Date-stamped : 27 Jul97 - 10:36 Swan song for Gooch the stoic By Charles Randall at Chelmsford First day of four: Worcestershire (328-6) v Essex HE strode out to field ahead of the Essex team without expres- sion at the County Ground yesterday, allowing himself two waves in re- sponse to the crowd`s standing ovation. Graham Gooch`s 580th, and last, first-class match was about to begin as nine photographers and four television cameramen jos- tled their way backwards in front of him. After that the day`s cricket could never live up to the billing. Retirement messages and 44th-birthday cards gave a distinctive atmosphere to Essex`s first-floor dressing-room, and at the tea interval Chelmsford`s red-coated town crier clanged his hand bell and called the praises of a great England batsman - boosted his ego a bit, in modern parlance. It was an uncomfortably humid day, and the fact that Worces- tershire won the toss and batted on an easy-paced pitch meant that Gooch had little involvement. He did not even field the ball until he moved from second slip after 1.75 hours. His most significant moment arrived in the second over after tea when, at mid-on, he muddled with Ashley Cowan, at mid-off, and al- lowed Reuben Spiring`s skier off Paul Grayson to fall harmlessly to the ground when it should have been caught. Spiring had reached 70 at that stage and was consolidating his recovery with Vikram Solanki in a partnership which eventually realised 151. The pair revived a sloppy Worcestershire batting performance. Solanki survived a caught-and-bowled chance to Peter Such when he had made one run. Gooch`s tumbling catch at short mid-on much lat- er hardly compensated. Spiring drove his way to his first hundred of the summer, and the fourth of his career, in just over three hours. Earlier Tom Moody and Graeme Hick had wasted sound starts and, when the fifth Worcestershire wicket fell in mid-afternoon, it looked as though Gooch might be required to bat after all. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Prichard overshadows old icon By Charles Randall at Chelmsford Second day of four: Essex (230-3) trail Worcestershire (394) by 164 runs GRAHAM GOOCH`S successor as Essex captain, Paul Prichard, and not the great man himself, drew most of the day`s applause with a spritely hundred at Chelmsford yesterday. Worcestershire started the second day of Gooch`s final first- class match with some tedious batting and then brought a gasp of disappointment from the crowd by snaffling the day`s juiciest prize for 11 runs soon after lunch. Alamgir Sheriyar, left-arm over, was the man responsible, knocking out Gooch`s leg stump behind his legs as he aimed a leg- glance af- ter 34 minutes at the crease. The finality of it was awful, and the clank of the falling stump made one wince with sympathy. The incident seemed to prove a point. If Gooch had scored a hundred yesterday, Essex`s selectors, and his team-mates, might have wondered whether his tank, as he claimed, really was "running out of gas". Gooch was privileged to be allowed to select his final game in mid-season, as most players pull down the shutter at the end of a county summer or when it becomes clear the last game has al- ready happened. It could certainly be argued that announcing his intention in a Sunday tabloid before informing his club was inappropriate be- haviour for a man of his stature. Nevertheless, nothing could de- tract from a magnificent career, 580 games in first-class cricket and 48,841 runs to date, all unselfishly made. Worcestershire`s fielders made no public acknowledgement of Gooch`s entry at the start of his innings, though they might show more warmth for his final visit next time, assuming there is one. There is not a 100 per cent chance of Gooch batting again, as Essex`s best opportunity of winning might well be a big first-in- nings lead on a pitch increasingly taking spin. Prichard`s superb 120 exposed Worcestershire`s batting as a pedestrian effort, which meandered to a close nine balls after the lunch break, the last four wickets adding just 66 in 33 overs yesterday. Reuben Spiring improved his overnight hundred to a worthy 150, his highest score, before sweeping a catch to Australian Stuart Law. His total batting time was 6hr 20min and Prichard, though not bur- dened by a collapsing innings, batted for half as long. After Gooch`s departure, Prichard punished some loose seam bowling and rushed to a 57-ball fifty before off-spin from Graeme Hick and Vikram Solanki demonstrated how tidiness could be a virtue. Essex had to work for runs at last. Darren Robinson, most likely to replace Gooch as opener, accu- mulated slowly in support and will be seeking the third hundred of his career today, no doubt all too aware he has a long way to go to match the old maestro`s total of 128 in 25 seasons. Yesterday`s attendance at New Writtle Street was smaller than the 3,000-plus of the previous day, and events were less emotion- ally charged, attracting less media attention - especially af- ter Sheriyar`s dart had knocked over Chelmsford`s cricket icon. Gooch started his innings well, with a single off the first ball and a sweet cover-driven four in Sheriyar`s second over. Subsequent events showed that runs were there for the taking, so his dismissal must have been doubly irritating for him. Cross- ing the threshold into history can be a painful process. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Spinners open door for Essex By Charles Randall at Chelmsford Third day of four: Worcs (394 & 99-5) lead Essex (451) by 42 runs THE GOOCH hubbub died down for a day at the County Ground, and the game drifted disappointingly for hours until Worcester- shire`s batting suddenly wilted against spin in the evening to give Essex a scent of victory. Gooch, with one more visit to the crease left, could well bow out of first-class cricket this evening with his beloved county at the top of table. Barring a personal hundred, this would be his ideal way of departure. He has, however, decided to remain at Essex until the end of the season, assisting at all levels. Essex have won only two first-class games in two years at this ground, and once again they could find themselves relying on Peter Such`s thrusting off-spin this morning to punch home an overnight ad- vantage. Two years ago Such took 12 wickets against Worcestershire at Chelmsford, and yesterday evening he had Tim Curtis well caught at slip with his first ball before bowling Reuben Spir- ing with one that gripped and whistled through the batsman`s de- fence. In the day`s final over Stuart Law`s usually innocuous leg- spin picked up two wickets in three balls to leave Worcester- shire groggy on the ropes. Essex had turned a meandering mess in- to a winning op- portunity. Yesterday Darren Robinson, capped during the tea interval, completed his third hundred for Essex and went on to 148 before he was beaten and bowled by Gavin Haynes after 6.5 hours at the crease. Essex ended up with a halfway house lead of 57, with no crush- ing advantage, but, if Such can stick quills of anxiety into Worcestershire`s batting today, the earlier run crawl can be forgiven and, to some extent, justified. It might sound churlish to even think of criticising a 24-year-old batsman busting a gut for his team, but Robinson faced 379 balls during his innings, a colossal number. As a noted hitter of the ball in certain circumstances, he probably felt he was officially required to block. If so, his innings was perfection, and Ronnie Irani, a Test player, followed his lead with 20 off 93 balls, which gunged up the works com- pletely. If only for this reason, Essex will miss Gooch`s ability to shake up soporific sessions. The quick dismissal of Law on Thurs- day and the absence of Nasser Hussain, with England, left Essex`s batting a little hollow after Paul Prichard`s hundred. Worcestershire`s three spin bowlers found help from a typical- ly sound pitch, but they were not in Such`s class. Neverthe- less, Matthew Rawnsley`s left-armers, which the previous day had cost 22 runs off two overs, conceded only 23 more off 17 overs yesterday. As so often happens in stalemate situations, sensible aggres- sion changed the picture. Paul Grayson and Steve Andrew spread the field in an enterprising last-wicket stand of 53 in 11 overs, which ac- counted for what advantage Essex could claim. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Ghostly Hick glides to hundred By Paul Weaver at Chelmsford Worcestershire 394 & 250-5 dec drew with Essex 451 THERE are people who have watched Graeme Hick make a century and, when asked to recount the experience, are suddenly hit by the dread fear that they may be suffering from some disease in- volving a pro- gressive decline in intellectual ability. A Hick hundred is about as easy to recall as a 10-year-old That`s Life show with Esther Rantzen. This remarkable ghost is approaching a century of centuries but it is still difficult to recall one with any detail. It has been similarly difficult, unless you are a Worcestershire supporter, to re- alise that Hick`s championship season has been scarcely less miserable than Graham Gooch`s. He was 93 not out and on the edge of his sixth century of the summer when the rain fell after lunch here yesterday, wiping out the afternoon session. But of the five hundreds he brought to this match only one had come in the championship, when he made 137 against Gloucestershire at Bristol. There have been two others in first-class cricket, 168 against Oxford and 144 against Pakistan A, and two in one-day cricket, 119 in the Sunday league and 146 in the NatWest Trophy - made against Es- sex here. Yesterday the man Gooch and the other England selectors have chosen to overlook for this summer`s Ashes series looked in good form on the way to his 94th first-class hundred. He was on 29 when Worcestershire resumed on 99 for five, 42 runs ahead of Essex, and appeared in good touch as he drove Peter Such through the covers. His partner, David Leatherdale, looked even more belligerent as he hit Stuart Law for three fours in an over. When play finally resumed, at 4.40pm, Hick did not wait long before reaching his hundred. In the second over, bowled by Paul Grayson, he drove high and straight for six to move to 99, and two overs later pushed a single to reach his century in 193 balls and 228 min- utes. Essex, who are battling to keep pace with the leaders in the championship, did not look like taking a wicket. At lunch Worces- tershire were 219 for five, with a lead of 162, and Hick and Leatherdale (42 not out) had taken their sixth-wicket stand to 120. At this stage Gooch`s hopes of signing off with an innings to remember were getting brighter by the minute. Gavin Haynes in- jured an ankle and with Alamgir Sheriyar suffering with a sore toe, Worcester- shire`s already thin bowling resources looked dangerously vulnerable as their captain, Tom Moody, weighed up his declaration options. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)