Date-stamped : 24 Aug97 - 03:08 McCague off beam as Kent title hopes suffer blow By David Green at Taunton First day of four: Somerset 336-6 v Kent KENT`S title aspirations suffered a blow within 15 minutes of the start yesterday when England paceman Martin McCague, their main strike bowler, was removed from the attack by umpire Alan Whitehead. McCague`s first over contained two bouncers, the second of which brought a warning. His third over also started with two bounc- ers, the second bringing a final warning. This was fol- lowed by a beamer which narrowly missed batsman Rob Turner. "It wasn`t deliberate and the bowler apologised, but I had to do the business. I had no alternative," said Whitehead, who was cor- rectly interpreting the laws of the game in removing McCague for the rest of the innings. John Wright, Kent`s coach said: "The umpire is in control. That`s all I`m going to say." Even before these dramatic events there had been plenty of in- cident, Piran Holloway edging his first ball, from Ben Phillips, to second slip and Simon Ecclestone, having faced seven balls, twisting his knee and limping from the field. However Turner, opening in place of injured captain Peter Bowler, responded with a career-best 144, aided principally by acting captain Ecclestone who returned to the wicket, miraculous- ly restored, with Somerset wobbling at 148 for five. Ecclestone recorded his maiden championship century as Kent`s depleted attack inevitably wilted in the heat and on a dry, slowish pitch which may take spin lavishly later in the match but which yesterday was distinctly batsman-friendly. Kent`s prospects looked pretty good before lunch. Phillips, hitting the pitch hard from his considerable height, beat the bat reg- ularly while Mark Ealham and Matthew Fleming both got the ball to swing generously, Ealham out and Fleming in. Turner`s phlegmatic temperament served him well during this period but Mark Lathwell, striking the ball crisply at the start of his innings, was later becalmed and when he edged Ealham, Trevor Ward dived to his right at slip to make the catch. Marcus Trescothick soon went, edging Fleming into Marsh`s gloves and Michael Burns nicked Phillips waist-high to first slip. Graham Rose played some powerful strokes but when he too edged Fleming to Marsh, the balance of the game seemed strongly to favour Kent. Turner, though, continued to bat solidly, picking the gaps well, especially through extra cover and wide of mid-on, while Ec- clestone proceeded more cautiously, particularly against the leg-spin of Paul Strang, for whom the pitch was rather too slow. Ecclestone, badly missed at point by the unfortunate McCague off the equally unfortunate Ealham - whose 13 championship wickets have cost him close to 50 runs each - then began to hit the ball with great power on both sides of the wicket. Turn- er`s century came up off 188 balls with 14 fours. He also sur- vived a simple chance, to slip when 110, while Ecclestone reached his fifty with an on-drive off Strang. Turner`s 369-minute innings, which included 20 fours, was end- ed by Graham Cowdrey`s brilliant catch at long leg. Ecclestone`s century came in the final over of the day. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Kent click but Rose hits back By David Green at Taunton Second day of four: Kent (99-3) trail Somerset (375) by 276 runs HEAVY rain in mid-afternoon limited play yesterday to 32 overs in which Kent captured the last four Somerset wickets for 39 runsbefore losing three prime wickets to the all-rounder Graham Rose. Ben Phillips confirmed the good impression he made on the first day, taking three of the outstanding wickets to finish with five for 86, figures which reflect how well he coped with the extra load imposed by Martin McCague`s removal from the at- tack. When Somerset resumed at their overnight 336 for six Phillips, sharing the new ball with Mark Ealham, had Steve Herzberg deftly caught at second slip, Ealham taking a return catch from Mushtaq Ahmed in the next over. Andre van Troost soon edged Phillips, also to slip, and final- ly Simon Ecclestone, having struck three more fierce off-side bound- aries and reached 123, perished aiming across Phillips`s line. He has now made centuries in all four domestic competi- tions. When Kent batted, David Fulton and Ed Smith fed eagerly on a diet of wayward bowling from van Troost and Kevin Shine. After bowling two overs for 20 runs, van Troost was replaced by Rose, which stopped the scoring at one end and when Mushtaq re- placed Shine (4-0-35-0) at the other, batting began to look rather more testing. Rose, swinging the ball away, had Fulton lbw aiming wide of mid-on and knocked out Trevor Ward`s off-stump with a beauty. When he had Alan Wells lbw with a swinging yorker he had taken three for eight in 16 balls. However, Smith, who had clipped away the new ball with firm strokes on both sides of the wicket, continued to bat with qui- et confi- dence and when the rain came, he had made 45 off 60 balls with eight fours. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Ealham`s sharp eye gives Kent chance By David Green at Taunton Third day of four: Somerset (375 & 51-1) trail Kent (449) by 23 runs MARK EALHAM`S third championship century this season, Graham Cowdrey`s first, and hard hitting from Matthew Fleming and the tail, earned Kent a lead of 74 which Somerset reduced by 51 for the loss of Rob Turner. With both new-ball bowlers again ineffective, Somerset relied on Graham Rose, who bowled splendidly in the morning without luck, and the contrasting spin of Mushtaq Ahmed and Steve Herzberg, who both got generous turn, though Herzberg`s control wavered. Most people expected that Kent would declare on gaining their fourth batting point but Steve Marsh, reckoning almost certainly cor- rectly that he could expect no generous declaration today, chose to put pressure on Somerset by batting on. No one watching the early overs would have thought in terms of a declaration as Kent, resuming at 99 for three, soon lost Ed Smith for 56 to Mushtaq, after which ball beat bat frequently. Rose passed Cowdrey`s outside edge four times in eight balls and more than once thereafter, and when he was rested - his fig- ures of 8-1-22-0 bearing no relation at all to the quality of his bowling - Cowdrey began to prosper. Cowdrey, favouring the drive up past the bowler and placing the ball firmly past cover, imposed himself earlier than Eal- ham, who was missed at slip off Mushtaq when he had made only four, an error which proved costly. Ealham thereafter demonstrated the value of watching the ball closely and of not attempting anything too extravagant. The batsmen exploited a slow pitch and bowling wayward enough to permit a scoring rate of close to four runs an over. The partnership was worth 185 when Cowdrey, who hit 12 fours off 198 balls, drove Mushtaq to mid-off. Ealham, who hit 13 fours and a six, scored faster than Cowdrey and was bowled offer- ing no stroke to Herzberg. Fleming, as ever, hit the ball hard into unexpected quarters and Martin Mc- Cague thumped four boundaries in his unbeaten 24, but a slight back problem prevented him bowling. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Leicestershire scent victory By Geoffrey Dean at Grace Road Leics (486 & 281-2dec) beat Derbyshire (366-2dec & 238) by 163 runs LEICESTERSHIRE, who won seven out of their nine home champi- onship games last year, came into this match without a victo- ry at Grace Road this summer. But at tea, they looked to have a chance of putting the record straight as Derbyshire, set 402 in 88 overs, had reached 193 for five from 48. Culpable for this curious reversal in fortunes is not so much the wet weather that has afflicted every home game bar one, but the pitches. They have been radically different from 1996 - much slower and flatter - and not even groundsman Steve Wright knows why. He predicted this wicket would be similar to the lightning- quick surface for the match against the South Africans three years ago. He could not have been more wrong - the new ball went through, but after 20 overs or so, the pitch became a bowler`s graveyard. "They`ve been like this all year," said Alan Mullally, not un- happy to be missing this game with a groin strain. "But nobody seems to know why." The lack of sun in the first half of the sum- mer is part of the reason, but only part. James Whitaker de- scribed the previous home pitch - against Nottinghamshire in late July - as the worst cricket wicket he had played on at Grace Road. Derbyshire began their pursuit predictably well once 5.5 overs of joke bowling had set up Whitaker`s declaration. Adrian Rollins, who in the first innings had featured in the highest Der- byshire third- wicket stand - 316 with Kim Barnett - went early, gloving a pull off James Ormond to the wicketkeeper, but Chris Adams joined Michael May to add 117 in 31 overs. May was dropped when 39, but was one of four wickets to fall in the last five overs before tea. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)