Date-stamped : 30 Aug97 - 18:04 Moody decides to lighten load By Charles Randall at Kidderminster First day of four: Middlesex 217-7 v Worcestershire TOM MOODY`S decision to withdraw as a Worcestershire coach candidate is not surprising, as the Australian felt that his present role as captain, batsman, bowler and fieldsman might al- ready be suffi- cient. Yesterday, as though to suggest there was little he could not do, he won the toss and put Middlesex in on a pitch with a reputation for deadening out. This time the pitch looked more green than usual, but sound enough to make Moody`s decision a gamble - which probably paid off, thanks to patchy batting. Worcestershire looked far from championship contenders while Jason Pooley struck the new ball so cleanly on his way to a quick- fire 45, outshining Mark Ramprakash. However, when Ramprakash thin-edged a drive, Middlesex`s bat- ting became far less potent, and Pooley`s departure, caught at mid- on stopping a drive, gave Moody`s team the chance they ex- ploited well. Alamgir Sheriyar proved to be the most effective strike bowler taking three for 57, once he had recovered from the embarrassment of twisting an ankle during the simple process of picking up a rolling ball. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Nash keeps up the good work By Charles Randall at Kidderminster Second day of four: Worcs (90-4) trail Middx (252) by 162 runs THE futility of Worcestershire`s title chase was exposed by an inability to score fast enough at Kidderminster yesterday. Without major contributions from Tom Moody and Graeme Hick, who was caught off bat and pad at short-leg for nought, Worcester- shire`s innings creaked almost to a standstill during a disappointing rain-halved day. Their situation would have been even stickier if Gavin Haynes had not been dropped behind the wicket, a chance that would have been straightforward were the light not so poor. So Middlesex took charge, even after losing their three overnight wickets quite quickly, James Hewitt departing to the third ball of the morning. David Nash, after his championship debut 94 at Durham, im- pressed again with 45 not out on a pitch that kept seam bowlers interested. Nash, 19, showed quick footwork and deft timing rarely seen on the circuit, working the ball away on both sides of the wicket, before Alamgir Sheriyar dispatched his last two partners in two balls. As a reserve wicketkeeper, Nash`s use to his county is obvi- ous, and on this evidence he would be worth his place as a specialist batsman, having grabbed the reserve slot vacated by Scott Moffat, who walked out of Lord`s recently, disillusioned with a perceived lack of opportunity. Tom Moody, the only man to take on Middlesex`s seam attack af- ter they made early inroads, was held at second slip soon after lunch. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Kallis collects third hundred By Charles Randall at Kidderminster Third day of four: Middlesex (252 & 206-1) lead Worcestershire (251-5 dec) by 207 runs A SKILFUL 115 not out by Jacques Kallis, Middlesex`s South African all-rounder, changed the face of a game that had looked des- tined, unusually for Kidderminster, to be dominated by medium-pace seam bowlers. It was as though this characterful Chester Road ground had thrown off its disguise, recognisable again as the place where so many batsmen - including Graeme Hick in his club days - had smashed a mass of fours over the cambered outfield. With a quarter of the match lost to rain, Middlesex yesterday gave themselves a chance of setting their fifth-placed opponents a target with enough scope for taking wickets, which are nor- mally as rare as a strip of mint Penny Blacks. Only two wickets fell all day as, firstly, David Leatherdale and Steve Rhodes ensured Worcestershire would not suffer any major first-innings disadvantage with a partnership of 112 in 31 overs, a furious pace compared with the crawl the previous day. Middlesex were given the second half of the day batting, and Kallis looked fully at ease for his third hundred of the summer, which he reached with his 20th boundary. Middlesex lost Jason Pooley, who drove the second ball to cov- er point, but Kallis and a stolid Mark Ramprakash picked off the seamers for four or five runs an over. Kallis used the vacant third-man area for a racing start, his fifty arriving in 67 balls, and only the introduction of Richard Illingworth`s slow left-armers reined in the scoring, with neither batsman prepared to hit him over the top. Ramprakash`s declaration will be difficult to judge. Bound- aries have become increasingly cheap, and only one three has been record- ed in 225 overs so far. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Hewitt snuffs out chance of run chase By Charles Randall at Kidderminster Middlesex (252 & 317-1 dec) beat Worcestershire (251-5 dec & 149) by 169 runs MIDDLESEX were so badly mauled by Surrey a couple of weeks ago it was difficult to regard them as part of the championship shake- up, but their ambush of Worcestershire yesterday kept them in con- tention against the odds. They pushed themselves very much in the Atherton cockroach category - stamp on them and they keep coming back - when they consigned Worcestershire to a whacking 169-run defeat, leapfrog- ging into fifth place. Controlled seam-bowling, notably by James Hewitt, smothered Worcestershire`s run chase before it had started, when 319 at four runs an over had seemed a sporting target in manufactured circumstances. Heavy overnight rain must have slowed the drying-out process of a grassed pitch that had permitted only two wickets during the whole of Friday. The Middlesex seamers yesterday made life a mis- ery for the batsmen, with only Philip Weston resisting for long, his spritely 74 the only consolation in a shambolic in- nings. The carpet factories in the town have declined drastically in numbers and even the Chester Road strip, for this match, lost its un- derfelt quality, which had been apparent since county cricket returned to Kidderminster in 1987. David Sales was the most recent batsman to murder bowling, making a double hundred for Northamptonshire last year on his champi- onship debut, all so evocative of the way Graeme Hick burnt a path through club cricket as an eager teenager. This time Hick made very little contribution to the match, following up his first innings duck with a brief stay of four balls yes- terday. Hick, crucial to Worcestershire`s batting strategy, edged his second ball from Angus Fraser past his leg stump for three runs and then, next over, he followed a seamer from Hewitt that left him, re- sulting in a tame catch to gully. Hewitt produced a good ball in the same over for Reuben Spir- ing, finding the edge for the diving Jason Pooley to hold his sec- ond catch in four balls. Fraser had made the first inroad the previous over when Tom Moody thin-edged on the back foot. When Hewitt struck in the fol- low- ing over, three wickets had tumbled in nine balls and the home team`s chances had all but disappeared. Most of the morning was occupied with menace-free bowling, followed by some outright gifts to allow Mark Ramprakash to set his tar- get. Ramprakash, unusually for him, batted without distinction or flare, having used 163 balls the previous evening reaching 72. His hundred yesterday, not a true first class one, was not worth recording in detail. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)