Date-stamped : 24 Apr95 - 10:48 Warwickshire v England "A" Edgbaston, 18, 19, 20, 21 April 1995 ====> Day 1, 18 Apr 95 Efficient England A rebuffed by Smith`s lusty tail-end 55 - Christopher Martin-Jenkins First day of four: England A (6-0) trail Warwickshire (240) by 234 runs IT WAS easy to see yesterday at Edgbaston why the England A team did well in India, less so why Warwickshire won three of the four titles last season, writes Christopher Martin-Jenkins. Choosing to bat first on a pitch which had a little in it for everyone, the county champions were reduced to 163 for eight by immaculate fielding and excellent bowling from Glen Chapple and Richard Stemp before Neil Smith, one of those who might have got an A team place but did not, produced an admirably lusty innings of 55 not out. Perhaps, on reflection, this was one of the reasons for Warwickshire`s success: the ability to find a man for every occa- sion. Nonetheless it was the A team`s performance in the field which must have delighted the watching England selectors. Coolly deployed and wisely counselled by Alan Wells, they looked a genuine team, neatly attired in sweaters with red and dark blue, catching everything above ground and bowling with purpose and discipline. Sharp fielding and consistent bowling were two of the qualities which England lacked in Australia. When next they tour it would be no surprise if four of those who stood out at various times yesterday - Chapple, Stemp, Mark Ramprakash and Jason Gallian - were all in the party, and if Dominic Cork is not at least in the World Cup team, something will have gone unexpectedly wrong for him. Cork waited yesterday to bowl first change, as Wells used the opening pair originally envisaged for India, Chapple and Mark Ilott, that chirpy Essex left-armer. Ilott is fully fit again, but was the one bowler not quite on top of his game, as Roger Twose and Andy Moles launched the Warwickshire season with a solid (in all senses) opening partnership of 58. The start was delayed for 90 minutes by an appropriately dramatic hailstorm as the umpires walked out. These things are expected for the first big match of the season. It was cold thereafter, but mercifully a pale sun loitered for the rest of the day as the A team, having patiently worked for the first opening either side of lunch, took a grip which only Smith could later break. Where Ilott struggled to find his rhythm, Chapple, lean, balanced and controlled, moved the ball away in the air and occasionally both ways off a firm pitch which seemed to have two paces, medium-slow and quite zippy. But Moles, reliable as the Spring, is a doughty and experienced opener. He averages 41 in first- class cricket because he plays fast bowling with courage, judg- ment and an orthodox technique. Two lovely straight drives off Ilott got his season off to the right sort of start and Twose, though he was more discomforted when the ball moved, gave him typically watchful and robust sup- port. The breakthrough came 10 overs into the chilly afternoon when Twose cut Cork savagely to backward point and was quite brilli- antly caught by Ramprakash, diving to his right. Shades of Head- ingley 1991. Trevor Penney was the first of three victims for Stemp in a long and accurate spell from the pavilion end, during which he turned the ball consistently and varied his flight and pace so well that Wells felt no need to bring on Min Patel until late in the day. Penney was caught at slip off a ball which turned and bounced, but Moles, after a virtually flawless 67 from 39 overs, edged a sweep at a full-toss. It was Chapple`s spell in mid-afternoon which underlined his readiness for Test cricket should DeFreitas, his alter ego, fall from grace. Graeme Welch was caught at cover, victim of another brilliant effort by Ramprakash, Dermot Reeve caught behind, flailing at an outswinger, and Dominic Ostler, after a careful and assured innings notable for two fine shots off his legs, top-edged a pull to midwicket. Neil Smith quite altered the character of the day. He weighed into Ilott with 2,6,4,4 off successive balls, fierce drives every one, and reached his fifty not long after by lifting Patel over long-on. Allan Donald cashed in at the other end for a while, but looked virtually to give himself out lbw when he missed a sweep at Patel, as if eager for a few overs at the openers. He had time for only two overs, but in the first of them had a confident shout for caught behind turned down as Gallian withdrew his bat from the line of a rapid outswinger. That duel will be worth watching when it resumes this morning. ====> Day 2, 19 Apr 95 Wells stakes fresh claim for belated Test call-up - Christopher Martin-Jenkins Second day of four: England A (390-7) lead Warwickshire (240) by 150 runs ONE of the occasional rainy-day occupations at cricket matches is to pick 11 players who should have played for England but never did. If by the end of his career Alan Wells is still eligible, along with at least two other Sussex players, John Langridge and Ken Suttle, he might at once assume the captaincy. His 178 for England A against Warwickshire yesterday was an im- perious performance which underlined how unlucky he has been not to win a Test cap. Wells scored 134 of his runs - 26 fours and five sixes - in boun- daries and there were a good many occasions when fielders in the covers regretted getting their hands to drives which on a cold day stung the fingers painfully. The five sixes were, in a way, deceptive, because as usual Wells played largely along the ground and in the `V`. In the five seasons before his lean one last year he scored more Championship runs than any English player except Mike Gatting. It is tempting to wonder how many he might have scored had he gone to the West Indies two winters ago, rather than making the first of his two steadily successful A tours. If only he had not gone a whole season without scoring a first- class hundred - this was his 35th - he would surely have been chosen for Australia. Now, who knows? Wells increasingly dominated his partnership of 159 with Mark Ramprakash after the opening pair, Jason Gallian and Michael Vaughan, had succumbed to some lively bowling on a pitch of unusual hardness for mid-April. By the time that Wells missed his sixth attempt to clear the short boundary on the River Rea side, his team were in complete command. They finished the day with a lead of 150 and Warwickshire must have been regretting their decision to leave out their left-arm spinner Richard Davis, not because of the con- sequent slow over-rate. The eventual domination of the batsmen was entirely due to the mature and organised way in which Ramprakash and Wells laid a base before and after lunch. Allan Donald had hurried a ball past Gallian, playing back to a swinging delivery of full length. Half an hour later Graham Welch, getting some bounce while the ball was hard, ended a patient struggle by Vaughan. The young Yorkshireman had a disappointing tour of India and the lean patch continues but that is all it is: he is a sound enough player and only 20. However unwise some of the selections for the Australian tour may have been, last year`s committee certainly chose well when they made Wells and Ramprakash their captain and vice-captain. It was a pity that the latter, having played thoroughly well in the first phase of his innings yesterday, not least against Donald, should have lost his impetus even as Wells, with a sud- den hand- some volley of strokes against Neil Smith, was finding his. Hav- ing just whipped Welch off his hip for six, Ram- prakash was leg before to one which nipped back. Wells remained in command but David Hemp was adriotly caught by Keith Piper down the leg-side - he took an equally good catch to dismiss Glen Chapple later - and Dominic Cork got an outside edge to one which left him. He had looked, alas, nothing like an Eng- land number six. The solid support came instead from Paul Nixon, a cricketer who is improving all the time. ====> Day 3, 20 Apr 95 England A show size of the task awaiting Neale - Christopher Martin-Jenkins Third day of four: Warwickshire (240 & 205-9) trail England A (503) by 58 runs A LITTLE after five o`clock on a grey evening at Edgbaston a steward clambered on to the flat roof of the now rather old- fashioned pavilion and lowered the championship pennant. He probably had to get an early bus but it was, nonetheless, a symbolic gesture. The triple champions of last year were two wickets away from a heavy defeat at the time against an England A team who had taken the initiative early on the first afternoon and never let go. These are very early days yet in the 1995 season and the redevelopment nearing completion on the opposite side of what was once the best equipped Test ground in England is a truer indica- tion of the buoyant mood at the club in the wake of last season`s glory. The fact is, however, that they have been thoroughly out- played in this game and they now know the truth of what they suspected: that life without Lara, and for another three weeks without Tim Munton, is bound to be harder. Despite a vigilant, skilful and obdurate 77 not out by their cap- tain, Dermot Reeve - he shared stands of 36 for the ninth wicket with Gladstone Small and 75 for the 10th with Allan Donald - Warwickshire are still 58 behind and likely to be beaten by an innings today. Alan Wells had ordered his tailenders to get their heads down in the morning. The result was a total of 503 and career-best in- nings by Mark Ilott and Min Patel, who both showed that they can bat. Although Ray Illingworth, stricken by a virus, was able to follow events only from his bedroom at home, he must thoroughly have approved of the manner as well as the fact of the A team`s victory. It was based on disciplined bowling, authoritative bat- ting and, above all, outstanding fielding. Where Glen Chapple and Richard Stemp had excelled on the first day, Patel and Dominic Cork enjoyed the main success on the third, Cork producing a spell of three for 38 from 15 overs ei- ther side of a tea taken early because of one of the frequent wintry showers. This was the Derbyshire all-rounder at his confident best, harry- ing the batsmen with remorselessly straight, whippy bowling, hit- ting the stumps twice when batsmen unwisely played back and find- ing the outside edge for his third wicket. He returned to break by far the longest partnership of the in- nings, 23 overs of defiance by Reeve and Small. He owed his fourth wicket to one of four very good catches taken during the match by Jason Gallian. Indeed, since Ilott followed up his determined innings with a couple of zippy spells yesterday it could be said that only Michael Vaughan has not played a prom- inent part in a satisfying team performance. Paul Nixon, however, was absent yesterday: an X-ray taken after he had been hit on his left index finger by a ball from Donald when 38 not out the previous evening revealed a break which will keep him out for a month. Patel got little chance in the first innings and was unlucky, perhaps, that the chairman was not present to assess him yester- day. He is, above all, a natural bowler, with a fluid, light- footed approach and a loose arm. He did not, and generally does not, turn the ball so viciously as Stemp but he is unlikely ever to bowl badly and he wheeled away tirelessly yesterday from the pavilion end, taking his four wickets in the space of only five overs. Ilott had made the initial breach with a ball which lifted shar- ply as Andy Moles pushed forward and gave Gallian the chance to take a sharp reaction catch at short leg. Two of Patel`s four victims were also caught in the leg-trap, Roger Twose deftly so by Mark Ramprakash after playing the only innings of substance in the top half of the order, but the best catch was probably Cork`s, diving forward at long leg to take a top-edged sweep by Keith Piper. Phil Neale must have watched it all with mixed feelings. His suc- cessful partnership with Wells has run its course and now comes the stern challenge of helping Warwickshire to improve upon some- thing close to perfection. ====> Day 4, 21 Apr 95 ENGLAND A required only six deliveries to complete victory over Warwickshire by an innings and 58 runs at Edgbaston. The slow left-armer Richard Stemp took a simple return catch to dismiss Allan Donald with the last ball of his first over of the day. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)