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CC2: Read ton leads Notts home

Saturday, May 29 2004

Nottinghamshire v Durham, Trent Bridge
Read the hero with the bat

This closest of encounters ended with the home side victorious, but not after the fiercest of fourth-day struggles to match each of the first three.

Resuming at their overnight 86-2 and chasing a further 205 for victory and to further consolidate their position at the head of the table, Notts received an early blow with the almost immediate loss of Jason Gallian for a gritty half century, caught by Gary Pratt off the bowling of Neil Killeen.

Fellow overnight partner and, by all accounts, England batsman-in-waiting Kevin Pietersen followed for 19 within the first hour of play as Durham pressed, this damage done on this occasion by Mark Davies.

The much-maligned Chris Read, conversely England's batting hero in the one-dayers against the West Indies on more than one occasion recently, proved yet again that he can wield the blade to great effect when the chips are down. He and first-innings centurion David Hussey added a rapid 40 for the fifth wicket, but with the total on 152, Davies struck again to remove Hussey for 35.

When Paul Franks went for 14, undone by the off-spin of Gareth Breese, Notts were six down and still 100 short of their target. Read, though, is making a name for himself as a man who can be relied on in a crisis. He added 30 with Richard Logan whose own contribution was just 4, then in Greg Smith found the partner to sail the ship home.

Despite all the best efforts of the Durham attack, with one eye on the leaden skies and the other on the number of overs before the new ball became available, Read and Smith pressed the accelerator firmly to the floor.

The pair added 73 in an unbeaten eighth wicket stand of just under an hour which saw the home favourites through to victory by three wickets and with the tail-ender-threatening new ball still a distant 4 overs away.

Notts had Chris Read to thank for that as he first nudged then stroked and belted the boundaries, striking 17 fours and a six in a splendid unbeaten 108, an innings he compiled in a little over two and a half hours.

Nottinghamshire 325
Hussey 166*, Davies 6-78
and 294-7
Read 108*, Gallian 50
Durham 300
Lewis 77, Muchall 60, MacGill 6-81
and 315
G Pratt 71, Collingwood 68, Franks 5-41, MacGill 3-54

Nottinghamshire won by 3 wickets.

Nottinghamshire 20 points, Durham 6 points

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Derbyshire v Glamorgan, Derby
Glamorgan brush Derbyshire aside

Glamorgan never relaxed their firm grip on this game, a grip they had held from the moment Elliott and Wallace had shared in a massive 168 partnership for the first wicket on a sunny opening day. Eventually, shortly after tea on the fourth, the grip tightened so far that Derbyshire's resistance was finally throttled out.

The visitors started day 4 on 188-6, a lead of 270 over a home side who have been unexpectedly resilient this season, if not exactly setting the cricketing world alight since the acrimonious departure of the mercurial Dominic Cork in the close season.

The intoxicating David Hemp continued where he had left off the night before, gently accumulating another milestone, this time a 19th century to go with the career 10,000 runs he had notched up the day before. Graeme Welch took his tally of wickets in the innings to five and, come the declaration, Derbyshire were left with the small matter of 341 to win.

It would have required some resolute batting for Derbyshire to extract a draw from the match, but it was never to be. They lost Gait, Stubbings and Botha in the first hour and the pattern was set.

Hassan Adnan (55) and Graeme Welch (45) added some respectability but with Glamorgan's bowlers firmly in command, there was nowhere to go for the Derbyshire batsmen except back to the pavilion.

Spin duo Robert Croft and Dean Cosker picked up three wickets apiece, and when Alex Wharf finally clean bowled Nicholas Walker to administer the coup-de-grace, the writing had been on the wall for some time.

Glamorgan 474
Wallace 87, Elliott 77, Powell 56, Dean 3-77
and 259-8 dcl
Hemp 102*, Welch 5-100
Derbyshire 392
Stubbings 96, Hassan Adnan 95, Bassano 64, Harrison 3-58, Cosker 3-93
and 213
Hassan Adnan 55, Croft 3-35, Cosker 3-40

Glamorgan won by 128 runs
Glamorgan 22 points, Derbyshire 7 points

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Somerset v Essex, Taunton
One Bowler too many, one bowler too few

The prospects of victory for Somerset had long since ridden off into the sunset, even before the fourth day of this game had started. A sporting declaration by Essex skipper Paul Grayson had never arrived - instead, the visitors had endeavoured to bat the home side out of the contest and take their chances with the English weather, clearly aware of the damage Durham had done at the same venue recently.

Such a timid approach was ultimately rewarded with its just desserts. Without the injured Danish Kaneria unavailable, Essex were hard-pressed to do any more than chip away at one end. At the other stood the oldest man in the English first class game, one Peter Duncan Bowler, born an M5 motorway dash away almost 41 years before.

He needs special dispensation nowadays to bat away from Taunton, groundsmen being particularly concerned regarding the damage that zimmer frames can do to their manicured lawns, but at the tree-stump-lined County Ground with its short boundaries and even shorter, non-taxing stroll from the comfy chair in the pavilion to the middle, Bowler is in his element.

Bowler batted for over six hours in this his 45th hundred, still an awful long way behind Graeme Hick who notched up his 125th the other day, but not bad for an 'old un'. There was never a chance that Somerset would be induced into chasing a mirage of a victory target as high as 475, but a Bowler masterclass is entertainment enough. Make the most of them - there may not be too many more.

Anyway, back to less interesting matters. Essex huffed and puffed, Grayson was left to rue his ultra-cautious decision of the previous day, the rains came, the players took an early tea, Peter Bowler had bread and milk, drank his tea out of a saucer, lost his dentures, found them again, fed the cat, had a little nap and was still far too good for Essex when they got back out again, finally ending undefeated on 138.

Essex 400-9 dcl
Middlebrook 115, Jefferson 95, Napier 79, Caddick 6-80
and 413
Flower 173, Foster 104*, McLean 5-87, Blackwell 3-146
Somerset 339
Cox 86, Johnson 56, Caddick 54, Clarke 3-61
and 271-6
Bowler 138*

Match drawn
Essex 12 points, Somerset 10 points


Posted by Eddie