Both of the Lancs openers were lucky to survive the opening overs as Paul Weekes dropped a routine slip catch offered by Loye with the 3rd ball of the match and Ben Hutton dropped Ian Sutcliffe in the 2nd over, although it was a difficult, low slip catch. Middlesex were made to pay for the dropped catches as the pair went on to share in an opening stand of 69, laying the foundations of a good score. Remarkably, both batsmen were dismissed by the men that dropped them early on, Sutcliffe falling to Hutton's 2nd ball, his first wicket of the season.

Stuart Law joined Loye after the dismissal of Sutcliffe and instantly made an impact as the pair took the score past 100. After Law's dismissal, runs began to dry up and Middlesex managed to remove dangermen Carl Hooper and Andy Flintoff before either could really get going. As runs continued to dry up, Middlesex looked like they could restrict Lancashire to below 230, especially Loye fell to Weekes for 74. However, Glen Chapple's hard hitting ensured that 34 came from the last 2 overs as Lancs passed 250.

Middlesex were never able to recover from the early dismissals of Weekes, Shah and Joyce and after the departures of Strauss, Nash and Abdul Razzaq, Middlesex found themselves 86-6 and facing an uphill struggle to reach the 253 target. Carl Hooper's introduction took care of Simon Cook and Ben Hutton, whilst Peter Martin removed Ashley Noffke to finish with figures of 4-34 from his ten overs. A last wicket stand of 48 between David Alleyne and Chad Keegan delayed the inevitable, with Keegan smashing 2 large sixes in his unbeaten 29.

Lancashire will now play Worcestershire in the next round whilst Gloucestershire host Derbyshire, who gave Sorry an absolute hammering today, beating them by 137 runs. It was the first defeat of the season for sorry, and let's hope it wont be the last!

SCORES:

LANCASHIRE INNINGS: (LANCASHIRE WON THE TOSS)

Loye c Noffke b Weekes 74
Sutcliffe c Cook b Hutton 32
Law c Hutton b Weekes 25
Hooper c and b Keegan 11
Flintoff c Hutton b Abdul Razzaq 13
Chilton b Abdul Razzaq 34
Chapple not out 45
Hegg run out 7
Hogg not out 0

Extras 11

Total (for 7 wickets, 50 overs) 252

Did not bat: Martin, Anderson


MIDDLESEX INNINGS:

Weekes c Chilton b Anderson 8
Strauss c Law b Martin 32
Shah lbw b Martin 1
Joyce c Hegg b Martin 6
Nash c Hegg b Chapple 13
Abdul Razzaq lbw b Flintoff 18
Hutton b Hooper 27
Cook b Hooper 8
Noffke c Loye b Martin 19
Alleyne c and b Flintoff 19
Keegan not out 29

Extras 15

Total (all out, 49.1 overs) 195

RESULT: LANCASHIRE WIN BY 57 RUNS

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