Date-stamped : 11 May97 - 02:16 Lawrence finds feet on long road back By Simon Hughes First day of four: Gloucs v Hampshire (221-6) HE MAY have been out of the game for five years and been totally rebuilt, but the familiar gallumphing walk, the lurching run, the leap into delivery, and not least the exploratory leg stump full toss first-up broadcast the message loud and clear: Syd is back. The small matter of 1,912 days since he last bowled in first class cricket - that fateful moment in the Wellington Test of 1992 when his kneecap snapped in two - David Lawrence was at last doing the thing he knows best, fizzing 5.5 ounces of leather down around batsmen`s ears. In between the showers, Lawrence got through 15 respectable overs in four spells, took a wicket with the aid of a brilliant diving catch at long leg and on a sluggish pitch several times obliged Robin Smith, no less, to take swift evasive action. Smith, who contributed a fluent 52 to Hampshire`s otherwise stuttering progress towards 221 for six, said later he was quite moved by his erstwhile England team-mate`s comeback. "I was close by on the field the day he suffered that horrifying injury," Smith said, standing beside a beaming, half-dressed Lawrence by the dressing room, "and I can`t believe he`s come back from it. He`s my sporting hero - his heart is this big." He drew a wheel-sized image on the fast bowler`s chest. "I almost wouldn`t have minded getting out to him today." Lawrence`s return is nothing short of extraordinary. Fast bowling puts more strain on the knee joint than almost any other, and a year after his initial injury, the kneecap snapped again while he was working out in the gym. That seemed to be the end of him - to the considerable relief of some beleaguered county batsmen - so the sight of him charging in with gusto during an exhibition match at East Grinstead in early 1995 was something of a surprise. I played in the same match and was struck by his considerable pace, his habitual bouncers and his hobbling immobility in the field. He looked all right for an opening spell, but after that would clearly be a liability. He was nothing of the sort yesterday. Taking the field wearing faded six-year-old boots, a back support, thigh warmers, a bulky knee brace, two shirts and three sweaters, he looked even more like a Michelin Man than ever, and his first ball was a friendly full toss, nudged past mid-on for three. But he had soon worked up practically a full head of steam, lumbered enthusiastically about the outfield and took Gloucester`s first wicket, inducing a mis-hook with the inevitable bumper. After eight overs he retired to the outfield and declared himself happy with his knee, adding ruefully: "It`s the rest of me that hurts". In this arduous discipline there is no substitute for match fitness. "I was more nervous in the two early season warm-up games," he said afterwards, "so today I knew I could get through a match, but it was still great to get a wicket. I might have a few drinks tonight down at the Boom bar. I won`t have to pay either be doubly testing. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Lawrence limps out By Simon Hughes at Bristol Second day of four: Gloucs (143-2) trail Hants (316) by 173 runs AFTER the excitements of day one, it was back to business as usual yesterday at Gloucester`s semi-deserted headquarters. Showers kept the players to-ing and fro-ing, experience overshadowed youth when the weather did relent, and, most anti-climatic of all, David Lawrence, hero of Wednesday, limped off with a niggle having bowled only three overs. In good spirits, nonetheless, he pointed at his chimney-pot sized right calf and declared it was "nothing". Lawrence was allowed 90 minutes` play to get his body and mind attuned to bowling the morning after the day before, in which time Hampshire`s seventh-wicket pair took their stand to 77. Will Kendall clipped and cut purposefully and Shaun Udal lent his considerable leverage into some booming drives. Propping forward, Kendall was unlucky to be adjudged lbw just short of 50 - the umpire had a sympathetic word with him in the lunch interval - which was the cue to recall Lawrence. A chilly wind could only have hindered his limbering-up procedure, but his first delivery was remarkably swift and so well directed it whistled past Udal`s outside edge. It proved something of a decoy, however, because his run-up became progressively shorter, his pace slower and after 20 minutes he limped off. Hampshire`s tail wagged the total to relative prosperity and Mike Smith, benefiting both from Lawrence`s presence and his absence, nipped in to finish with four useful wickets. Cardigan Connor took nine for 38 in the first innings of the corresponding fixture last year, but it was his new opening partner, Simon Renshaw, a gangling swing bowler in the mould of Martin Bicknell, who struck first here. After appearing untroubled, Nick Trainor contrived to squeeze an out- swinger between bat and pad and lobbed up an easy catch. Tony Wright and Rob Cunliffe mixed solid defence with the odd crack through the covers but Wright dragged on a hybrid between a pull and a cut, leaving the stage for Monte Lynch. Still taking guard barely three inches in front of the stumps, Lynch rarely moves his feet - he never did even before suffering a broken leg playing football - but in his 21st season still manages to bat like a millionaire. Or, considering he is approaching the 18,000 run mark, should that be a thousandaire? Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Young deepens the Hampshire gloom By Simon Hughes at Bristol Third day of four: Hampshire (316 & 46-3) trail Gloucestershire (403) by 41 runs HAMPSHIRE have a blunt attack and this docile strip made it look so toothless that every time the fielders signalled for something from the dressing room you assumed it was for more bowlers. They did find one, their overseas batsman Matthew Hayden, who impressed the captain so much with his unknown muscular seamers, he was on for an hour. But he was unable to disrupt Gloucestershire`s steady progress to 400 and was then out for nought to continue the team`s misery. Some players have a resigned look about them and it`s contagious. Gloucestershire, on the other hand, have various reasons to be cheerful: the return of David "Syd" Lawrence, however long that lasts, Jack Russell`s permanent presence, the emergence of Rob Cunliffe and the excellence of their overseas recruit, Shaun Young. After Monte Lynch creamed two fours and then edged to slip in the day`s first over, Young arrived to caress the ball persistently through the leg side. A neat, prolific left- hander and brisk seamer considered unlucky not to have played for Australia, he was recommended to Gloucestershire by Brian Davison, now a Tasmanian selector, and has already proved his worth. Mark Alleyne kept him lively company in a stand of 98, after which Russell fashioned the lead in his noisy, squirty way. Two chances went begging, and it was left to the 12th man Raj Maru, summoned when Matthew Keech dislocated a thumb, to demonstrate the art of catching. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Smith and White put the finger on Hants By Peter Roebuck at Bristol Final day: Gloucester (403 & 59) beat Hampshire (316 & 145) by 4 wickets AS mournful clouds lumbered around the city and spectators shivered in the stands so Gloucestershire rose to the top of the table by comprehensively beating their enfeebled opponents from the posher parts of the West Country. Mike Smith led the way with the best match figures of an undramatic career, 10 for 106. Bowling with a characteristic mixture of modesty, shoulder and swing, Smith coaxed movement from a depressing pitch and decisions from Bob "Knocker" White, whose raised finger provoked markedly different reactions in the opposing camps. Smith led his team from the field leaving his colleagues to hurry towards their target before the rains returned. And yet Smith had not been the chief influence as this match resumed on a chilly fourth morning. Much depended on the longevity of Robin Smith, poised on 20, and the ability of Shaun Young to break through with his persistent swingers. Neither had a productive day. Much to his quiet frustration Young could beat the bat but not touch it, so that his impressive work went unrewarded. Much to his dismay, Robin Smith soon departed as he interfered with a delivery passing harmlessly behind his pads. Smith`s departure was critical and prompted the first summoning of David Lawrence to the bowling crease. Cricket had not thought to see him bowling again in his familiar way, a puffing billy charging to the crease and a bucking bronco at delivery. And he bowled with some hostility too, clattering a bumper on to Will Kendall`s helmet and then taking his wicket with a ball that cut away late. Kendall is a neat batsman with an accomplished game partly learnt in the preposterous nonsense commonly called university cricket, but he was powerless to resist this onslaught. Lawrence`s return is particularly welcome because cricket has lost much of its fury - fewer bumpers are bowled and fewer nerves are tested than a decade ago. His work has the rawness of uncompromised aggression. Alas he did not last long, limping from the field with a sore hamstring after three overs. Simply, his body is not used to the demands placed upon it by the force and repetition of a vigorous action. He will not play one-day cricket this season and, sadly, it`s hard to believe he can last. Mike Smith was too much for the rest of a batting order weakened by injury to Matthew Keech, who was protecting a cracked thumb. Returning for his second spell, Smith curled deliveries into the pads of Adrian Aymes and Shaun Udal, neither of whom was spared merely because their foot had advanced a yard from its original berth. Aymes does not care to lose his wicket, and he seemed to question the umpire`s eyesight before trudging in low dudgeon from the field. Udal contented himself with a puzzled stare. Soon it was over. As befits a man with Greek, Sri Lankan and Australian blood in him, Dimitri Mascarenhas played some dashing strokes and it took a blinding catch at mid-on to bring him down whereupon Simon Renshaw became the third victim of the deadly Smith/White combination. Gloucestershire needed 59 to win and set about their task with gusto, realising the threat from the heavens above. Bold shots were played and wickets fell before the target was reached. Bob White was busy again, raising his finger in the imperious way of a man intolerant of nonsense. Hampshire were left to contemplate another defeat. At least they are not in as poor a state as Nottinghamshire, whose survival in first-class cricket can scarcely be justified. Meanwhile Gloucestershire sit loftily on their perch. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)