Date-stamped : 30 Jul97 - 11:31
Waqar farms strike to reap unlikely victory

By Charles Randall at Cardiff

Glamorgan (237-9) bt Yorkshire (236-8) by 1 wkt

WAQAR   YOUNIS   was  employed by Glamorgan to knock over opposi-
tion wickets and not conjure  up  hair-raising  victories  as   a
tail- end batsman  but,  whatever  the  terms of his contract, he
sent a large Sophia Gardens crowd almost delirious  with  excite-
ment  yester- day.

Glamorgan   squeezed  into  the NatWest Trophy semi-finals in the
last over, thanks to a 10th-wicket  stand  between  the  Pakistan
fast bowler and Dean Cosker, the rookie left-arm spinner.

Waqar,  having  survived  an  early  let-off at mid-on, mixed his
strokeplay  around  the  shades  of orthodox but  he  farmed  the
bowling brilliantly when 28 runs were needed from the last wicket
off six overs.

Glamorgan needed 10 off the last two overs and one  run  off  the
last,  the  end  arriving suddenly when Chris Silverwood bowled a
wide with his first ball. The result ended Yorkshire`s hopes of a
third  con-  secutive  semi-final,  which had seemed within their
grasp  when  Darren Gough vented some of his England  frustration
with the ball.

Gough`s   three-wicket   burst  at a crucial time seemed to knock
the home innings sideways  and  Glamorgan`s  fragility  in  tense
games such as this must  have  made  their  supporters  wonder if
they would ever reach a final again.

Yorkshire relied almost entirely  on   Darren   Lehmann`s   first
one-day  hundred  for them, a muscular 105, for a respectable to-
tal, and they depended on Gough`s extra pace and vim to alter the
course of Glamorgan`s pursuit, which had  looked comfortable  and
con- trolled for a long time.

This  was  a  very  good  Glamorgan side,  containing  five  Test
players - three bowlers, two batsmen - plus Steve James, current-
ly  the country`s most  successful   batsman.   Yet,  so   often,
one-day knockout cricket seemed to turn their knees to jelly.

This time there was Waqar, man of the match in  batting mode, and
perhaps  Glamorgan`s  20-year wait for a Lord`s  away  day  could
end this season. After yesterday, anything looked possible.

Matthew  Maynard,  shaking  off chickenpox, and Robert Croft both
scored admirable  fifties,  but   Gough   dismissed   them  both,
yorking  Croft  before  having  Maynard caught at extra-cover and
trapping Steve  James lbw for a duck second ball.

Glamorgan`s  slide  picked up momentum when  Silverwood  ran  out
Tony  Cottey,  and  the  contest looked all over  when  Gough re-
turned for a final burst, yorking Steve Watkin without trouble.

At one stage, Glamorgan had needed 97 to win at less than four an
over,  with  eight  wickets  in hand, but  self-belief  seemed to
drain away from their batting.

Earlier  in  the  day,  Lehmann  showed how runs  could  be  made
quickly, hitting powerfully into the gaps and improvising against
the spinners, especially Croft, on the wide Cardiff ground.

The Australian left-hander could seldom have  played  on  pitches
like  yesterday`s,  which  offered  depressingly   little  bounce
while helping spinners  -  with  Cosker,  Glamorgan`s left-armer,
looking a class above Richard Stemp.

In  the  end,  Glamorgan`s bowlers tipped the balance, but not in
the way intended.

Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/)

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