Date-stamped : 03 May97 - 06:14
Somerset v Ireland

Somerset (349-7) bt Ireland (128) by 221 runs

AFTER victory  over  Middlesex,  Irish  eyes   were   smiling  on
arrival  in  Taunton,  but  after  Mushtaq  Ahmed   had tormented
and teased, they were blinking in confusion. Less than  24  hours
after  flying  in  from Sri  Lanka,  the  Pakistani wrist spinner
completely confounded the Irish batsmen, Hansie Cronje  included,
to take 7-24, writes Geoffrey Dean.

To their credit, Ireland were going  for   their   target  rather
than   respectability,   but   Mushtaq  was  far  too  awkward  a
proposition. He began with  four  wides  down  the  leg side, but
with  his  second  ball he beat Cronje on  the  back  foot with a
googly that kept low. Like most of  England`s  batsmen, the Irish
were  unable  to  pick  it, and  several  perished  to  it.  Only
Andy Patterson (50 off 41 balls) kept Mushtaq out for long.

Somerset batted  extremely  well  on  a  superb  pitch.   Michael
Burns  supplied  the  momentum  with a 50 off  44  balls,  before
Simon Ecclestone, driving with great power,  blasted  92  off  83
balls.

Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/)

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