Date-stamped : 10 May95 - 14:26 Benson & Hedges Cup Round 4 : Lancashire v Nottinghamshire Old Trafford, 9 May 1995 Gallian guides Lancashire to record total - Charles Randall Lancs (353-7) bt Notts (276-7) by 77 runs LANCASHIRE as good as guaranteed themselves a home tie in the Benson & Hedges Cup quarter-finals with a massive score at Man- chester yesterday, the biggest total yet recorded between profes- sional counties in this 55-overs competition. Jason Gallian and John Crawley both collected admirable hundreds during a stand of 250 at six an over for the second wicket, easi- ly a Lancashire record for any wicket in any one-day cricket. It looked easy, and it was. The Old Trafford strip was shirt- front true, and Nottinghamshire`s bowling, with Andy Afford tak- ing the new ball, was just unbelievably accommodating. The non-stop assault left Nottinghamshire concentrating on a respectable, low-key reply. Opener Paul Pollard could not bat, having strained a side muscle fielding, and in any case perishing for the cause was strictly off agenda, because they could still qualify from the group on run-rate. Lancashire should be favourites now to go to Lord`s. They have been whirling the bat all through this competition and look al- most impregnable at home, as Leicestershire found out a couple of weeks ago when even 312 proved inadequate. Nottinghamshire had lost all five previous cup games at Old Traf- ford and entered the match without adequate bowling. Chris Cairns, their New Zealand all-rounder, took part solely as a batsman - as dictated by a side strain - and there was still no return for the injured Chris Lewis. The morning took a bizarre path. Kevin Evans persuaded Mike Ath- erton to touch the day`s fourth delivery to the wicketkeeper, and at the start of the second over Afford was tossed the new ball. One might have thought the left-arm spinner would hand the ball on to the real opening bowler, but Afford kept it and bowled a mediocre five-over spell to set the tone. Afford dragged the ball down short with monotonous regularity, though rather oddly it was Evans, in his next over, who was pulled for six by Crawley. Gallian, who had a hundred in the previous cup game with Atherton`s at Birmingham, and Crawley took every scoring chance available. As two very good players, they were spoilt for choice. Crawley hooked Greg Mike`s first delivery over Paul Pollard at square leg and raced to his fifty with only one four and his two sixes. When he finally missed an Afford long hop, he had reached 114 off 120 balls. Gallian off-drove with more power and looked fully sated when he gave James Hindson the charge, his attractive 134 off 137 balls earning him the Gold Award. Neil Fairbrother`s nudge-and-rush entry pushed an already helter-skelter run-rate up another notch, and the left-hander in- troduced a note of comedy when he was dropped twice off succes- sive Hindson deliveries by the hapless Mike on the midwicket boundary, one chance palmed weakly for six. Fairbrother added another six for luck in the same Hindson over, which cost 18. With the Gallian-Crawley platform established, Lancashire looked capable of inflicting an awful embarrassment on Nottinghamshire, but Fairbrother misdrove to mid-off, his damage restricted to 37. There is little point in describing Nottinghamshire`s non-attempt at victory, though in the evening Fairbrother, bowling left-arm over, snared the first one-day wicket of his career, Bruce French holing out. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)