Date-stamped : 03 Jun97 - 06:16 Hegg puts Lancashire in recovery position By Christopher Martin-Jenkins at Leicester First day of four: Lancashire 365-9 v Leicestershire FOR much of a cloudless day, the county champions looked the part on their trim and friendly home ground. The famed depth of Lancashire`s batting proved rather more true to reputation, however, than the equally famous quality of their upper order and having declined to 179 for six against some hostile and well-directed fast bowling from the faithful Alan Mullally and David Millns, Lancashire were firmly bolstered by their ninth-wicket pair. Warren Hegg batted with soundness and determination for almost 3.5 hours, longer than anyone all day, bringing a sense of responsibility and patience not shown earlier by more obvious batting talents on a greenish, easy-paced pitch. Graham Lloyd was the notable exception, but it was Glen Chapple who helped Hegg to add 85 and he, too, dealt capably with a sun- sapped seam attack, not to mention Adrian Pierson`s always demanding off-breaks, until James Whitaker took the new ball and Gordon Parsons broke through at last. Against Durham earlier in the season, Chapple shared a last- wicket stand of 146 with Peter Martin and if he had regularly been given the chance to bat higher, he might be in the running as an England all-rounder by now. He could bat at seven in many a county side. These late-order revivals are valuable, of course, but Lancashire`s season so far has been one of great expectations unfulfilled, from Mike Atherton and John Crawley in particular. Yesterday they came close to putting matters right during a second-wicket stand of 71. It was a perfect opportunity for them to sharpen up for the Edgbaston Test next week. Crawley was in as early as the fifth over after Jason Gallian, hitherto the most consistent of the four England players at the top of the order, had fallen to Millns`s priceless ability to swing the new ball away at pace. Driving, Gallian was deftly taken low at first slip by Neil Johnson. Until Millns strained a shoulder, he bowled well and quite quickly enough. The pitch was sufficiently dry for Atherton, leading Lancashire in place of Wasim Akram, whose sore bowling shoulder is continuing to plague him, to bat first. Dry enough, too, for Gary Keedy, their second spinner in the continued absence of Mike Watkinson with an arm injury, to play in Akram`s place. The surface was true enough once the new ball had lost its hardness and this could develop into a good and genuine four-day match. As Millns faded, Mullally, inclined at first to familiar waywardness, settled to bowl two excellent and hostile spells either side of lunch. There is nothing like getting the England captain out to remind him of your credentials before the selection of the side and if Mul- lally had bowled as fast and as straight in the winter as he began to do now he would not be the fringe candidate he is. The ball which beat Atherton squared him up and plucked off his off bail. There was a moral success or two against Crawley, too, to count against some beautiful strokes though extra cover and midwicket. It was something of a surprise, therefore, when Johnson, the briskish, hit-the-deck South African six-footer, claimed Crawley caught behind as he attacked a short ball outside off stump. Crawley was equally surprised to see himself given out. Neil Fairbrother and Lloyd played after lunch as if Lancashire were chasing runs against the clock: entertainingly but frenetically. Fairbrother escaped one slash between wicket- keeper and slip off Mullally before smiting Johnson to cover. Mullally followed up by having Ian Austin caught at second slip and, five balls later Gary Yates well held at a deepish gully where Vince Wells had been placed after the previous ball. It was Lloyd who paved the way for an even bigger recovery after tea. Compact and increasingly more measured in his strokeplay, he made his 82 in a little over two hours with 12 fours, most of them pleasingly hit through the covers. It took a nicely flighted ball from Pierson, and a quick stumping, to get him out. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Lancashire`s early slip made costly by Johnson By Christopher Martin-Jenkins at Leicester Second day of four: Leicestershire (380-5) lead Lancashire (373) by 7 runs GRACE ROAD on a sunny day can be a lovely place to bat, espe- cially when one of the boundaries is only 60 yards from the pitch. Making full use of that advantage, and of a surface which of- fered bowlers little help except some gentle turn and very occa- sion- al low bounce, Leicestershire, led with lan by Vince Wells, overtook Lancashire a few minutes before the close with batting at the tempo of an inverted quickstep: quick, quick, slow, slow, quick. All things are relative and the pace of scoring all day was never slovenly, partly because Lancashire bowled more than their share of rubbish and missed two simple catches, one of them very expen- sive. Neil Johnson, the 27-year-old from Natal, skied a drive off Gary Yates which Gary Keedy, peering into the sun from mid-off, dropped, although it was no steepler. He had made 20 then. Two hours later he clumped a full toss from Yates into the old wooden seats beyond The Meet to record his first hundred in England. A solid left-hander, Johnson is not a pretty player but he recognises a bad ball when he sees one and he made his acquain- tance with rather too many yesterday. Equally to the point, he displayed a wa- tertight defence at a time in mid-afternoon when Peter Martin suddenly got the ball to reverse-swing dangerously. It had taken Leicestershire only three overs to finish Lan- cashire`s innings of 373, Alan Mullally getting the fifth wicket he de- served. In the remainder of the morning Leicestershire rattled up 133 for three, 104 of them in boundaries, but for a while afterwards they managed to accelerate even more as Aftab Habib matched Wells stroke for dashing stroke. The departure of both, and Martin`s testing spell, demanded a re- entrenchment and there was no-one better suited to super- vise it than Paul Nixon, who may proceed this morning to his third hundred against Lancashire in five seasons. Nixon had some luck outside his off stump, especially early in his innings, but during their excellent partnership of 165 the two left-handers played as if they felt that the early part of the response to Lancashire`s 373 had been a little too cava- lier. They saw off Martin`s spell of 5-1-14-1 and gradually took toll of a tiring attack, punishing Keedy`s left-arm spin in particular. Mike Atherton took a long time to bowl his spinners as a pair, but when the climax of the game arrives on Monday he will surely need to so do. Leicestershire batted at first as if preparing for the proba- ble run-chase. Darren Maddy went at once, stroking an outswinger to cover, but Ben Smith played some superb strokes off the back foot and could count himself very unlucky to get a ball which nipped back off the seam and kept low. Perhaps, however, like many against the worthy Ian Austin, he misjudged the length. James Whitaker spent much of his eight overs at the crease ad- miring the timing of Wells, whose short-armed driving was un- stop- pable. He passed his fifty with 10 fours and a six off 65 balls, includ- ing successive pulls for four and six off Martin followed by a cover-driven four. That was the high point. Whitaker missed an attempted back- foot force to an off-break which turned, Wells chased Jason Gallian`s second ball and edged it to slip, and Habib, badly dropped at second slip by Austin off Gallian in the same over, was bowled by a ball which came back sharply, having played some scintillating shots through the covers to make 38 off 35 balls. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Johnson provides value for money By Neil Hallam at Leicester Third day of four: Leics (468) trail Lancs (373 & 279-2) by 184 runs NEIL JOHNSON, the Leicestershire all-rounder who put his money where his heart was to get the chance of playing county cricket, yesterday made another investment in his future with a career-best 150 to alert the South Afican Test selectors. Johnson, a pugnacious left-hander who hit 17 fours and four sixes in his four-hour innings, feared that his hopes of join- ing a county had vanished when Netherfield, the Northern League club to whom he was contracted for this summer, demanded a sum of about -L7,000 in compensation to release him. But Leicestershire, having decided not to re-engage Phil Sim- mons on a basis of limited availability and having failed to land Lance Klusener, had their reservations about paying a `transfer fee` overcome when Johnson put his hand into his own pocket. "It was too good a chance to miss so I paid up gladly," he re- vealed. "It wasn`t all altruism. I`ve played for the South African A team but haven`t made it through to the Test side and I felt it would improve my chances if I gave a decent account of myself here. "There`s no doubt the selectors take notice of what we do over here and give high marks to those who prove they can cope with the English treadmill. It`s certainly a whole lot different to cricket back home. Play four days in South Africa and the chances are you might have 10 days off to relax and practise. In England you are straight off from one game to the next and that makes it inevitable that players have to ration themselves. "I`d never made more than 135 before but I reckon runs are a bit harder to come by on the livelier pitches at home, where 300 in a day is unusual." Johnson, 134 overnight with Leicestershire seven runs ahead at 380 for five, got moving with four and six from his first two scoring strokes but hopes of a more commanding advantage evap- orated when he walked into a ball which did not bounce much and Paul Nixon, having grafted to 96, perished half forward. Leicestershire`s total of 468 gave a lead of 95 but on a pitch becoming more soporific in the heat this was eclipsed without loss and with Michael Atherton playing the anchor role and Ja- son Gal- lian impressively fluent, Lancashire were 53 in credit with every- thing intact at tea. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Keedy puts brakes on champions By Christopher Martin-Jenkins at Leicester Lancs (373 & 425-5 dec) drew with Leics (468 & 247-5) LANCASHIRE still have to break their championship duck, but they came closer to doing so at Grace Road yesterday than the scorecard might suggest and they have at least pulled them- selves up from the base of the table. Played throughout beneath a Wedgwood blue sky and in a bois- terous gale, it was an intriguing day`s cricket for much of its course, starting with the fastest genuinely made century of the season by Graham Lloyd, an entertainer approaching his prime, and not being accepted as a draw until only three overs remained. It might have been an even better finish if a good pitch had started to wear a few hours earlier than it did. The county champions were set 331 to win in a minimum of 67 overs and al- though they took a measured approach there was no doubting their intent. If they had scored the runs they would have gone to the top, but they lie honourably third this morning having given as good as they got against a Lan- cashire side with 94 more Test caps . Given a splendid lead by Vince Wells for the second time in the game, they were thwarted largely by the fact that Gary Keedy turned the ball more than they had expected and bowled almost nothing loose. It was perhaps his best performance in the three seasons since he crossed the Pennines but although he turned the ball sharply enough to make it difficult for Leicestershire to advance as rapidly as they had planned, the pitch and his lack of height deprived him of the accompanying bounce which might have made it a match-winning performance. Leicestershire had reached 123 for one off 38 overs at tea. In retrospect they may feel that they trod a little too cautious- ly in the first phase of the innings, constrained though they were at first by some decent new-ball bowling by Peter Martin and Ian Austin. The consequence was that they still needed 129 when the last 16 overs started. With only three wickets down they still had a chance but Mike Atherton, in a useful dress-rehearsal for the first Test, maintained wicket-taking fields and Gary Yates dismissed a struggling Neil Johnson in the first over of the last hour with a well-taken boundary catch by Lloyd. Keedy followed up two overs later by removing a more danger- ous-looking James Whitaker, Austin this time taking a startling one-handed catch at full tilt in front of the sightscreen. The game was effectively up, although Aftab Habib kept it go- ing a little longer by striking the ninth and biggest six of the day into the car park of The Cricketers. Wells had struck the eighth during his excellent three-hour innings, which also in- cluded 14 fours and again some handsome striking through the off side off both feet, but the first seven were rifled from the mel- low middle of Lloyd`s pro- ductive blade. Adrian Pierson, who soon induced a miscued clip to midwicket by Atherton, bowled unchanged until the declaration with a will- ing but increasingly weary Gordon Parsons. They offered no deliber- ate- ly easy runs and Whitaker`s fields were defensive, but Lloyd`s beauti- fully clean striking was exactly what his side needed. Making full use of the 60-yard leg-side boundary, his biggest hit cleared the 40ft high roof of The Meet, the quaint public cafe which stands at wide midwicket like a giant sausage roll. Lloyd`s 73-ball hundred was his third and fastest of the sea- son, although the other two have taken him only 76 and 77 balls respectively. In seven first-class innings he has now scored 589 runs at an average of 98. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)