Date-stamped : 15 Jun97 - 10:17 Irani`s broad bat breaks hold of seam Christopher Martin-Jenkins at Hove First day of four: Essex (232-5) lead Sussex (140) by 92 runs IT WAS not untypical of Sussex`s recent luck (although perhaps the word `recent` is superfluous) that their first experiment with a late start for mid-summer championship matches should have coincid- ed with a grey, breezy rather bleak day`s weather. This and the fact that wickets were falling fast against Essex hardly suggested a return to the carefree days of Fry and Ran- ji, so it was not surprising that the crowd was a fair bit smaller at 7pm than it had been at 3.20, the time at which Sussex were all out for 140. Nevertheless, they should and will persevere with the excel- lent idea of offering free entry after 5pm for home- going work- ers and schoolchildren. The 12 noon start in itself produced what Tony Pigott, the chief executive, called "a larger than average midweek crowd" - about 1,500. Among the few who did take advantage of free entry was the chief conductor of the Welsh National Orchestra, who saw the freest batting of the day from Essex`s fifth-wicket pair. Ronnie Irani put on 94 with Paul Grayson before the latter was run out from cover by Rajesh Rao and he continued to present the broadest and straightest of blades in an innings which may in time prove a match-winner. He made his runs on a pitch still giving seam bowlers more help than the average Hove strip. It will be routinely re- ported to Lord`s, because 15 wickets fell, and it might have been more had not Irani and Grayson been missed in the slips, Irani when 50 and Grayson second ball. In a damp atmosphere the ball swung and with some residual moisture below the surface - the pitch felt cold - it darted about a bit off the seam and sometimes bounced unevenly. Neil Williams made an outstanding return to the Essex side but none put more zest into their efforts than two of the best young fast bowlers in the land, Ashley Cowan and James Kirtley, who both enjoyed the conditions thoroughly. Cowan had the better figures, which was not surprising; he had first use of the conditions after Paul Prichard had preferred to field; he has been in fine form all season and he is bowling for a good side. Kirtley is a fledgling in a side still feeling their way and this is his first championship match of the season after recov- ering from his side-strain. His length was variable and Irani repeatedly hit him through the covers late in the day but he had forced Prichard to play on to his stumps in his second over and in his first after tea should have had Grayson at second slip two balls after bowling a hitherto masterful Stuart Law. Sussex`s batting troubles started at once and were never alle- viated. Neil Lenham was lbw on the back foot to Williams`s first ball, the seventh of the match; Rao was caught at first slip in the fourth over; Neil Taylor bowled off stump in the fifth by a ball he ap- peared to be leaving; and Keith Newell leg be- fore in the sixth to one he definitely was leaving. Mark Newell lasted longer, taking his cue from the immaculate technique of Bill Athey, but two overs from Irani in which he was repeatedly struck around the inner thigh demonstrated that batting was not easy. These two had added 34 in 18 overs when Newell mis- cued to midwicket and when Athey was bril- liantly caught in the gully, driving at Williams, hope of pro- longed recovery was gone. Cowan wrapped up the innings either side of the 2.15pm lunch. Facially he looks like Graham Dilley; in figure and his pink com- plexion like a large version of Arnie Sidebottom. Raw boned, he looks untidy, like a large rag doll, but he can bowl. He hits the deck, swings it away, has a short run and vigorous body ac- tion and a smiling, uncompli- cated attitude. He catches well and hits the ball hard too. Keith Fletcher and Geoff Arnold, part-time Essex bowling coach, are among those who think he will play for England within two years. No doubt Graham Gooch, who has a say in the matter, agrees. He dropped a catch off Cowan and got a nasty cut and bruise for his pains near to his right eye but it was away movement from the faithful Mark Robinson which prolonged his own modest start to the season, while Nasser Hussain, hero of Edgbaston, was lbw on the back foot. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Rao in full flow before Cowan shakes Sussex By Christopher Martin-Jenkins at Hove Sussex (140 & 220-5) trail Essex (384) by 24 runs JUST for a while Jim Parks, organising the reunion of former county players at Hove today, must have feared there would be no cricket for them to watch but sunshine to batsmen is like water to a parched throat and Rajesh Rao took the opportuni- ty of batting on a pitch which had lost all its devil and pace to make an admirably patient and correct 89 in only his third championship match. Sussex, 244 behind when they began their second innings imme- diately after lunch after some handsome striking in the morn- ing by Ronnie Irani and Robert Rollins, responded with an opening partner- ship of 166. Rao and Neil Lenham played with com- fort, both scoring freely off their legs, and they were parted only when Lenham narrowly failed to beat a direct hit from the predatory Nasser Hussain after his partner had called him for a sharpish single to wide mid-on. Stuart Law was bowling his leg-breaks by then and Peter Such and Paul Grayson also had long bowls as Essex settled for fiddling rather than firing batsmen out. At a time when most county spectators were on their way home, however, Essex sudden- ly turned the game their way again and they should finish the job today for their third championship win. Even they will be a little surprised by the events of the last hour. Rao, 22, was apparently on course for a maiden hundred, the early birds in the deck chairs had stayed on, encouraged, and a few watchers had even drifted in free after 5 pm, one or two having taken early trains home from London, when another 22-year- old, Ashley Cow- an, shook them from their reverie. First he made a difficult catch look easy, lifting his hands above his head, halfway back at mid-off, to catch a drive off the always accurate Such at a time when Neil Taylor was taking com- mand of a second-wicket partnership of 65. Taylor was well set- tled and timing the ball sweetly, and he had middled this shot well enough to go for four over most fielder`s heads. Cowan, how- ever, is 6ft 4in and his hands are as big as Alec Bedser`s. Given a third spell down the slope towards the sea, he next followed Bill Athey`s amazed departure, leg before aiming a sweep at his fullest stretch, with two wickets in two balls. Rao, stretch- ing forward in defence, was beaten by away movement and caught low at second slip by Graham Gooch, who then parried another flying edge to Nasser Hussain at third. Thus James Kirt- ley upstaged the Sus- sex chairman Robin Marlar, once famously stumped second ball for six in the theoretical role of night- watchman, by departing first ball for a king pair. The truth is that Sussex, with Paul Jarvis not fit again until next week and Jason Lewry not until August, do not possess the ar- moury when pitches become as docile as this one had beneath the sun yes- terday afternoon. Danny Law fell early, to a bril- liant low slip catch by Athey, the first of his four, but Irani batted with the same upstanding authority as he had the previ- ous evening, driving and pulling his way to his third hundred this season, and Rollins proved that his career, too, is still on an upward curve. His 82 came from only 104 balls and included nine fours and three sixes: the right innings at the right time. Amer Khan, who has served his new county well so far, had two more rewards for leg breaks which are almost the opposite of the departed Ian Salisbury`s: reliably accurate but relatively lacking in venom. He did, however, turn two sufficiently to have Irani and Rollins caught at slip. Mark Robinson, equally reli- able in this tiding-over period for Sussex cricket, also traded two more wickets for some heavy punishment by Rollins. The Newell brothers were at the crease at the close with a ma- jor job ahead, but they would be advised not to get their pads in front this morning. Dickie Bird was last heard at 8.30 last night demand- ing his release in stentorian tones after being ac- cidentally locked in the umpire`s room. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Cowan finds rhythm By Clive Ellis at Hove Third day of four: Essex (384 & 115-0) beat Sussex (140 & 356) by 10 wkts THINGS could not be going much better for pace bowler Ashley Cowan: career-best figures in an efficient 10-wicket victory inside three days for Essex and an invitation to join England`s build-up for the Lord`s Test. Graham Gooch, team-mate and England selector, thinks very highly of Cowan and it is not hard to see why. His recent success rate - 17 wickets in his last two matches - is impressive enough, but in his rhythmical and economical 12-stride approach to the wicket and fluent action there is the promise of much more. Cowan, 22, has had a well-established bank of knowledge to draw on at Chelmsford. Bowling coach Geoff Arnold, himself a master of the out-swinger`s art, Keith Fletcher and Gooch have all fed his appetite for cricketing knowledge. He is delighted yet far from starry-eyed about the opportunity to get a taste of life with England, in much the same way as Sur- rey`s Alex Tudor did before the first Test at Edgbaston. "It will be great to get involved in the set-up, and feel the atmo- sphere," he said. Without straining for pace, he is probably a yard quicker than last season and he also manages to give the impression that he en- joys his work. "Some people think I`m a bit stupid on the pitch but I`m just having fun," he says. His match return here was nine for 123 and with openers Paul Prichard and Gooch utterly dominant in an unbroken opening stand of 115, Essex completed victory just after tea. It elevated them, if only temporarily, to second place in the table. It must encourage Essex to know that they are making steady progress without yet firing on all cylinders. Gooch has yet to make a big score this season and Danny Law, returning to the Hove ground where he served his apprentice- ship, is bowling without control or confidence and also fail- ing to do justice to an exciting batting talent. At least Law pocketed the catch which ended a stubborn innings by Amer Khan and with it the Sussex second innings three quarters of an hour after lunch. Cowan`s first spell offered too much which the Newell broth- ers, Keith and Mark, could watch pass outside off-stump and it was Neil Williams who found the right line to persuade Keith Newell to edge a low catch to Nasser Hussain in the slips. The new ball inspired Cowan to more direct action. First he brought a ball back to disturb Mark Newell`s off-stump as he played no shot, then he produced a perfect yorker to bowl Sussex captain Peter Moores. If Moores`s form with the bat this season has been disappoint- ing, Vasbert Drakes has been chronically short of runs. His in- nings of 48 exceeded the combined total of his previous eight championship innings. Four fours, including three leg-side thumps, in five balls from Williams lifted the tempo as Drakes and Khan frustrated Es- sex in a ninth-wicket stand of 63 in 20 overs. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)