NWS: Eng & NZ Win Comfortably
Tuesday, June 22 2004
NatWest Series 2004: Pre Match Warm Up Games.
Essex v New Zealanders (50 Overs) @ County Ground, Chelmsford (day/night)
The New Zealanders sprung back from a surprise defeat at the hands of Derbyshire to comprehensively trounce a strong Essex line up inside just 39 overs, thanks to a brutal century from the young Hamish Marshall.
Batting first Essex made a solid total of 243 thanks mainly to their captain Irani who hit 72* from just 91 deliveries and a fine contribution of 57 from Grayson before he was run out with the score on 143, the rest of the Essex batsman all made fine starts but were unable to go on.
Bopara helped Essex cause late on as he and Irani ended the innings with a quick fire stand, Bopara finishing 40 not out from just 47 balls.
For the New Zealanders the bowlers did a fine job off drawing the Essex batsman back after a quick starts with wickets to Tuffey and Oram. However that was the end of the success to the bowlers but the quintet of Tuffey, Carins, Harris and Styris all bowled extremely tightly to unsure that the total never got to far from view.
In reply the New Zealanders required 244 runs from 50 overs.
Despite losing their captain with the score on just 5, the New Zealanders showed their class as Astle and Marshall raced along scoring with ease.
Although Astle fell just short of his fifty and Styris going cheaply the wickets didn't spark a collapse as Marshall although still relatively inexperienced showed his ability to marshal the innings with the help of McMillian through to the sight of victory.
Marshall completed his century from a mere 84 balls and including 15x4's, however shortly after he fell for 111 as Clarke clean bowled him with the target within sight.
The result was never in doubt and Carins joined McMillian to wrap up a resounding win inside just 39 overs, all of the Essex bowlers picked up a wicket, but all at cost as the most economical figures were from Clarke who bowled his ten overs for 51 runs.
Essex: 243/3 (Irani 72*, Grayson 57; Tuffey 1/38, Oram 1/51)
New Zealanders: 246/5 (Marshall 111, McMillian 52*; Clarke 1/51)
Result: New Zealanders Won By 5 Wickets
Cricket Web MOM: H.Marshall
NatWest Challenge: Wales v England at Cardiff (50 Overs)
England began their warm up stint towards the NatWest series with a thumping win over their Welsh counterparts in the now annual event.
Batting first the Welsh lead by former England spinner Robert Croft made a poor start with both the openers back in the pavilion with the score on just 38.
Powell and Hemp lead the fight back for the Welsh side as Hemp hit a solid 52 and Powell falling just one short of his fifty for 49. Other than those two the Welsh side just couldn't get the momentum going as players continued to get little starts before falling around the late teens early twenties.
Late in the show wicket keeper Wallace added a brisk 31 undefeated from 37 balls to take the score above 200, the Welsh side just a few overs later ended the innings on 223/8 from their allotted 50 overs.
The England team lead by Trescothick while Vaughan took a well-deserved rest, played well as a unit despite a fair few changes from the side that stepped out under the Caribbean sun (rain) last month.
Anderson on his return to the fold returned fine figures of 2/43 from his ten overs, while debutant Mahmood while slightly expensive did his chances no harm with a return of 2/42 from his eight overs. All six bowlers who got a run out took a wicket and kept the scoring rate down.
In reply England required 224 runs from 50 overs.
England made the worst possible start as the stand in skipper departed the scene after facing just eight balls for his one run, and the Welsh thinking of upsetting the English for the second time in three years.
However it was the Kent duo of Key and Jones who stopped the rot and set about building England a solid foundation. You could have been forgiven that Flintoff had come in at three in disguise as Jones destroyed the bowlers with ease scoring 21 from just 20 balls, but all but one of those runs came from boundaries.
Although falling for 21 and the score only on 30, Jones had provided the spark that Key and Strauss followed as the pair raced along making the job look all to easy.
Key making his return to the England fold had a point to prove and needed to get his name back into the hat for the series, however Strauss wasn't going to be upstaged by the new boy and the pair raced along neck and neck for much of the innings.
By the time Key finally departed for 83 (95) the score was already at 168 and the pair had put on 138 in less than 30 overs.
With the attacking Key no longer at the middle it was the set Strauss who took up the mantle and scored the bulk of the remaining runs as Collingwood provided good support for a while until a good catch behind score him depart for 13 (15), it was left to McGrath to stand at the non-strikers end as Strauss took the team over the line finishing the innings with a fine 92*.
For the Welsh bowlers it was a hard toil as Key and Strauss led a brutal assault, Harrison by far and way come out of it with the best figures of the day as his eight overs cost just 29 runs and taking two key wickets (Tescothick/Jones) in the process. Jones was the other wicket taker picking up a respectable 2/45 from his eight overs.
England wrapping up an empathic win inside 40 overs and a fair few players giving the England selection team a headache ahead of the opening NatWest Series match with Key taking the MOM award and saving the English team blushes, Blackwell bowling a very tight spell and Mahmood although just a tad expensive showed his promise with two wickets, and not forgetting the unlucky Anderson who has sat out a lot of the recent England games came back bowling with pace and taking two wickets cheaply.
Wales: 223/8 (Hemp 52, Powell 49; Anderson 2/42, Mahmood 2/42)
England: 224/4 (Strauss 92*, Key 83; Harrison 2/29, Jones 2/45)
Result: England Won By 6 Wickets
Cricket Web MOM: Robert Key (Eng)
Posted by Richard
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