Surrey power on

Defending Champions Surrey opened up a 26 point lead in the County Championship by securing the only positive result of the 3 games played, but Lancashire came very close to a victory.

Essex v Lancashire

West Indian Carl Hooper nearly won this game for his county on the final day after batting heroics from Glenn Chapple set up a run chase where Essex were never really in the hunt.

A result looked a certainty after a first day which saw Lancashire elect to bat, but be reduced to 34-4 and then 66-5 before Chapple joined Australian Stuart Law in a partial rescue job, Law hitting 80, and Chapple 31. Chris Schofield ensured the total made it over 200, with an unbeaten 35, but 218 was a disappointing effort. Scott Brant shone with the ball, taking 4-39 from 17 overs.

Peter Martin then struck twice in the first 4 balls of the reply, removing Paul Grayson and James Foster to make it 0-2. On the second day though, England captain Nasser Hussain continued his recent run of good form with 54, but after he and Andy Flower departed, there was little to follow, as Hooper collected 3-30 from 16.5 overs, and Martin finished with 4-60. Essex all out for 208, and there was 10 runs in it.

For the second time in the match, the Lancashire top order failed, and in the blink of an eye they were 13-3 and then 30-4, before Hooper joined Mark Chilton and they steadied the ship, Hooper smashing 50 from 64 balls, but his departure meant it was only 109-5. Enter Chapple and his fantastic unbeaten 132. With Chilton he added 79, before the latter fell for a crucial 70. Still, they were only just over 200 on, and 4 wickets remaining. Former England leg-spinner Schofield batted well for a second time, as he scored 38 out of stand of 64 in just over an hour, and with Warren Hegg coming in at 9, the recovery was complete, as he scored 61 not out to lift his team to 383-7 declared.

A target of 394 in 88 overs suggested that Lancashire had batted on a bit too long to make this a meaningful match, and until the introduction of Hooper, the game appeared to be meandering to a draw, as Essex reached 56-1 before Hussain became the West Indian's first victim, falling for 31. 1 run later, James Foster was dismissed, but Flower and Aftab Habib dug in to add 113 runs in just over 2 hours that looked to save the game. Then came a clatter of wickets as Hooper removed both of them and Chapple captured Ronnie Irani. With 20 minutes to go, the score was 230-6 though, and Essex looked safe, but Hooper struck agaion to remove James Middlebrook, and Schofield removed Jonathon Dakin for a defiant 45 minute knock of 4. Hooper then struck with the penultimate ball of the game to remove debutant Ryan ten Doeschate, but Brant tapped the last ball for a single to save the game, ending on 236-9, Hooper taking 6-51 in 32 overs.

Lancashire 218 (Law 80, Brant 4-39)
Essex 208 (Hussain 54, Flower 46, Martin 4-60)
Lancshire 383-7d (Chapple 132*, Chilton 70, Hegg 61*, Hooper 50)
Essex 236-9 (Habib 69, Flower 49, Hooper 6-51)


Leicestershire v Warwickshire

This game petered out into a draw after super bowling by Leicestershire on the 4th morning prevented a target being set.

Warwickshire batted first, but captain Mike Powell lasted just 3 balls before being bowled by his opposite number Phil DeFreitas. Nick Knight and Mark Wagh then added 78 before Wagh became the first of David Masters' 5 victims as he tore into the middle order, following it up with Ian Bell for a 2nd ball duck, as Warwickshire slip rapidly to 167-8 before Pakistani Waqar Younis came in at 10 and hit 52 from 69 balls to help the Bears to a final score of 253 all out including a last wicket stand of 60 in three-quarters of an hour.

Virender Sehwag started as if it were a one day game, but he soon perished, having blasted 30 from 21 balls, but Darren Maddy joined John Maunders and the pair put their county into a strong position with a 156 run partnership that lasted well into the second day. The bowlers struck back though, as the middle order offered little resistence while 7 wickets fell for 69, before Charles Dagnall and DeFreitas added 61 to push them to 328 all out and a lead of 75 - certinaly not as many as it may have been at one point.

Openers Powell and Ian Trott fell early on as Warwickshire fell to 20-2, but Wagh was again in form, and Ian Bell also looed in splendid touch as they added 224 in 207 minutes to put Warwickshire in command after the 3rd day, Bell being unfortunately run out for 93, but Wagh continued to another hundred, his second this summer. From 261-3 at the close, the game was on. DeFreitas was superb on the 4th morning, using all his experience to keep it tight, and also pick up wickets as Warwickshire struggled to add another 100 runs whilst using a lot of time up. In all 10 bowlers were used in the innings, only keeper Paul Nixon remaining inactive, and the Foxes needed 287 in 61 overs.

With Sehwag in the ranks, anything was possible, but when his wicket fell at 77-3, a run a ball 40 that set the scoreboard moving, a draw looked a probability. Aussie Brad Hodge did his best to lift his side with a fine century, but he was bowled by the key bowler was Alan Richardson, who conceded just 29 runs from 17 overs, whilst collecting 3 wickets, and shortly afterwards the chase was called off at 241-6.

Warwickshire 253 (Knight 66, Waqar 52, Masters 5-53)
Leicestershire 328 (Maddy 98, Maunders 64, DeFreitas 45, Betts 4-88)
Warwickshire 361 (Wagh 138, Bell 93, DeFreitas 6-78)
Leicestershire 241-6 (Hodge 128, Sehwag 40)


Surrey v Kent

Kent capitulated to the twin spinners on the last day Oval pitch.

Captaining the side, Mark Butcher won the toss and batted, proceeding to dominate the attack personally for 144. With Graeme Thorpe supplying the main support with 68, and batting down the order, the Kent bowlers were milked throughout the innings for well in excess of 4 an over as 401 was posted. Ben Trott and Robert Ferley both picked up 4 wickets, but Mohammed Sami again flattered to deceive and the bowling was generally outclassed.

In reply, Kent's batsmen showed a lot of fight, after 2 early wickets, Ed Smith anchoring the innings with 135, and Andy Symonds and Matt Walker both posting half centuries, so that Kent were able to declare on obtaining the 4th batting point at 352-5 in an attempt to make a game of it.

A sucession of part time bowlers were employed as Butcher blasted 90 from just 74 balls with 9 fours and 4 sixes. Surrey raced along at over 5 an over before the declaration early on the 4th day at 251-3 left Alistair Brown unbeaten on 64.

Kent were never in the hunt for the 301 target, and although they got to 61-2, 7 of the remaining 8 wickets well to either the off spin of Saqlain Mushtaq (4-27 off 14 overs) or the leg spin of Ian Salisbury (3-11 off 5.4 overs) as they collapsed to 114 all out and a massive defeat.

Surrey 401 (Butcher 144, Thorpe 68, Trott 4-73, Ferley 4-76)
Kent 352-5d (Smith 135, Walker 82*, Symonds 53)
Surrey 251-3d (Butcher 90, Brown 64*, Thorpe 46)
Kent 114 (Saqlain 4-27)

Posted by Marc