Date-stamped : 11 Jun97 - 10:49 Benson and Hedges Cup: Bicknell swings it after England men do their duty By Peter Deeley at the Oval Surrey (308-8) bt Leicestershire (178) by 130 runs WITH the return of their England Test heroes, Surrey achieved their potential in this one-sided destruction of Leicester- shire. A team who have promised so much and achieved so little in recent years, they now go on to their first Lord`s final in six years. Once Surrey weathered a stuttering start, with Alan Mullally claiming two wickets in four balls, the power of their batting over- whelmed a Leicestershire attack which failed to bowl with the accuracy demanded on such an excellent pitch. The difference in the quality of the pace bowling was plain when Martin Bicknell took up the cudgels. He swung the ball and moved it in off the seam, claiming four wickets for 41 runs. Before the start, Surrey coach Dave Gilbert expressed his frustration at what he termed "crazy fixture-planning" with the Edgbaston Test almost overlapping one of the county`s most impor- tant games of the summer. He felt that Alec Stewart, Graham Thorpe and Mark Butcher were bound to be jaded after the demands of the Australia game. "It is our duty to send England players away in the best possible shape but unfortunately we don`t always get them back in the same shape." Pursuing that argument to its logical conclusion, one wonders what would have happened to Leicestershire if the England tri- umvi- rate had gone into this semi-final totally refreshed. The wide open spaces of the Oval clearly do not suit Leices- tershire. A year ago they were dismissed in one of the short- est Sunday league games on record for 48 and similarly yesterday there was no hiding place. The visitors were competitive for just two overs at the start, after James Whitaker had put Surrey in. Mullally angled his fourth ball across Alistair Brown for Paul Nixon to take the edge and with the first ball of his next over tempted Ben Hollioake to drive up- pishly to mid-on. Surrey were 15 for two but the outlook was transformed by a third-wicket stand of 158 in 32 overs between Stewart and Thorpe, a county record for this competition. If Mullally`s open- ing sev- en overs were tight, David Millns`s - which cost 43 runs - bore little resemblance to his early-season form. Both Surrey batsmen hit Leicestershire`s young off-spinner Tim Mason for six in his early overs and it was left to Vince Wells, the one visiting bowler to keep his line, to remove Thorpe via the top of the pad when the left-hander had reached 79 off 105 balls. Mason got some revenge when he lured Stewart down the pitch for a sharp stumping after the England player had reached 87 off 104 balls but Adam Hollioake kept up Surrey`s impetus with 63 from 40 deliveries, including two sixes. Leicestershire`s top order were quite inadequate to the task of coping with Bicknell and by the 19th over were already six down for 68. Darren Maddy and Aftab Habib both chased balls leaving them outside off-stump while Whitaker got an inside edge and Wells, who had at least shown some fight, was bowled between bat and pad. In a face-saving partnership, Paul Nixon, with a half-century, and Mason added 75 for the ninth wicket after Thorpe had dropped the easiest of chances when the game was already beyond them. But this was a day above all when Surrey showed that if the force is with them they are a side to be feared. With hundreds of their supporters already beginning to queue for tickets for the Lord`s final, their captain Adam Hollioake said: "We can beat Kent if we play to our full potential. "There is no doubt that we have under-achieved in the past. On paper we are a strong side but we have not been producing that qual- ity out on the pitch. Hopefully we are starting to show that form now, particularly in the big games." Gilbert said that at times players in the side had "bottled out" under pressure. "These matches are about people handling pressure and not getting stage-fright. Today we have some very hard-nosed peo- ple in the side and Adam [Hollioake] has set an example in terms of com- mitment to the rest of the side." Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)