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Hutton haunts Australia Legend's grandson leads Middlesex to win over Aussies
LONDON (Reuters) -- The grandson of England legend Sir Len Hutton led Middlesex to a famous six-wicket victory over the Australians in a 50 over one-day game at Lord's on Tuesday. Twenty-four-year-old Ben Hutton teamed up with England prospect Owais Shah to help the home side reach its victory target of 233 with 17 balls to spare. The second wicket pair, who both scored big hundreds in an English county championship game last week, put on a match-winning stand of 113 as the tourists suffered a setback ahead of the forthcoming triangular series with England and Pakistan. "It was nice to carry on the family tradition of scoring runs against the Aussies," he said. "I'm really enjoying my cricket at the moment. "We were missing three of our senior players today so this result is a great boost for our confidence, and gives us hope for the rest of the season." The Middlesex innings was given a brisk start by Andrew Strauss but he fell in the sixth over, caught at mid-off looking for his fourth boundary. Hutton, with two first-class centuries to his name this season, was first past his 50, reaching it off 76 balls and hitting five fours. Shah, who survived an early scare when Shane Warne dropped a sharp caught and bowled chance, was not far behind, his half-century coming off six balls fewer than his partner. Warne eventually got his man when Shah was stumped by wicketkeeper Wayne Seccombe for 50 and when Hutton was run out on 73 while backing up, the Australians were back in the game with the score at 170-3. But good contributions from Simon Cook, Robin Weston and Mike Roseberry were enough to see Middlesex home with something to spare. Earlier the Australians had struggled against a weakened Middlesex bowling attack which was lacking former England men Phil Tufnell and Angus Fraser. Seamer James Hewitt had Matthew Hayden and Mark Waugh caught on the leg-side in his first four overs while captain Steve Waugh also fell cheaply. However Ricky Ponting looked in excellent touch and he raced to a half-century off just 41 balls, hitting 11 fours before edging Paul Weekes to the keeper on 57. After Simon Cook had accounted for Damien Martyn and Andrew Symonds, it was left to one-day specialist Ian Harvey to get the tourists' innings back on track. But he had trouble finding a partner to stay with him as spinner Weekes removed Seccombe and Warne to leave them struggling on 154-8 in the 32nd over. Jason Gillespie gave Harvey some much-needed support and they put together a stand of 75 off 75 balls for the ninth wicket to give the score some respectability. Harvey breezed past his half-century in just 43 balls, including six fours, and looked certain to reach three figures before he was bowled by Cook for 84 to end the innings in the 45th over. "We came here today to win the game, although we also wanted players to get a game," said Harvey. "Our tactics today were to win but also for our batsman to spend some time in the middle. We have four blokes who have to miss out in each game because we want everyone to have a bat and a bowl before the series starts. "The whole side will have learned from today. Middlesex played very good cricket and they certainly deserved to win. "We were probably around 20 runs light. There was still five or six overs to go when we were all out and that could have been an extra 15. "We thought it would be a very competitive target but it proved not to be. It was a very good batting wicket."
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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