Marcus Hook’s Surrey CCC column: Moriarty’s achievement underlines that sport can deliver the extraordinary

Sport has a habit of throwing up the extraordinary, which is why we love it so much. When you’ve seen the amount of cricket I have you think you’ve witnessed it all. but, until this week, I’d never seen a bowler take three wickets in four balls to win a one-day game.

The gods were very nearly smiling on Surrey’s lesser lights as they headed north to take on Notts and Yorkshire in the One-Day Cup – a competition that has been played in front of packed out grounds, like Welbeck and York, due to The Hundred having first dibs on the big stadia.

No doubt it will be the same story this weekend at Guildford where, 36 years ago, Monte Lynch came on to bowl the last over – remarkably his first that day – with Northants, led by England’s Allan Lamb, needing just three to win.

Lynch’s part-time off-spin produced two wickets and Surrey won by a solitary run.

I reminded Monte of it when I saw him earlier this season.

“Lammy was absolutely livid,” said the former fans’ favourite.

“He didn’t hang around for a drink afterwards, Lammy just marched across the ground, jumped in his car and drove off.”

Buoyed by Dan Moriarty’s three wickets in four balls against Notts last Sunday, which handed the South Londoners their first victory in this season’s One-Day Cup, Surrey’s threadbare attack then had Yorkshire wobbling.

Lightning might have struck twice but for Harry Duke’s unbeaten 93, which got the Yorkies over the line by one wicket.

Barring another miracle, the Oval outfit will therefore bow out of the 50-over competition next week, which means they then face the prospect of 11 days without any first-team cricket.

If you think that’s bad, last year’s gap between their exit from the One-Day Cup and the business end of the County Championship in September was 19 days.

PICTURE: KEITH GILLARD