But you have to go back to May 1965, when Peter Sainsbury took 7-30 against Norfolk in the first round of the Gillette Cup, for a better analysis by a Hampshire bowler in the 45-year history of cricket's equivalent of the FA Cup.

Statistically speaking, Clark's performance is Hampshire's best with the ball in all one-day cricket since Steve Renshaw's 6-25 against Surrey in the Benson & Hedges Cup a decade ago, but the Hawks still contrived to lose that game.

Clark's masterclass at the Rose Bowl yesterday set up what should have been a far more comfortable win than the three-wicket, ten-balls-to-spare margin that was eventually secured six hours after his devastating new-ball burst.

Clark had never taken more than four wickets in a one-day innings until midday yesterday, when he had 5-16 from an eight-over spell that reduced Surrey to 36-6 after Warne had lost the toss.

Surrey were missing their captain Mark Butcher, who had failed a fitness test on his injured Achilles and could only watch from the visitors' balcony - and then the Sky Sports commentary box - as Clark wreaked havoc.

Well supported by Dimitri Mascarenhas, who claimed the prize wicket of Mark Ramprakash with a first-ball beauty that nipped off the seam and hit the off stump, Clark accounted for the rest of Surrey's top five in seam-friendly conditions.

James Benning, having passed a late fitness test, played across a straight ball and the left-handed Scott Newman tried to pull a short ball in Clark's second over before being well caught by Shaun Udal as the Hawks veteran ran from mid-on.

The dangerous Ally Brown hooked another Clark short ball to Mascarenhas on the fine-leg boundary and Jon Batty edged a delivery that bounced and left him to Nic Pothas.

That was Clark's most pleasing wicket, and he was grateful to a sensational diving catch at backward point from Sean Ervine in claiming Azhar Mahmood as his fifth victim.

Rikki Clarke and Chris Schofield began impressive all-round displays by taking Surrey from 36-6 to 158-7.

When Clarke was comfortably stumped for 55 (100 balls), the pair had put on 122 in 31 overs for the seventh wicket.

Clark and Chris Tremlett saw off Matt Nicholson and Nayan Doshi but Schofield reached the highest one-day score of his career by reverse sweeping Warne for one of his six fours.

Schofield's gutsy 75 not out (116 balls) kept alive Surrey's faint hopes of reaching the semi-finals but it looked easy for the Hawks as John Crawley and Michael Carberry brought the target down to double figures.

Crawley reached his first one-day fifty of the season from 66 balls by lifting a full toss from the otherwise impressive Schofield, his former Lancashire teammate, for the only six of the match over mid-wicket.

The Hawks seemed on course for a win as comfortable as their eight-wicket triumph at Whitgift School in last season's C&G Trophy.

However, they lost seven wickets in the next 24 overs, and four for 15 runs in 25 balls in slumping from 90-0 to 180-7.

Crawley (55) was bowled heaving across the line, Michael Lumb top-edged a sweep and Carberry (36) was comfortably run out after returning for a second run that was never there for Chris Benham.

Even so, the Hawks were 165-3, needing just 17 runs from six overs, when Sean Ervine (25), Benham (28), Nic Pothas (0) and Mascarenhas (9) departed in quick succession while Rod Bransgrove paced around anxiously on the Long Room balcony.

Ervine was caught at extra cover and extra bounce from Clarke accounted for Benham and Pothas in the 46th over.

With the light fading and the floodlights on, Mascarenhas drove Clarke to the long-on boundary, but in the next over he was caught down the leg side with two still needed.

Just when Hampshire threatened to make a Horlicks of it - defeat yesterday would have denied them a semi-final - Matt Nicholson sent down his second bouncer of the penultimate over.

The two runs for a no-ball took the Hawks over the line with ten balls to spare to set up a semi-final against Warwickshire, the team they beat in the C&G Trophy final two years ago, on Wednesday.

Hampshire bowling: Clark 10-1-27-6, Mascarenhas 10-1-23-1, Tremlett 9.5-1-27-1, Warne 10-0-46-1, Ervine 6-0-29-0, Udal 4-0-23-0

Surrey bowling: Mahmood 7-2-22-0, Akram 4-1-26-0, Nicholson 9.2-1-27-2, Clarke 9-0-40-2, Schofield 10-0-34-1, Doshi 9-1-26-1