It is the home of cricket for those who aspire to play the game anywhere in the world. It is the centrepiece of English cricket where one-day finals, in addition to Test matches, are annually and traditionally held. It moved into Rollins with Chapple’s arm and then seamed away off the pitch and hit the top of the off-stump Don Bradman would have struggled with that one. The fact that it was produced for a showpiece one-day final made it even more culpable and no amount of diplomatic wriggling by those in charge at Lord’s must be allowed to blur the issue. Roger Knight, the secretary of MCC, blamed the weather as well as the pitch but he said: “It was not a pitch for a side to be bowled out for 50 on.”
I would have liked to have seen him try to play the shooter from Glen Chapple which cut back and bowled Ronnie Irani.He would not have had any more success with the one which bowled Robert Rollins either.

It was a travesty of a cricket pitch. For once, it was all too much for Graham Gooch, whose 25 years at the club suddenly caught up with him Gooch has never taken losing lightly. At one stage it looked as if he had exiled himself out on the pitch, remaining becalmed on the same score for 10 overs. Yet to participate in such a non-event was bitter humiliation of a proud Essex man, and he went home unable to raise any enthusiasm for a team night out in the West End.For Lancashire, the win proves little that is not already known: they are a brilliant and resilient one-day side. Unfortunately, beyond the chanting euphoria of their supporters, the club knows that all the one- day baubles in the world will not give them the respect they crave and which only a Championship will bring.But as bewildered, half-sozzled Essex fans still seeking explanation will perhaps now know, glory and disaster are but a corner turned down a once-familiar street.NatWest Trophy final scoreboardEssex won tossLANCASHIREJ E R Gallian lbw b Irani 21M A Atherton b Ilott 4J P Crawley st Rollins b Such 66N H Fairbrother b Irani 9G D Lloyd c Gooch b Irani 1*M Watkinson b Such 18W K Hegg b Grayson 15I D Austin c Cowan b Grayson 18G Chapple c Cowan b Grayson 4G Yates run out 9P J Martin not out 5Extras (b4, lb3, w5, nb4) 16Total (60 overs) 186Fall: 1-16, 2-48, 3-86, 4-88, 5-122, 6-139, 7-157, 8-168, 9-175.Bowling: Ilott 12-2-29-1; Williams 7.4-0-39-0; Irani 12-5-25-3; Cowan 12-2-33-0; Such 12-1-29-2; Grayson 4.2-0-24-3.ESSEXG A Gooch lbw b Gallian 10A P Grayson c Hegg b Martin 6N Hussain c Hegg b Martin 2*P J Prichard c Fairbrother b Martin 6R C Irani b Chapple 5D D J Robinson c Fairbrother b Chapple 2R J Rollins b Chapple 0M C Ilott lbw b Chapple 0N F Williams not out 11A P Cowan b Chapple 11P M Such b Chapple 0Extras (lb1, w3) 4Total (27.2 overs) 57Fall: 1-13, 2-17, 3-25, 4-31, 5-33, 6-33, 7-33, 8-34, 9-57.Bowling: Martin 10-2-17-3; Austin 7-3-10-0; Chapple 6.2-1-18-6; Gallian 4-0-11-1.Umpires: P Willey and D R Shepherd.Man of the match: G Chapple.. Only some injudicious shots against Peter Such’s confining off-spin betrayed the perceived insecurity of their situation, and Mike Watkinson was bowled giving himself room while Crawley was nimbly stumped by the alert Robert Rollins after an inside edge had trickled awkwardly behind the batsman.From that moment, it was all Lancashire as Essex, who have had an unrivalled capacity for turning setbacks into crises, edged haplessly to waiting hands.

To their credit, Lancashire did not panic even when they lost their main playmakers, Neil Fairbrother and Graham Lloyd, just before lunch. One can only imagine that umpire David Shepherd took it upon himself to make a game of it, which Crawley’s 66 more than did. If not, there can be no other explanation and Ilott might as well keep mute forever more.Injustice or not, Crawley made the most of it, as he clipped and cut Essex’s softer offerings amongst the peaches, marshalling Lancashire’s response with unruffled aplomb. It is true that Ilott rarely swings the ball as he did on Saturday, but Crawley’s was the perfect left-arm swing bowler’s delivery – the late inswing catching Crawley’s half-cocked pad in front of middle stump.Had that other Essex left-armer John Lever been denied such instances, his career tally would have been cut in half. Indeed, Lancashire later revealed they would have batted had the coin fallen favourably. It was a decision that looked far shrewder in hindsight than it did at their innings end, when their modest 186 had looked distinctly vulnerable.Essex had bowled well, or so we thought. It was not until Peter Martin’s bouncy outswing and Chapple’s zippy doodlebugs threw the Essex bowler’s efforts into sharp relief that criticisms began to surface.