Date-stamped : 18 Aug97 - 06:27 Saqlain turns in a hat-trick By Charles Randall at Lord`s First day of four: Surrey (123-2) trail Middlesex (205) by 82 runs SAQLAIN Mushtaq took a rare spinner`s hat-trick yesterday af- ternoon as Surrey squeezed some control out of this intrigu- ing game. The Pakistani`s hat-trick was the fifth recorded on the first- class circuit this summer and the first by a Surrey player since Sylvester Clarke 10 years ago. Oddly, Saqlain`s achievement came as lit- tle surprise. Twice Middlesex contrived to lose two wickets in successive balls before Keith Brown and Richard Johnson lofted the off- spinner casually for leg-side catches, with James Hewitt scuffing the hat-trick ball to silly mid-on at the start of Saqlain`s next over. Hewitt`s departure meant that Middlesex had lost seven wickets for 20 in 13 overs, a collapse which seemed to suggest their champi- onship push had been a sham. Championship hat-tricks had been relatively common over the past few seasons, but one had not been taken by a spinner since Harvey Trump, of Somerset, achieved the feat five years ago. Middlesex`s peculiar death-wish strategy suggested that they mis- trusted the pitch, but Mark Butcher led Surrey`s fluent re- ply in the evening with a quality fifty in under two hours. Middlesex had reason to be grateful that Alec Stewart, rested for this match, was not around to cash in. Keith Brown, standing in for Mark Ramprakash - absent for the morning at his grandfather`s funeral - won what had seemed like a good toss, with first use of a pale, dry strip. The problem was that Middlesex`s batting became tied down by ac- curate seam- bowling - notably from Ben Hollioake - and Saqlain, with cunning and control beyond his 20 years, opened a beehive of a middle order, batsmen whizzing in and out with startling speed. Mike Gatting and Owais Shah built a third-wicket platform from which nothing materialised except a last-wicket stand of 43, and that sign-off owed much to Angus Fraser`s three heaved sixes off Saqlain. Gatting`s timing looked below par during his 54, though he brought up his fifty with a vintage pull off Hollioake, and he and his partner both departed top-edging nondescript leg-side strokes. Ramprakash, the beating heart of Middlesex`s batting this sea- son, miscued to fine leg and was followed by Keith Dutch next ball, caught at slip. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Hollioake justifies the risks By Charles Randall at Lord`s Middx (205 &24-1) trail Surrey (531-9) by 302 runs ADAM HOLLIOAKE scored his first hundred of the season - about time, it could be said - and Surrey spent the day giving Middle- sex a batting lesson. The name Hollioake has been cropping up in all corners, but at headquarters the impact is die-cast after Ben Hollioake`s one- day 63 against Australia here, followed by his match-winning 98 in the Benson and Hedges Cup final. Adam`s innings yesterday, easily a career best, was even more significant. If there was a hint of recklessness from Eng- land`s selectors when they drafted him into the Ashes squad, his de- struction of Middlesex would have soothed most doubts, be- cause here was a man who could shoulder England`s batting burden for years to come. England`s eyebrow-raising move towards a batsman down at six for Surrey, without a first-class hundred this summer, has been explained - as has, to some extent, Ben`s emergence after almost no dis- cernible county form. Adam took few risks in attack and yet he seemed to toy with the Middlesex bowling for a hundred in 159 balls, following up with two leg-side sixes each off the fast-medium of Richard John- son and Angus Fraser. It was Johnson who had Mark Butcher caught at first slip in the morning and he returned to get rid of Alistair Brown, pulling to midwicket, when Surrey`s fourth-wicket stand had risen to 150 in only 32 overs. Brown reversed-swept Phil Tufnell violently for four to reach his fifty in 70 balls, quicker than his captain, and all too typi- cally Hollioake reverse-swept his own four in the left-arm spinner`s next over that matched Brown with an almost insulting efficiency. When Middlesex took the new ball, runs poured, with 45 coming in 22 balls. Fraser`s first ball was deposited by Adam over midwick- et, as though to emphasise that reputation counted for nothing. By tea Ben Hollioake had sped to his fifty in 63 balls and his elder brother had reached 182, with Middlesex`s credibility in tat- ters. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Britannic County Championship: Muscular display by Surrey By Charles Randall at Lord`s Surrey (531-9 dec) bt Middlesex (205 & 201) by innings & 125 runs THE return of Mark Ramprakash to England colours coincided with a second-ball duck and a dreadful Middlesex defeat here yester- day. Omens do not come much worse. Surrey did themselves a power of good with this muscle-flexing show. Adam Hollioake might look back on Saturday`s 182 as a key point in his career, and Saqlain Mushtaq showed the sort of ability that wins not only games but championships. England`s selectors seem to have agreed that Ramprakash`s first season as captain, plus a vintage summer with the bat, has increased his stature in the game sufficiently, with Middle- sex`s decent championship placing another plus. As Middlesex`s batting backbone, he has recorded four champi- onship hundreds and a 97, and when the Oval party was confirmed yes- terday, he expressed his eagerness to get on with the job. But he would not be human if he did not feel a slight tremor of anxiety. Ramprakash`s false dawns have been frequent, one of the best batsmen in England producing enough mediocrity to defy logic during a 19-Test career to date. The amateur psychologists have had a field day analysing why this fine batsman could fail to make the higher plane successful- ly. One thing is for certain, the player cannot explain it him- self. Perhaps captaincy has somehow strengthened him - but he dis- missed that idea yesterday. `I`m not aware of being captain when I`m bat- ting," he said. "It doesn`t bother me one way or the other." He indicated before the start of yesterday`s play that he did not want to put extra pressure on himself with retrospection. "I`m very happy with the way I`ve played this year and I`m look- ing forward to the game," he added. A family bereavement and the approaching birth of his first child will have to be pushed to the back of his mind while he makes a name for himself. Middlesex`s heaviest defeat for two years yesterday was almost irrelevant. Mark Butcher, with a very good 79 for Surrey, said he was "happy and relieved" to be back in England`s favour, with high hopes of succeeding on his home pitch. "When I was left out of the fifth Test, it was a strange feeling," he said. "I felt emp- ty." Phil Tufnell must have had a stranger feeling, closer to de- spair, when he was omitted from each of the first five Tests. Before the Surrey match, he had had only one 40-over match in three weeks. Little went right for Ramprakash in the Surrey match after he returned from his grandfather`s funeral on Friday afternoon. He became entangled in a domino-effect collapse, with Saqlain picking up his maiden first class hat-trick, and then he watched his bowlers thrashed by Adam Hollioake and company. Yesterday, an impressive 72 by Jason Pooley only delayed an inevitable Middlesex defeat. They had been used to collapsing in the Sun- day League anyway, and Saqlain`s skill undermined them convincing- ly. The Pakistani even had his eyes on a second hat-trick in the match when Keith Dutch and Keith Brown popped up catches in suc- ces- sive balls. He finished with a total of 10 wickets for the second time in a row. On Wednesday, at Durham, Middlesex will have to learn to bat without Ramprakash. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)