1997 Benson & Hedges Cup

The 1997 Benson & Hedges Cup was the twenty-sixth edition of cricket's Benson & Hedges Cup. It was an English limited overs county cricket tournament which was held between 28 April and 12 July 1997.^[3]

1997 Benson & Hedges Cup

Administrator(s)	England and Wales Cricket Board
Cricket format	Limited overs cricket (50 overs per innings)
Champions	Surrey (2nd title)
Participants	22
Matches	57
Most runs	384 Alec Stewart (Surrey)[1]
Most wickets	17 Matthew Fleming (Kent)[2]
← 1996 1998 →

The competition was won by Surrey County Cricket Club for the second time, defeating Kent County Cricket Club by 8 wickets in the final at Lord's on 12 July 1997.

Fixtures and results

Group stage

Group A

Team	Pld	W	L	NR	A	Pts	NRRA100
Yorkshire	5	4	1	0	0	8	16.132
Warwickshire	5	3	2	0	0	6	15.220
Derbyshire	5	3	2	0	0	6	2.689
Lancashire	5	3	2	0	0	6	-1.503
Worcestershire	5	2	3	0	0	4	-3.896
Minor Counties	5	0	5	0	0	0	-28.565

Source:^[4]

Group B

Team	Pld	W	L	NR	A	Pts	NRRA100
Leicestershire	4	3	1	0	0	6	18.149
Northamptonshire	4	3	1	0	0	6	9.131
Durham	4	2	2	0	0	4	14.744
Nottinghamshire	4	1	2	0	1	3	-12.968
Scotland	4	0	3	0	1	1	-51.265

Source:^[4]

Group C

Team	Pld	W	L	NR	A	Pts	NRRA100
Kent	5	4	0	1	0	9	9.850
Surrey	5	4	1	0	0	8	21.192
Gloucestershire	5	2	2	1	0	5	7.062
Sussex	5	2	3	0	0	4	-0.512
Hampshire	5	1	4	0	0	2	-15.496
British Universities	5	1	4	0	0	2	-18.565

Source:^[4]

Group D

Team	Pld	W	L	NR	A	Pts	NRRA100
Essex	4	3	0	0	1	7	8.538
Somerset	4	3	1	0	0	6	29.875
Glamorgan	4	2	2	0	0	4	-6.827
Ireland	4	1	2	0	1	3	-32.622
Middlesex	4	0	4	0	0	0	-6.750

Source:^[4]

Quarter-finals

27 May 1997 (scorecard)

Essex 214 all out (45.5 overs)	v	Surrey 215/4 (42.3 overs)
Nasser Hussain 52 Martin Bicknell 3/40 (10 overs)		Graham Thorpe 73 Mark Ilott 2/60 (10 overs)

Surrey won by 6 wickets County Ground, Chelmsford Umpires: John Harris & Mervyn Kitchen Player of the match: Martin Bicknell (Surrey)

27 May 1997 (scorecard)

Warwickshire 304/8 (50 overs)	v	Kent 306/6 (49.3 overs)
Neil Smith 125 Matthew Fleming 4/58 (10 overs)		Matthew Walker 117 Gladstone Small 2/51 (10 overs)

Kent won by 4 wickets St Lawrence Ground, Canterbury Umpires: George Sharp & Alan Whitehead Player of the match: Matthew Walker (Kent)

27 May 1997 (scorecard)

Leicestershire 197 all out (46.2 overs)	v	Somerset 177 all out (47.5 overs)
Ben Smith 61 Harvey Trump 4/51 (10 overs)		Andy Caddick 38 Alan Mullally 3/33 (9 overs)

Leicestershire won by 20 runs Grace Road, Leicester Umpires: Barrie Leadbeater & Bob White Player of the match: David Millns (Leicestershire)

27 May 1997 (scorecard)

Yorkshire 253/9 (50 overs)	v	Northamptonshire 254/3 (46 overs)
Michael Vaughan 85 David Capel 5/51 (10 overs)		Rob Bailey 70* Craig White 1/44 (10 overs)

Northamptonshire won by 7 wickets Headingley Cricket Ground, Leeds Umpires: Barrie Meyer & Nigel Plews Player of the match: David Capel (Northamptonshire)

Semi-finals

10 June 1997 (scorecard)

Kent 206/8 (50 overs)	v	Northamptonshire 140 all out (46 overs)
Trevor Ward 78 David Follett 2/30 (5 overs)		Rob Bailey 33 Paul Strang 4/29 (10 overs)

Kent won by 66 runs St Lawrence Ground, Canterbury Umpires: Allan Jones & Roy Palmer Player of the match: Dean Headley (Kent)

10 June 1997 (scorecard)

Surrey 308/8 (50 overs)	v	Leicestershire 178 all out (45.3 overs)
Alec Stewart 87 Alan Mullally 2/53 (10 overs)		Paul Nixon 53 Martin Bicknell 4/41 (10 overs)

Surrey won by 130 runs The Foster's Oval, London Umpires: John Holder & Ray Julian Player of the match: Martin Bicknell (Surrey)

Final

12 July 1997 (scorecard)

Kent 212/9 (50 overs)	v	Surrey 215/2 (45 overs)
Mark Ealham 52 Chris Lewis 3/39 (10 overs)		Ben Hollioake 98 Mark Ealham 1/31 (6 overs)

Surrey won by 8 wickets Lord's, London Umpires: George Sharp & David Shepherd Player of the match: Ben Hollioake (Surrey)