Date-stamped : 26 Jun96 - 18:18 NatWest Trophy 1996 (Round 1) Yorkshire v Nottinghamshire Headingley, Leeds 25 June 1996 ====> REPORT Impressive Moxon puts Notts to the sword By Neville Scott at Headingley Yorkshire (345-5) bt Notts (140) by 205 runs A POSTER at the South Parade Baptist Church outside Headingley tells us that what we urgently need is the "feel-God factor". For Nottinghamshire, whose season effectively ended yesterday, prayer would indeed now seem the only hope. But Yorkshire continue to march on. From the first overs on this pitch, the prospect of what Michael Bevan, Paul Johnson or Chris Cairns might inflict was enough to leave grown bowlers quivering. Like early martyrs, Notts were simply flayed alive. Johnson and Cairns failed, however, and the game was up with their dismissals in 20 balls after tea. At that stage, beyond salvation at 98 for four, needing 248 more at 7.83, they meekly subsided. Bevan arrived at the perfect time when, in the 47th over, an out-of-touch David Byas was taken at long-off. Martyn Moxon, en route to a competition-best 137 from 157 balls, had just posted his century. When Bevan went in the final over, becoming too outrageous even for his own prodigious one-day talent, his 69 had come from 42 balls. His placement, falling away as he cut the spinner through extra cover off the front foot, for example, was breath- taking. For 10 years or so, the agreed line has been that Dean Jones is the world`s best limited-overs batsman. If there is a pretender to dispute that tag now it is arguably Bevan. He had initially the best of partners in man-of-the-match Moxon, 10 years his senior, almost to the day. Moxon, now 36, increases one`s admiration by the innings. When, in the 17th over, the former England batsman pulled Mark Bowen for six he completed 1,000 NatWest runs and became the first Yorkshire player to record two hundreds in the competi- tion. Already 50 had come in boundaries from Moxon and the alert, elegant Michael Vaughan as Notts proved reluctant to defend. Moxon`s flow of runs this summer - he averages 88 in the cham- pionship - has been interrupted only by the inevitable broken thumb. Where boxers have glass jaws, he has glass digits, described once by a surgeon as reminiscent of an arthritic pensioner`s. Surviving sharp chances off Chris Tolley on 84 and 124, Moxon provided the core of the highest score made in a one-day game involving Yorkshire. Notts needed 25 more than any side have ever made to win bat- ting second over 60 overs. By tea, they had lost Tim Robinson, driving a slower ball to cover, and Paul Pollard, yorked, yet retained slim hopes. But Johnson, advancing to Richard Stemp, immediately lost his leg stump and Cairns, attempting a dab to third man, was caught behind. Stemp, who was awarded his cap after career-best one-day figures of four for 45, ensured the second biggest victo- ry margin by one first-class county over another in the trophy`s history. In a championship where inconsistency has returned as the norm, Yorkshire are well placed for the run-in with all-round bowling strength and depth of youthful talent. A disappointing Benson and Hedges Cup semi-final defeat is behind them but, on this form, Lord`s still beckons in the NatWest. Source :: Electronic Telegraph (http.//www.telegraph.co.uk) Contributed by Shash (shs2@*.cwru.edu)