SPURRED BY an impressive performance from Andrew Flintoff, Lancashire extracted emphatic revenge over Surrey by beating them by 22 runs in the first semi-final of the Twenty20 Cup finals day.

Lancashire had not forgotten their slip-up against these opponents at the same stage of last year’s competition, when they fell short of Surrey’s 133 by one run, then the lowest total successfully defended in Twenty20 cricket. Their satisfaction was all the sweeter for their triumph taking place on Surrey’s home ground. They have so often fallen in recent years in the semi-finals of cup competitions that this was a significant psychological hurdle cleared.

The home supporters fell silent when Azhar Mahmood, the Pakistan allrounder, and Mark Ramprakash, who had put on 76 from 34 balls, fell in the space of four balls. Until then, Surrey had closely matched Lancashire’s progress in pursuit of a daunting target of 218 and these two were accelerating towards the finish line with no hint of trouble.

Almost as soon as they came together they took 16 off the 13th over of the innings, bowled by Gary Keedy, and 22 — the most expensive over of the match — off the next from Andy Crook.

By the start of the 18th over, they were 10 runs ahead of where Lancashire had been at the same stage and required a gettable 41 from 18 balls. But the return of James Anderson proved decisive. He conceded three from three balls before deceiving Azhar into driving to cover. With the first ball of the next over, Flintoff yorked Ramprakash and the game was up.

“Freddie is just such a fantastic cricketer,” said Ramprakash. “How England need him. Their big players came to the party, but he looked a cut above the rest with bat and ball. We were a bit rusty in the field and must look back on dropping a few hard chances.”

Surrey, the inaugural winners in 2003, were left to rue a string of mistakes in the field. They were hit with a six-run penalty for being one over behind the required rate. Ramprakash, the captain, must take some responsibility for this but had Jade Dernbach, his youthful new-ball bowler, been less wayward the problem would not have arisen. Dernbach bowled five wides and conceded 52 runs in his four overs.

Scott Newman let balls through his hands to gift two boundaries, the second of which was a chance to catch Flintoff. Ian Salisbury gave early reprieves to Stuart Law, who scored 38 from 23 balls, and Andrew Symonds, whose brutal unbeaten 52 from 29 balls drove Lancashire to 217.

But for all the self-inflicted wounds, Surrey’s main problem was that they were hit by a double dose of Andrews — Flintoff and Symonds, who between them scored 101 runs and took two vital wickets.

Flintoff, who crashed 49 from 29 balls, went in after Law and Mal Loye had given Lancashire a turbo-charged start with 56 in five overs. He got into his stride with two fours against Salisbury, pulling him through midwicket and then flat-batting him straight, an extraordinary shot.

He drove Salisbury straight for six in his next over before taking 16 off an over from Nayan Doshi, the only blemish in an excellent spell from the spinner, who bowled both Loye and Flintoff as they stepped back to cut.

While Flintoff was blazing away, Symonds contented himself playing second fiddle but once Flintoff had gone — and once Salisbury had let him off — he opened his shoulders. He took three boundaries off Dernbach’s final over and three more off Azhar’s. In the final analysis, the 39 runs (including six penalty runs) that Symonds and Dominic Cork took off the last two overs gave Lancashire a vital cushion.

Surrey were given an even better start by Ali Brown and James Benning than Lancashire had been by their openers. By the time Benning fell in the ninth over they had hit three sixes and 13 fours.

But Keedy bowling Benning off his pads was the first of four wickets Surrey lost in the space of four overs either side of a 20-minute rain break. Newman was caught off a top-edged sweep and Brown run out by a matter of inches thanks to a smart return from Lancashire captain Mark Chilton. Rikki Clarke, who has aspirations to return to the England one-day team soon, did himself no favours by committing an old sin, missing a reverse sweep.

That left Surrey needing 114 from 50 balls. It was a tall order but one Ramprakash and Azhar seemed capable of meeting until they fell so near the final hurdle.