Cricket: Mushtaq's glee adds to Stewart's gloom

Somerset 230-9; Surrey 187

Somerset win by 43 runs

THIS was not a day which Alec Stewart will care to recall. Within 24 hours, the England captaincy and a possible Lord's final appearance have slipped from his grasp when once each seemed to be his.

Surrey's failure yesterday was not as dramatic as their Benson and Hedges collapse to Lancashire earlier this season but it was no less galling. Resuming in the morning with 205 required off 50.1 overs with just Stewart out, they folded 43 short with 19 balls remaining.

The last nine wickets fell for 98 runs, the final seven for 43, as Somerset moved into the last four of the NatWest Trophy for the first time in a decade. They find out this morning whether their former inspiration, Viv Richards, will stand in the way of a third final or be in line to meet them there.

Mushtaq Ahmed and Andy Caddick led them to this win. Caddick, with 5 for 30, edged his fellow England newcomer, Graham Thorpe, in the innings' key contest but Mushtaq was the man of the match.

Having top-scored with a 31-ball 35 when Somerset batted on Tuesday he tied down Surrey either side of lunch yesterday, dismissing the dangerous pair of Alistair Brown and Monte Lynch.

Caddick, who had surprised Darren Bicknell in his earlier wayward spell by bowling one he could reach - and edge - returned to dismiss Thorpe, who had batted with confidence in brighter conditions than Somerset had endured on Tuesday.

His dismissal was as untimely as it was unfortunate, a widish half-volley being slashed to point where Harvey Trump took a brilliant catch.

Neil Mallender and Graham Rose each chipped in with useful wickets before Caddick rediscovered his line. He yorked Martin Bicknell and James Boiling and a day Stewart had hoped would see him handed the national captaincy ended with him receiving just a losers' cheque.

NatWest round-up, Cricket scoreboard, page 38