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CC2: Danish dozen - plus one

Saturday, June 5 2004

Essex v Yorkshire, Chelmsford
Lehmann has Essex in a spin despite Kaneria

A second brilliant bowling performance of the game by Danish Kaneria helped Essex into what was only a position of momentary ascendancy at Chelmsford yesterday as the visitors struck back with spin twins of their own.

Yorkshire resumed on their overnight 40-1, just 36 ahead of the home side in what had been a hard-fought tussle over the first two days of the contest. The first half an hour brought problems though as Kaneria removed Kirby, then caught Anthony McGrath off the bowling of former Yorkshire hero Darren Gough.

This brought Darren Lehmann to the crease, and he and Michael Wood gave Essex the runaround for the next three hours as the pair added 135 for the fourth wicket. With the total on 188, the pair were parted as Wood edged Andrew Clarke through to James Foster for 81.

Until this point, Danish Kaneria had been a mere bit-part player in the innings, but he moved up to the starring role when he trapped Lehmann leg before for 86, then ran through the rest of the Yorkshire side in the next hour to finish with 7-65 to go with the small matter of 6-121 in the first innings.

Essex opened their second innings seeking 254 for victory. Chris Silverwood struck twice in the first thirty minutes, having first Cook and then Jefferson safely bagged with just 18 on the board. With the token seamer gesture having paid dividends other than merely taking the shine off the ball, Craig White turned to Lehmann and Richard Dawson.

The next two hours saw the contest swinging more and more in the direction of the visitors as one by one the home batsmen were winkled out. Only Andy Flower came to terms with the conditions for any length of time but when he departed, caught by Lumb off Lehmann for 37, Essex had slumped to 93-7.

Ten minutes later, Dawson nipped out Middlebrook in similar manner and by the close, only Napier, Gough and Kaneria stood between Essex and almost inevitable defeat.

Yorkshire 363
Jaques 115, McGrath 93, Kaneria 6-121
and 249
Lehmann 86, Wood 81, Kaneria 7-65
Essex 359
Irani 107, Habib 80, Silverwood 3-84, Kirby 3-86
and 108-8
Gough 11*, Napier 3*, Lehmann 4-35

Glamorgan v Somerset, Swansea
Blackwell ton gives Somerset hope

An untypically gritty century by Ian Blackwell gave the visitors some hope of setting Glamorgan a testing victory target yesterday. Normally, when Blackwell gets in the mood he has spectators running for cover but here he was more circumspect, taking more than two and a half hours in moving to three figures.

Earlier, overnight batsmen Jamie Cox and Michael Burns moved to half-centuries before both fell, leaving Somerset precariously positioned on 152-5, still 7 in arrears. Then Blackwell took a hand in proceedings, striking 22 boundaries in his 131 before he was eighth out on 324, the first of three victims for Robert Croft.

Stubbornness by Johnson, Caddick and MacLean allowed Somerset to eke out still more precious runs, eventually ending on 370, leaving Glamorgan 212 for victory. In the nine overs before stumps, Michael Slater had helped himself to 37 of those to add to his first innings heroics.

Somerset 229
Blackwell 64, Hildreth 61, Harrison 5-48, Croft 3-44
and 370
Blackwell 131, Burns 54, Cox 50, Wharf 3-58, Croft 3-78
Glamorgan 388
Elliott 157, Hemp 66, Johnson 4-83, McLean 4-91
and 46-0
Elliott 37*, Wallace 5*

Leicestershire v Derbyshire, Oakham School
Derbyshire follow on

Barring a summer thunderstorm or possible meteor impact, there seems little prospect of Derbyshire being on the receiving end of anything other than a severe caning at the hands of local rivals Leicestershire when this East Midlands local derby resumes at Oakham School today,

Resuming from their position of overnight precariousness on 72-4, Derbyshire hung in for an hour before Luke Sutton was removed by Charles Dagnall. Chris Bassano stood firm, batting for almost four hours for 62 before he became Dagnall's fourth victim of the innings.

Only Derbyshire's nine-ten-jack saved them from total embarrassment with Mohamad Sheikh's grafting 32, Kevin Dean's exuberant 35 and teenager Nicholas Walker's positively breathtaking unbeaten 63 from just 32 balls, his second half-century of the season which sees him currently averaging over 60.

It was no surprise when Derbyshire were invited to follow on, and for the second time in the game Gait and Stubbings gave the visitors a decent enough start, but then Mark Cleary took a decisive hand in proceedings. He nipped out Andy Gait, Hassan Adnan and Chris Bassano in a decisive spell, and with Chris Rogers having to retire hurt, Derbyshire were back in the familiar mire.

Stubbings fought his way to 66 but fell just before the close to Henderson, and with his departure went any realistic - or unrealistic, for that matter - chance of Derbyshire avoiding defeat. But then again, there's always Walker.

Leicestershire 534
Hodge 221, Robinson 64, Botha 3-92, Dean 3-111
Derbyshire 291
Walker 63*, Bassano 62, Stubbings 50, Dagnall 4-37, DeFreitas 3-37
and 123-4
Stubbings 66, Cleary 3-30


Posted by Eddie