Date-stamped : 20 Aug97 - 03:04 Dawson and Russell come to the rescue By Christopher Martin-Jenkins at Hove First day of four: Sussex 291-8 v Gloucestershire A TEMPORARY sea-fret apart there were no clouds on the horizon for most of yesterday at Hove and, when Mark Alleyne won the toss, Gloucestershire could have been forgiven for thinking that it was true in a metaphorical sense too. In the event his team had to battle very hard for what was on- ly the most marginal of advantages against a Sussex attack whose best known bowler did not take a wicket and whose most successful expo- nents were, once again, the two who were picked up from county cricket`s scrap-heap late last winter. Mark Robinson has been proving himself immensely grateful, and someone at Sussex very far-sighted, all this season, having spent the 1996 summer bowling for Hull. His three for 48 yesterday took his total for Sussex in the championship to 38. Amer Khan has not got so many, but there has seldom been a day when this stocky little Middlesex reject has not made a useful con- tribution and he had two wickets by lunchtime yesterday, which is hardly what leg-spinners expect. The cardinal virtue of them both is that they seldom bowl a really bad ball. It is amazing how batsmen find ways of getting them- selves out against bowlers like that. Gloucestershire`s championship challenge was sustained, oddly enough, by another man who, at 27 and with only two champi- onship matches behind him this season, might have been heading for the same obscurity. Bobby Dawson was 25 not out when he was joined by the un- flinchingly competitive Jack Russell but a long and patient partnership between the two rescued an innings which was fal- tering seriously, at 119 for five, only six overs into the after- noon. Timing the ball crisply when he attacked, as 15 fours attest, and moving his feet decisively forward or back, Dawson played very well - far better than a record of only two championship hundreds suggests. Perhaps his nervousness has held him back during a career in which he has seldom secured a regular place in the side since making a thousand runs in 1994. Yesterday there seemed no self-doubt in the 90s but, two short of the great psychological landmark, he edged a forward stroke to slip and departed in deep chagrin. Russell`s dismissal, leg before when well forward but playing no shot to Robinson`s persistent medium-pace, had come 10 overs be- fore after a stand of 120 in which Sussex offered commend- ably few easy runs. There was just a little in the pitch all day and the two men who have made their first championship appearances this sea- son, Alex Edwards and the tidy off-spinner Justin Bates, played useful parts. Edwards, now finished as a student at Loughborough, has a good, springy action and it enabled him to surprise Matthew Win- dows as he drove at a ball of full length just as he and Nick Trainor seemed to have escaped some uneasy moments against the new ball. After Trainor had been caught at slip, pushing forward to a leg-break, Edwards completed a good morning`s work by diving for- ward at mid-on to catch a rebounded caught-and-bowled chance off Khan`s wrist. Tim Hancock played confidently enough either side of lunch and it was only when his mis-timed square-cut to backward point was imme- diately followed by Robinson`s first and most important wicket - Al- leyne bowled leg stump off an inside edge as he shaped to force off the back foot - that Gloucestershire be- gan to yearn for Shaun Young. Their Australian all-rounder is more likely than not to be back at Bristol next year. Nor will Bill Athey be lost to Sussex if, after his retirement on Thursday, he decides to accept a job which the club have of- fered him as part of their restructuring. Athey will definitely not be Desmond Haynes`s successor, but this exemplary profession- al has had experience in marketing and as a coach and, if he accepts after "two or three weeks to think about his future", his role is likely to in- clude youth development. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Peirce in market for bright future By Peter Roebuck at Hove Gloucs (320) lead Sussex (255-7) by 65 runs A COUPLE of wickets suddenly falling in the middle of a tran- quil afternoon brought the smiles back to Gloucestershire faces. Ambition had been sagging as sea fret, seam and inspi- ration failed to report for duty. Only spin had not been tried. At last, at 138 for one, it was introduced, whereupon a moment of carelessness and a nervous prod brought the West Countrymen back into the match. The visitors soon struck again, as Sussex lost fur- ther wickets to loose strokes on a sleepy pitch. Toby Peirce and Neil Taylor had led the way for the hosts. Batting quietly on a sunny afternoon, relying chiefly on their favourite strokes, they put the pitch to proper use by adding 135. Both have stories to tell. Taylor is a refugee from Kent, Peirce has been rescued from the commodities market. Taylor batted in his fa- miliar way, clipping to leg and pushing strokes behind point as he moved serenely along. Now that Bill Athey has retired, to take up an appointment as captain of the Second XI, Taylor is the veteran of the side. Peirce has a more pugnacious presence, doubtless due to holler- ing so much about coffee futures. He drove straight, thumped to leg and otherwise pro- tected his wicket doggedly as he built the highest score of his young ca- reer. Neither batsman had much trouble with the pacemen. Handicapped by a stiff groin, Mike Smith was unthreatening while Jon Lewis strayed too much to leg. Some dark moments did occur, most of them involv- ing Matthew Church, who flung himself around in the manner of a modern vicar. Alas, more customers slipped through the Church`s grasp. It took spin to separate the pair as the elder partner drove a simple return catch to Richard Davis. No sooner had he left the pavilion than Mike Newell had to return, edging as he pushed forwards. In securing further breakthroughs the visitors were consider- ably assisted by Sussex`s carelessness. Peirce, expanding his repertoire, off-drove and was held at second slip to give Lewis his first wicket. Keith Newell soon followed, slicing a drive to cover as Sussex subsided to 187 for five. Nor did Paul Jarvis last, leg before as he pushed tentatively forward to Smith. Gloucestershire had earlier secured a third batting point be- fore losing Smith, to an especially rumbustious stroke, and Davis, whose dismissal gave Mark Robinson a deserved sixth wick- et. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Alleyne provides stabilising factor By Christopher Martin-Jenkins at Hove Third day of four: Gloucestershire (320 & 271-6) lead Sussex (324) by 267 runs NOT until Mark Alleyne came in at 101 for four to stabilise his side`s second innings after a mere four runs had separated the teams at halfway could the county in third place be at all confident of defeating the one now propping them all up. It is still a good contest: the pitch is still true but turn- ing from the rough, dry enough now for Amer Khan, Sussex`s tireless wrist spinner, to have bowled 32 overs yesterday for a return of three for 94, and Gloucestershire`s pair of much more experienced spin- ners should hold the key to victory today. Certainly, it will take a batting effort of rare inspiration for Sussex to make a fourth-innings score in excess of 300. One of Khan`s leg-breaks from round the wicket spun not just past the outside edge of Alleyne`s bat but past the wicket- keeper`s gloves for four byes, too. Since Richard Davis, a veter- an of championship chases with both Kent and Warwickshire in re- cent seasons, already has four wickets in the match, this was good news for Gloucestershire. They lead overnight by 267 with Jack Russell, the stalwart of Stroud and their most price- less asset, still in residence. He, Alleyne and the temporarily absent Shaun Young have been the key players all season and Russell must have mixed feelings about the continued preference for Alec Stewart by England`s se- lectors. He has already batted for four-and-a-half hours in this match. Alleyne himself is now past 750 runs in a season in which he has also taken 35 wickets though his medium-pace was innocuous enough on this pitch as Sussex extended their overnight 255 for seven with determination on a muggy morning, Peter Moores showing the way to Justin Bates in an eighth-wicket partnership of 104. Sadly, Bates hooked to long-leg the ball after Moores had chopped on. Alleyne`s successive partnerships of 78 with Tim Hancock and Russell restored Gloucestershire`s advantage after Nick Trainor had shouldered arms to a straight ball and Khan had taken the first three wickets in an 11-over first spell. Matt Windows edged hard on to his stumps, cutting, Matthew Church drove even harder in the air to mid- off and Bobby Dawson fell at silly point off bat and pad. But Hancock, a hundred in the last match behind him, played a solidly impres- sive innings until Keith Newell nipped an innocent-looking, good- length ball past a for- ward prod. Gloucestershire`s genuine chance of a first County Champi- onship title since the days of W G was always going to give this match con- siderable significance but Sussex have competed well enough to make it an enjoyable and absorbing game to watch. If only county members realised how much more interesting it has been than many a Sunday league game: the painful fact is that the crowd was barely half what it might have been for a 40-over game. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Ball and Davis spin Gloucs towards title By Christopher Martin-Jenkins at Hove Gloucs (320 & 331-7 dec bt Sussex (324 & 161) by 156 runs THIS was a `must win` game for Gloucestershire and win it they did by 156 runs noisily and confidently on a turning pitch, to go 10 points clear of Kent at the top of the championship with four matches to play. They have some tough opponents still to overcome - Notts, Kent, Warwickshire and Lancashire -if the title is to be won, but they will have Shaun Young back next week and they are capable of it. Yesterday, after a few purposeful biffs, from Jack Russell in particular, the finger spinners, Richard Davis and Martyn Ball, did their work most efficently, with predatory support from the close catchers, especially Mark Alleyne, Tim Hancock and Matt Win- dows. It is strange how essential it still is to have a pair of spinners to win a championship whereas in home Tests for England the fin- ger spinner seems to have lost all potency as an at- tacking force. Partly perhaps it is because the selectors seldom pick two together; partly because high-class, experienced play- ers do not succumb so eas- ily as Sussex did yesterday once an excellent partnership between Neil Taylor and Toby Peirce had been broken; but mainly, of course, be- cause to tease a side out in the fourth innings with men round the bat you first need a substantial lead. Gloucestershire decided that theirs was sufficient after 45 minutes of another sweltering day in which cricket was viewed through a haze of ozone: only the youngest or most leathery skins could with- stand a sun which bore down upon the blue and white striped deckchairs. Russell, whose neat features are well protected by bristles, not to mention headgear, had reached 50 off 89 balls, a per- fectly paced innings as usual, before the rat-a-tat-tat of the last three of his 10 fours persuaded Mark Allenyne to declare midway through the 12th over. Ball, caught at deep midwicket, had made a brisk 25. Gloucestershire got a wicket with the new ball which may have been more important than they realised. They had left them- selves only 82 overs to bowl Sussex out and the target of 328 might not have been out of reach had Rajesh Rao got going. Jon Lewis bowls lively away-swingers with a new ball, however, and he had Rao, for- ward with a fatally angled bat, caught low at slip, much as he had been in the NatWest early in the week. The quarter-final match winner has now gone five championship matches now without a decent score. Davis was on before lunch and through the afternoon only a few overs from Alleyne were needed for a change. Otherwise it was done the old-fashioned way, the off-spinner and left-arm orthodox spin- ner in harness. More weather like this and Davis and Ball may become more fa- mous than Joan and Lucille, the American comediennes from the innocent days of television, when every county had two spin- ners and most at least three. Eventually they got their wickets easily, in a succession of catches round the bat as Sussex lost their last nine wickets for 52 in 31 overs. But at first they had to work really hard, wheeling away with admirable accuracy, getting just sufficient turn to interest a shrewd old pro like Taylor and to make the left-handed Peirce - 24, stocky, plucky and promising - battle for his life. It was good to watch while the game hung in the balance. Those who came later needed to learn from Taylor`s method. He stayed still for as long as possible, watching the ball all the way and playing it late, with relaxed hands until he wanted to cuff it away hard. Peirce escaped a chance to Alleyne at slip off Ball when 16 but noth- ing else escaped close catchers who, Russell to the fore, yelled either `catchit` or `owzat` - or both -every time ball struck pad. Peirce at last broke his shackles by driving Davis back over his head for four- even Davis applauded that- and by the time that he finally succumbed to Ball, driving fiercely but caught at second slip, he had hit eight fours. It was the 46th over, with 109 on the board, and the beginning of the end. Taylor had just pull-driven Ball for his own eighth four when his 161 ball innings ended with a firm push to short-leg and after him only Peter Moores was able to look af- ter himself. Desmond Haynes, the departed Sussex coach, came to watch for a while. If only Sussex had signed him as a batsman in the first place, for his kind of experience was needed. The likes of the Newell broth- ers have seen plenty of spin in second eleven championship cricket but not, perhaps, the level of intensity generated by Ball, Davis and their cordon is this match. This was Ball`s first five-wicket haul for two years and he deserved it. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)