Cook Lord's it up

9:49am Sunday 6th July 2008

Alistair Cook reckons helping Essex to reach a Lord's final is on a par with anything he has achieved with England.

Cook made 95 to help the Eagles overwhelm Yorkshire by 87 runs to reach the final of the Friends Provident Trophy for the first time in 11 years.

Cook said: "I'm lucky to play for England in front of packed houses. That is unbelievable, but this is definitely up there with that."

"To reach a Lord's final is indescribable," he added. "You are playing with your best mates. I've grown up playing here and know we are going to have one of the great days out in cricket.

"It will be even better if we can produce the goods against Kent - which we know we are capable of. To have a chance of winning a trophy with Essex at the home of cricket will be something special."

The left-hander rode his luck at times on Saturday, but set a platform for Graham Napier to hammer 61 off only 34 balls. The Tykes then lost their last nine wickets for only 58 runs to ensure Essex will meet Kent in the final on August 16.

Yorkshire skipper Darren Gough was denied the chance of a showpiece final in his last season before he hangs up his spikes at the age of 38 in September.

The former England pace man felt his side left themselves with too much to do in the final stages of their innings when chasing a target of 286 in 50 overs.

Gough said: "I can understand what our guys were thinking, but you can't score eight or nine runs an over against a world-class leg-spinner like Danish Kaneria.

"We were just knocking the ball around, and I thought we left ourselves with too much to do in the final 15 overs."

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