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Blackwell Masterclass

Friday, September 12 2003

Records fell as Ian Blackwell produced an innings of stunning quality at Taunton to rescue Somerset against Derbyshire. At lunch and with Dominic Cork's tail up, the home side were struggling on 112-7. Four hours later, it was an altogether different story.

The latest round of games in Division 2 of the County Championship started yesterday with four teams chasing the final promotion spot (assuming that nothing untoward occurs with the pitches at Worcester and Northampton to incur the wrath of Phil Sharpe and his team of pitch inspectors).

Glamorgan v Northamptonshire, Cardiff

A win was more or less essential for Glamorgan, lying in fourth place in the table, a mere 3.5 points behind Yorkshire as play commenced. For Northamptonshire, the hunt was on for the championship.

The visitors won the toss and decided to bat, getting off to a flying start with Mike Hussey and Tim Roberts adding 95 for the loss of the first wicket before Roberts was dismissed by Wharf for 41.

Hussey anchored the Northants innings as no other visiting batsman managed to progress beyond 30 in the face of exceedingly straight bowling by Kasprowicz and Robert Croft, who put his latest England rejection firmly behind him, adding a further 5 wickets to this season's already impressive haul.

Mike Hussey, who had been dropped on 32, made the most of his life and ended last man out on a 5-hour 147 which contained 25 boundaries as Northants were finally dismissed for 319.

With an hour of play remaining, Jimmy Maher and Mark Wallace began the Glamorgan reply with survival on their minds. Three times the players left the field because of indifferent light but when stumps were drawn, the pair were still in occupation.

Northamptonshire 319 (Hussey 147, Croft 5-93, Kasprowicz 3-58), Glamorgan 20-0 (Maher 9*, Wallace 10*)


Gloucestershire v Durham, Bristol

For the sides occupying fifth and sixth in the table before the start of play, victory might mean nothing but defeat would condemn them to another season in Division 2.

Gloucestershire won the toss and elected to bat, sending out Phil Weston and Craig Spearman to face Shoaib Akhtar and Liam Plunkett. Weston smashed one six off Plunkett before falling to Shoaib with the total on just 14, bringing Tim Hancock to the wicket.

Spearman was very much the aggressor after a quiet start, slamming 3 sixes and 7 boundaries in a sparky 59 before he departed, the first of four victims for slow left-armer Graeme Bridge.

Hancock was joined in the middle by Jonty Rhodes and the pair proceeded to give the visitors the run-around for the next two and a half hours before Hancock (97) was dismissed by Paul Collingwood, still on the comeback trail but celebrating an England recall.

At 240-3 Gloucestershire were in a seemingly near-impregnable position with plenty of batting to come. Rhodes continued on his way, compiling his fourth busy century of the season until he was caught by Nicky Peng off the bowling of Nick Phillips for 103, an innings which contained 3 sixes and a further 10 boundaries.

The dismissal of Jack Russell heralded an alarming collapse as Shoaib Akhtar and Bridge wrapped up the last five wickets for just 27 runs in failing light as Gloucestershire closed on 374 all out.

There was barely time for a single over of the Durham reply, which Jonathan Lewis and Gordon Muchall duly survived as the visitors closed on 2-0.

Gloucestershire 374 (Rhodes 103, Hancock 97, Spearman 59, Bridge 4-98, Shoaib Akhtar 3-30), Durham 2-0 (Lewis 0*, Muchall 0*)


Somerset v Derbyshire, Taunton

Pride was the only thing at stake in this game, with Derbyshire striving to extract themselves from the 'wooden spoon' position and Somerset endeavouring to ensure that it wasn't passed in their direction.

Somerset won the toss and could have been forgiven at lunch for regretting the decision to decide to bat. At that stage, the home side were licking their wounds in the pavilion on 119-7 and with Derbyshire skipper Dominic Cork, injured ankle and all, totally rampant. Former Derbyshire all-rounder Ian Blackwell, on 43 at the time, had other ideas though.

Richard Johnson hung around at the other end for a little over half an hour as Blackwell started to accelerate in most selective manner - selecting whether to hit the ball for four or six. The pair added a useful 64 before Johnson became Cork's sixth victim. For Cork, it was a case of 'All my own work' - four bowled, two leg-before.

Blackwell was not finished. Joined by Simon Francis and with his century in the bag, Blackwell continued to play a shot a ball, bludgeoning deliveries to most areas of Taunton as spin and seam suffered alike. The partnership for the ninth wicket took Somerset from a precarious 176 to a respectable 246 in an hour, but the fun had only just started.

Last man Nixon McLean strode manfully to the wicket as Somerset eyed the possibility of a couple of batting bonus points which a session previously were out of the question. Ali bowled, McLean edged - and Andy Gait spilled the chance at slip.

Blackwell, with ample assistance from McLean, simply murdered the Derbyshire attack in the hour leading up to tea. The pair dealt almost exclusively in boundaries in one of the most frenetic hours of cricket that the picturesque County Ground has ever witnessed in its 121 year history.

Blackwell's first hundred was a relatively sedate affair, taking all of 93 balls to go to three figures. His second was an altogether different affair, containing 6 maximums and 11 fours - all this in a staggering 41 deliveries as one by one the batting points were reeled in. McLean himself notched his runs at better than one a ball, but by and large his was a passive affair.

Eventually, when the partnership had reached a staggering 163, a record for the county, McLean played all round a straight one from Mohammad Ali to be adjudged leg-before for a fine 39 which included 8 boundaries of his own.

Blackwell's innings ended undefeated on 247 from a mere 156 balls, 11 of which had been deposited over the ropes. A further 27 had thudded into the boundary boards in four hours of quite extraordinary mayhem. On another day, Dominic Cork's 6-92 would have earned the plaudits but here, today, it was largely anonymous.

There was still plenty of time for Derbyshire to set off in reply but bad light sent the players scurrying for the pavilion with the visitors on 32 without loss.

Somerset 409 (Blackwell 247*, Cork 6-92), Derbyshire 32-0 (Di Venuto 20*, Gait 11*)


Posted by Eddie