TwelfthMan: My account
Live Scores
Lancashire march to Sergeant Pepper's tune
Posted in Domestic Cricket
It was a peculiar day at Old Trafford – and not only because the sun shone non-stop.
On the face of it, it may not appear there was much out of the ordinary – a third straight Friends Provident Trophy win for Lancashire, another Paul Horton hundred and more wickets for Sajid Mahmood.
But there was a hint of the surreal about events in Manchester today, which was down to more than simply the freakish May weather.
There was the curious sight of bare-legged spectators desperate to soak up the glorious sunshine sat yards from rather less hardy souls wrapped in innumerable layers and sheltering from the fierce wind that whipped around an exposed Old Trafford.
A group clad in Sergeant Pepper custumes were paraded in front of the pavilion during the tea interval, while one young fan cavorted around the stand with a cardboard cut-out of Borat, mankini and all.
Ryan Sidebottom even made an appearance on the scoreboard, quite a feat given Lancashire were playing Derbyshire, not Nottinghamshire.
The rather inoffensive Derbyshire players, not getting in anyone’s way – least of all the Lancashire batsmen as they made short work of a target of 241 – were treated to chants of ‘Who are you?’ by a group of 12-year-olds enjoying their day off from charm school.
Ton up - again: Paul Horton's hundred, his second in as many games, may not have come as much of a surprise
Maybe it was the visitors’ garish one-day outfits - grey pants and hi-vis yellow tops - which earned them the kids’ wrath. True, the uniform would not look out of place on the stewards, but surely this is a case of health and safety gone too far.
It would not have happened in Ernest Tyldesley’s day.
Speaking of the distant past, Mark Chilton could have been forgiven for thinking his last one-day hundred had come in a different era.
It was, in fact, 2004, if not a lifetime ago then certainly long enough to have the historians thumbing through a clutch of Lancashire yearbooks.
It is unlikely that the 115 Chilton made against Surrey at Whitgift School was any more impressive than his unbeaten 101 today, which occupied just 98 balls and hurried Lancashire to a comfortable eight-wicket win with 21 balls to spare.
Restored to the one-day side after spending much of last season in the second XI, the former captain can rarely have played so fluently in the limited-overs arena.
Driving decisively, working the ball into the gaps intelligently and running with the urgency of a teenage shoplifter, Chilton dominated an unbroken third-wicket stand of 202 with Horton to signal a welcome – and heart-warming – return to form.
Mark Chilton's century, on the other hand, was his first in one-day cricket for five years
There were even two sixes from Chilton’s bat, a phenomenon almost as rare as seven hours of Lancashire sun at this time of year.
When he swung Greg Smith into the stand moments after reaching 50, Lancashire fans must have known it was going to be their day. When he repeated the feat at the expense of Graham Wagg to bring up his century, it merely served to underscore his and Lancashire’s dominance.
They have now won their opening three games in this competition, and for that Horton can also take immense credit.
The opener added an unbeaten 111 today to the 100 he made against Northamptonshire last week, surpassing his tally in one-day cricket last season in just two matches this summer.
Horton’s emergence as a batsman of the highest class is one of the most encouraging tales to unfold at Old Trafford in recent years, and one suspects that if Lancashire end the season with any silverware to their name, he will have played a significant part in their lifting it.
The famous Red Rose county has not won a premier one-day trophy since 1998, but the odds on them doing so will have shortened after this emphatic victory.
Who knows, maybe the Sergeant Pepper contingent are already thinking about what to wear at Lord’s.
TwelfthMan
Official site of the England and Wales Cricket Board
