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Watkinson deflates home hopes

Lancs (381-3) bt Herts (213-6) by 168 runs

Lancashire made contemptuously easy meat of Hertfordshire at Radlett yesterday, and gave Alan Ormrod, their former coach, food for thought.

Ormrod, after stints at Lancashire and Nottinghamshire, is spending this summer attempting to improve standards in Hertfordshire, a minor county side struggling for several years. ``It's a difficult job,'' he said. ``The club pitches, for example, are not very good generally.''

Radlett was an obvious exception. This village near Watford has a lovely ground with a strip of reasonable pace and a manicured outfield enhanced by a grand cedarwood pavilion where Douglas Jardine, Richard Hutton, Donald and John Carr had once played seasons as club cricketers. On a modern note there were a pair of traditional sightscreens - the first in the country, the club claim, to be made in maintenance-free PVC.

Whatever the screens were made of, the Herts bowling yesterday was certainly not maintenance-free, underlining Ormrod's concern. Mike Watkinson's 130 in 109 balls soon deflated any aspirations Hertfordshire might have had and, with Andrew Flintoff winding up at every ball for his 57 off 25 balls, Lancashire achieved their highest NatWest score and second-highest score by a any professional county in 50-overs cricket.

Flintoff was twice dropped on the long-on boundary by Matthew Evans unwisely, because it was in front of the pavilion off Kaf Jahangir, the only Radlett player in the Herts side. Herts did, however, give Muttiah Muralitharan a rude welcome to 'village' cricket, while Andy Griffin looked a high calibre wicketkeeper-batsman.