Take that, Lancashire

Michael Lumb and Jimmy Adams provide the early thrills with a 159-run stand

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This time last week Old Trafford was hosting a Take That concert, which passes for entertainment in some people’s eyes.

Today it was the venue for a fascinating Friends Provident Trophy semi-final between Lancashire and Hampshire, and there was no shortage of enjoyment for the 8,250 fans who turned up.

Who am I to judge people’s taste in music (I do, after all, own a Peter Ebdon single), but give me the choice between listening to a group of grown men dressed in clown outfits and watching a match which decides who goes through to domestic cricket's premier one-day final, and there’s only one winner.

Hampshire were the winners on the pitch this evening, unquestionably and deservedly so after wrapping up a 64-run victory with some ease.

They possess more than their fair share of players who would not look out of place in a boy band: Dimitri Mascarenhas qualifies with his two gold earrings, Michael Lumb’s highlights would send many a young girl into raptures and Imran Tahir’s wicket celebrations would not look out of place in a street jazz class.

Lancashire’s Kyle Hogg, with his mop of curly brown hair, leans more towards the indie set, while Sajid Mahmood has pedigree in the music business, having appeared in a Bollywood movie.

The quality of the cricket, though, was of a sufficiently high quality to keep the spectators royally entertained throughout a glorious day in Manchester which was interrupted only once by rain.

Jimmy Adams and Lumb set the standard with a rapid 159-run opening stand after Hampshire were asked to bat, with crisp and brave strokeplay augmented by excellent running between the wickets.

Take your pick: Old Trafford saw two performances appealing to vastly different tastes in the space of a week

That their colleagues could not match those standards was due in no small part to Lancashire’s determined fightback, which was set in motion by Francois Du Plessis’ stunning one-handed catch at point to account for Adams.

Du Plessis’ fielding was nothing short of sensational, the South African’s numerous diving stops – a result of great anticipation and splendid athleticism – helping keep the minds of the Lancashire faithful off their side’s plight for the first half of the Hampshire innings.

Wicketkeeper Luke Sutton took an equally impressive catch, diving full length to his right, to remove former team-mate Dominic Cork off Glen Chapple as he and left-arm spinner Gary Keedy proved the value of experience by sharing six wickets.

In keeping with the theme of the day – whereby anything Lancashire did, Hampshire did it better – Tahir usurped both with figures of 3-38 from 10 overs of attacking and accurate leg-spin.

He extracted more turn than anyone on a pitch which generally favoured the batsmen, but the high point of the Hampshire display in the field were two catches in the space of three overs from the effervescent Adams.

Imran Tahir runs through his boy band audition after removing Glen Chapple as Hampshire cruise home

First, he returned the favour to Du Plessis by leaping to his left at backward point to cling on to the ball a foot from the turf, before plucking a fierce VVS Laxman drive out of the air at short extra-cover. The look of disbelief on Laxman’s face said it all, and a position of 123 for five was beyond repair for Lancashire.

For those of you who claim cricket isn’t what it used to be, I urge you to spend an afternoon watching the likes of Du Plessis, Adams and Steven Croft, who was unusually understated today, go about their business in the field. You won’t be disappointed.

That spilled over into the stands today, with one gentleman catching a mighty six over long-on from Adams without even leaving his seat.

He and the remainder of the crowd were treated to a tea-time performance from a brass band that, according to the PA, had been around since 1880. They looked in remarkably good shape considering.

The presence of Cork on the fine-leg boundary for a large part of the Hampshire innings kept the crowd amused, and there was a hint of pantomime about proceedings as they greeted each long barrier with a sarcastic cheer.

Cork accepted the role of pantomime villain in good spirit, and even rewarded the fans with an appreciative thumbs-up and an age-defying diving stop that saved two runs.

The result may not have been to the liking of the Lancashire fans, and they trooped out of Old Trafford cursing a ninth semi-final defeat in 10 years in one-day cricket.

But there was some consolation: at least they hadn’t sat through two hours of Take That.