Reeve swings it for England Masters on Weekend of Legends

Trent Bridge's Weekend of Legends ended with a thrilling contest between the England Masters and their Australian counterparts. Set 249 for victory Australia were dismissed in the final over for 215, giving England the win by 33 runs.

After the mid-session break England struck an early blow by dismissing Geoff Marsh for just one, Chris Lewis clean bowling him in the fourth over.

The ex-Durham pairing of Dean Jones and David Boon then combined to nurse the Australians up to 58 by the end of the 15th over. Boon, in particular, looked to punish anything loose and it was with great relief that skipper Graham Gooch could relax the fielding restrictions.

Gooch dropped Boon on 39 at midwicket and shortly afterwards the unfortunate bowler Peter Hartley (ex Yorks and Hants) was slogged for six by Jones.

Jones reached a deserved 50 (61 mins 51 balls 8x4) with a clip to leg which also brought up the 100. His partner, on 44, tried to reach the same landmark in one go but skied Hartley to deep extra cover where Alan Wells scooped to take a low catch on the run.

Dermot Reeve's introduction to the attack met with immediate reward when he nipped one back to bowl Jones for a splendid 65.

Aussies skipper Allan Border got off the mark with a trademark clip through the leg side but fell on eight when he pulled a Reeve full toss straight to Wells.

Reeve, looking like Spiderman in his red and blue kit, turned Superhero when he then picked up the wickets of Tom Moody, smartly stumped by Bruce French, and clean bowled both Simon O'Donnell and Kim Hughes. Reeve's seven overs had brought him 5-26.

With 84 needed from eight overs Mike Gatting and then Derek Randall were given a bowl and Tony Dodemaide (ex Victoria and Sussex) helped himself with sixes off each of them.

Captain Gooch then brought himself on and his day turned for the better when he cleaned up Ian Healy for nine and after Dodemaide hit another six he hoisted to long on where Neil Foster took the catch.

In a frenzied finale Randall and then Bruce French bowled some gentle lobs but were rewarded with the wickets of Geoff Lawson and Jeff Thomson to give England victory in the last over.

Earlier England overcame the loss of Graham Gooch for a duck in the first over to post 248-8, with Derek Randall top scoring with 54 and other notable contributions coming from Chris Lewis with 41, Tim Robinson (38) and Dermot Reeve (35). For the Aussies Dean Jones had most success with the ball, picking up 3-41, although both Jeff Thomson and Geoff Lawson bowled impressive spells.