Date-stamped : 14 Aug97 - 06:22 Natwest Trophy: Call to Lord`s after bitter exchanges mar se- mi-final By Charles Randall at Chelmsford Essex (296-8) need 6 runs to beat Glamorgan (301-8) BAD light and a face-to-face argument between two England players cut short a sour but exciting NatWest Trophy semi-final at Chelms- ford yesterday. With the clock on 8.10pm and just under seven overs of this bizarre game remaining, Essex protested about the light and Mark Ilott, one of the home batsmen, was involved in a push-and- shove with Robert Croft after an unseemly exchange of words -their behaviour probably unprecedented in county cricket. In the previous over, Ronnie Irani had been struck accidental- ly in the face by Darren Thomas when the bowler threw up his arm in tri- umph at winning an lbw decision, not noticing Irani at- tempting an abortive run beside him. The blow was clearly not deliberate but Irani, who had taken Es- sex close to the brink in a partnership of 25 in two overs with Danny Law, appeared to lose his temper and, as he walked back to the pavilion, turned to shout at celebrating Glamorgan players. After played was called off a telephone call between Lord`s and Chelmsford resulted in an England and Wales Cricket Board di- rective ordering the umpires, David Constant and Chris Balder- stone, not to comment on the proceedings with the match still in the bal- ance, Essex remaining within sight of their second suc- cessive final. While Nasser Hussain, Essex`s acting captain, declined to com- ment on the confrontation - as did Ilott and Croft -Matthew May- nard, Glamorgan`s captain, said: "It was tarnished a bit at the end, something went on out there. I don`t know what started it. I haven`t heard the full story yet but I back my players 100 per cent." Behaviour in this increasingly abrasive tie had already dete- riorated when Stuart Law and Thomas clashed as a result of a beamer, which struck the Australian on the hand. Law, a batsman not regarded as good enough for Australia`s Ashes tour, seemed to have destroyed Welsh hopes of a first one- day final for 20 years, though Thomas`s burst of four wick- ets in the dark raised their hopes of another extraordinary turn- round. Law struck 90 in a 73-ball innings of style and power that al- lowed Essex to cruise towards what should have been a difficult tar- get. On this evidence, England would find Australia`s second team a daunting proposition. Glamorgan`s challenging score was based on a scampering 109 from Steve James, who maintained his chance of a senior tour this winter, but even England`s best uncapped batsman on current form looked a class below Law. James, though the country`s highest run-scorer, had suffered mediocre one-day returns before yesterday, and he had even been rele- gated to batting No 6 in the previous round. In these high-tension one-day games, England selectors do take notice of quality performances, especially under the close scrutiny of television, and James overcame an awkward start with skill and resource without timing the ball consistently. Ronnie Irani, Essex`s all-rounder, was another player to catch the eye. Law`s domination - Essex`s first wicket realised 150 in 24 overs - was given extra piquancy by the sour incident when Thomas struck him on the hand with a high full toss, a beamer, that led to sharp words being exchanged and a placatory inter- vention from Maynard. Law was understandably irritated because Thomas`s illegal de- livery, though accidental, might well have ended his innings there and then. Irani was already hampered by a rib injury sustained when bowling and he needed a painkilling injection be- fore going out to bat. Thomas, 22, seemed to show little concern at the most reckless delivery in cricket, shrugging off the incident with the most perfunctory of apologies. For cricket`s sake, surely the fast bowler could not have been acting out his comments earlier in the week about bowling to Aus- tralians when he said: "I soon learned the only way you get respect from them is if you get stuck into them." The upshot was Thomas did not get respect. Law, with 44 off only 34 balls at the time, resumed after brief treatment and he did not appear handicapped while Es- sex`s score continued to hurtle along at more than a run a ball. Law`s fifty arrived in 44 balls and his hundred loomed seem- ingly in the blink of an eye but, perhaps overconfident, he at- tempted another six off Butcher and holed out to Waqar Younis at long-off, leaving Essex what appeared to a relatively light task. As for the eventual winners, they will play either Warwick- shire or Sussex, who meet today in the other semi-final, at Lord`s on Sept 6. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Natwest Trophy: Croft and Ilott seen in a bad light as ECB consider charges By Charles Randall at Chelmsford Essex (303-9) beat Glamorgan (301-8) by one wicket ESSEX yesterday nervously collected the six runs required against Glamorgan for the loss of a further wicket and de- servedly booked their second consecutive NatWest Trophy final but this petulant se- mi-final at Chelmsford raised issues that the authorities will have to investigate this week. The England and Wales Cricket Board must decide whether the behaviour of Mark Ilott and Robert Croft, long-standing friends who jos- tled with each other on the pitch on Tuesday night while they argued about the light, constitutes bringing the game into disrepute. The inci- dent was televised on BBC. Guidelines should be drawn up as to what constitutes so-called tough cricket in England (remembering that Lord MacLaurin would like to see more of it) and what is required of players in achieving that goal in sport. Even Australians, the leading exponents of "toughness", are ex- pected to behave within certain parameters. For example, Shane Warne was once fined heavily by the Australian authorities for giving a bats- man a parting insult after dismissal. His conduct was deemed "un-Australian". After Chelmsford it needs to be decided what is "un-English". There was too much backchat and posturing for comfort and that is not connected with toughness. Both captains agreed that the umpires` decision to suspend play on Tuesday because of bad light was correct, despite the knife- edge situation of the game - Glamorgan having sliced through the opposition and Essex just six runs from victory but with only two wickets in hand. Earlier in the week Nasser Hussain, Essex`s stand-in captain, had criticised county cricket as a "cups-of-tea and Pimms envi- ron- ment", too "cosy" to produce hardened international players. He added yesterday with a wry smile: "I make a comment like that and then we have a game like this - sod`s law, really.". After Peter Such had dispatched Thomas`s full toss for the winning boundary, Ilott and Croft embraced each other, though Ilott said afterwards: "It was purely for the public because Robert and I are very good friends and will be for years. "Last night was a heat-of-the-moment thing. We apologised to each other afterwards. It was nothing more than tempers fraying in a very important situation. I felt that if we had stayed out there, Essex wouldn`t have won the game. I think he knew that. "This wasn`t a Sunday League game, there was a Lord`s final at stake. It was the biggest game of the season for us so far. The inci- dent shouldn`t have happened and I wouldn`t like to see it happen again but I think nearly everybody made a lot more of it than they should. "We were fired up. People accuse us of being too soft but there was nothing soft about that game." Croft admitted: "The tension was building but that`s no reason for us to act in the way we did. I would hope that`s the end of it because my record over 10 years of county cricket has been clean." Two days ago Hussain echoed fears expressed by the England management and published in the recent ECB report about the lack of men- tal toughness, when he commented on domestic cricket. He said: "This softness comes from playing county cricket, which is all very matey and lovey-dovey. No one is sledging any- one, we are all mates out there and it`s about a few cups of tea and maybe a Pimms or two afterwards. The gap between this cosy little world and Test cricket is immense." Essex needed just 11 of the 41 balls in hand at the restart yesterday to win. Glamorgan`s Darren Thomas took the wicket of Tim Hodg- son with his first ball after Waqar Younis`s interrupt- ed over cost a further three runs and the Welsh side sensed a return to Lord`s after an absence of 20 years but the match was ended with the last ball of the over when Thomas, aiming for a yorker, provided Such with a low full toss, which he hit for four. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)