SOME of the most famous names in the history of the game turned out at Shenley Park Cricket Centre in Shenley on Sunday, June 23, as Lashings XI and the Shenley Lions put on a feast of cricket at Hertfordshire's premier cricket venue.

The likes of West Indies' legends Richie Richardson and Jimmy Adams turned out for Lashings a travelling side comprising of high-profile names although Lions' could also boast the likes of Sri Lankan star Aravinda de Silva and Windies' Phil Simmons in their ranks.

Lashings won the toss and elected to bat on a wicket perfectly suited for racking up a large total and their opening pair looked set to oblige as Stuart Williams and Sherwin Campbell both former West Indies internationals piled up the runs.

The pair looked set to stay at the crease all day before the introduction of Zimbabwe's Trevor Gripper into the Shenley attack changed the course of the game.

Gripper quickly accounted for Wiliams (33) and Campbell (28) with fellow Windie Junior Murray following for 15.

However, this only brought the Zimbabwe pair of Grant Flower and Stuart Carlisle to the crease and they looked impressive in picking up knocks of 65 and 59 respectively before Glucka Wijesuriya firstly got Flower out lbw before snapping up Carlisle caught and bowled as Lashings managed to set a challenging target of 265-8.

In reply, Shenley started disastrously with Wijesuriya falling for seven and Gripper following soon after ten although Gripper's dismissal to a run-out owed more to the ageing legs of de Silva.

However, de Silva made amends with a master-class of shot-making which propelled him to 56 before being caught by old nemesis Adams off a delivery from Pakistan's Kapoor.

Usman Afzaal (70) and Middlesex's Paul Weekes (60) put Shenley in with a fighting chance of victory but the Lions eventually fell nine runs short as Lashings closed out the innings.

June 27, 2002 12:00