Date-stamped : 06 Sep97 - 06:08 Britannic County Championship: Wells keeps his head down on fluctuating day By Christopher Martin-Jenkins at Canterbury First day of four: Gloucestershire (12-0) trail Kent (305) by 293 runs THE cheer which rang round the St Lawrence ground at 5.20 pm yesterday would have been loud enough to salute the championship title itself in some counties. In Kent, it meant only that a third batting bonus point had been gained after a hard day`s work on one of those pitches which looks like having something in it for everyone. The sun was shining, well over 2,000 people were present, and this is terri- tory where winning the championship matters, profoundly. Gloucestershire are playing with no less self-belief, and with both eyes fixed firmly on the Britannic Assurance first prize of -L70,000. They got four points out of the day themselves, re- ducing their deficit vis--vis Kent to nine. Until Alan Wells played a commanding innings in the second half of the morn- ing, they had genuine hopes of bowling their opponents out for a good deal fewer than 305. Curiously, however, there was also a time in mid-afternoon when Kent`s two all-rounders, Mark Ealham and Matthew Fleming, were bat- ting with a sufficiently effective mixture of bel- ligerence and solidity for their total to have been something of a disappointment. They lost their last five wickets for 65. It was a healthily combative day`s cricket and the pitch looks ideal for a heavyweight contest like this: quick and hard enough for anyone over medium pace to try an occasional bouncer; true enough, despite some uneven bounce, for batsmen to hit through the line with conviction; and dry enough for Gloucestershire`s two-finger spinners to get a little turn and spring. Two of the three wickets which fell to Martyn Ball and Richard Davis, indeed, were the result of extra bounce and when Kent came out to bowl three overs before what seemed a premature close on so lovely an evening (especially with some rain forecast for later today) the second of them was bowled by Paul Strang. In Strang, Kent, who won the toss, have a possible match-win- ner. He turned a ball sharply enough for Dominic Hewson to get a four off the outside edge through the slips as he attempted a drive through midwicket. The home side must have been tempted to include Nigel Llong as a balancing spinner but, in the absence through back in- juries of Martin McCague and Graham Cowdrey, they chose instead to re- store Matthew Walker to the top five and rely on four quicker bowlers. On this same sprightly strip, Mc- Cague took five for 75 and De- von Malcolm six for 74 for Derbyshire in the first match of the season. Good as it was to see `Syd` Lawrence retaining his place in Gloucestershire`s side, he is not, in his still weightier rein- carnation, either McCague or Malcolm, let alone the bowler he himself was at his brief but formidable peak. He hurled him- self at the crease in three spells, pitching a good many balls halfway down. They smacked satisfyingly into Jack Russell`s gloves, but he was more dangerous when he made the batsmen play forward. Then, he threatened everyone`s knuckles. It was the estimable Mike Smith who took the wickets with the new ball, however, deservedly so once more. In successive overs, the ninth and 11th, he ducked a yorker in late to have Ed Smith leg be- fore, then bowled David Fulton with an in- swinger of ideal length. When Trevor Ward, after promising well, pulled a long hop from Mark Al- leyne to square leg, Kent were 55 for three and their supporters quite remarkably quiet. Walker and, especially, Wells soon brought the colour back to their faces. Wells made his usual careful reconnaissance be- fore launching a fusillade of strokes from the sound base of a high backlift and a still head. First he pulled Alleyne though midwicket, then cover-drove Shaun Young on bended knee before driving four more fours in successive overs from Alleyne. The straight and cover drives in the first brace were perfect; the two sliced to third man in the next over rather less so. He continued to punish anything loose and there was sufficient for him to march into lunch with a 65-ball fifty to his name and 12 fours already in the book. Walker batted almost equally well in sup- port, hitting crisply off the back foot but also stretch- ing to drive Young on the up past mid-off, as good as any shot played all day. He was out to the first ball of spin, cutting. Wells followed three overs later, glancing thinly, and, like Walker, cursing cricket`s cruel propensity for cutting a man down when the world seems to be at his feet. Much the same fate awaited Fleming and Ealham after a stand of 66 in which Flem- ing, escaping a low snick to slip`s left off the first ball he received from Ball, hit the ball hard and handsomely while Eal- ham held the other end with utter security. Fleming fell only through an excess of exuberance when Young posted a deep midwicket, dropped the ball short and watched the gambler fall into the trap, although another yard of height would have pro- duced a fifty off 61 balls. Ealham, after 38 overs of graft, cut to backward point, just reward for Dicky Davis`s well controlled left-arm spin, but Steve Marsh made sure that his side got past 300 and he must hope that he can now dictate terms. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Britannic County Championship: Russell and Dawson take on Kent in tense scrap By Christopher Martin-Jenkins at Canterbury Second day of four: Kent (305 & 21-0) lead Gloucs (256) by 70 runs FOR THE second match in their last three Bobby Dawson and Jack Russell kept Gloucestershire in contention for the County Champi- onship yesterday, but at the end of a day-long struggle it is Kent who remain the more likely winners of a dogfight of great intensity. At the halfway stage Kent lead by 70 runs, due largely to two incisive spells of bowling in the morning by their giant 22-year-old fast bowler, Ben Phillips. For those closely involved this is a game as tense and strain- ing as a slowly unwinding thriller. There has been needle with- out nas- tiness and some stirring cricket by players giving all they have in the team cause. As luck would have it, too, the rain stayed away from the eastern tip of England until six overs remained. The sixth-wicket stand between Dawson and Russell gave the day its character. For 47 overs and the better part of three hours be- tween the middle of the morning and shortly before tea, they underlined why Gloucestershire`s challenge this season has been sustained for so long. As they had against Sussex, these two came together in adversity and turned the game. Phillips had reduced the Gloucestershire innings to something close to calamity, but this is a side whose batting strength lies in its middle, or rather one which can never be bowled out until Rus- sell is disposed of. Russell is having a wonderful season, which started with the pub- lication of a successful biography and will be followed by a very much more lucrative painting contract before, in all proba- bil- ity, he returns to the England team in the West Indies in the new year. His 55 yesterday was his eighth fifty of the season -one of them converted into three figures - and he has now scored 919 runs at an average of 51. His partner, Dawson, is a late devel- oper, both this season and generally. He only got into the side in late July and this, at 27, was only his third first-class hundred, the last one scored two years ago. He came in after the 6ft 6in Phillips, in the third over of a grey morning, had struck twice in two balls. Matt Windows spliced a hook to long-leg (not the first to be defeated by the extra bounce on what remains a `good cricket wicket`) and Dominic Hewson drove rather wildly at the next ball, edging towards first-slip. Steve Marsh dived with all the joy and agility of a porpoise to clutch it. Going back to his first ball, despite its fullish length, Daw- son might easily have been given out leg before to give Phillips a hat- trick, but Vanburn Holder, the umpire, quite rightly de- cided that it might have nipped past the leg stump and Dawson made remarkably few errors thereafter in a patient and cul- tured innings lasting five hours and 20 minutes. Before the morning was much older he had lost his first three partners: Tim Hancock was caught behind, driving at Phillips af- ter several unavailing attempts to get a touch to mark Ealham`s outswingers; Shaun Young went third ball, driving across the line; and Mark Alleyne was bowled off his pads by an inswinger. Thus far but for a long time no further for Kent. Paul Strang had long spells from the Pavilion End, but he was reluctant to give the ball much air, believing, like many before him, that Russell`s crab-like thrust at the ball with his front pad must sooner or later end in a bat-pad catch. Of course it never did. He was finally lbw to Ealham playing his walking shot towards midwicket, but Kent had to wait awhile before they reasserted their grip because Dawson was in no mood to give them anything and Martyn Ball, useful little cricketer that he is, came in to play a positive innings which was just right for the situa- tion. Having made 34 off 58 balls, Ball hooked the persevering Dean Headley to long-leg, but six overs later Dawson at last completed the hundred which had eluded him by two runs at Hove three weeks ago. He was out exactly as he had been there, caught at slip off a leg break, whereupon Mike Smith was run out attempting a third run and Dicky Davis propped to silly mid-off. It was dark by then but there was time for some crisp strokes by each of Kent`s young openers: indicative of an optimistic mood. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Ward the spearhead of Kent`s assault Christopher Martin-Jenkins at Canterbury Third day of four: Kent (305 & 432-4) v Gloucestershire (256) WALCOTT, Weekes and Worrell they may not be, but Kent`s three Ws, Trevor Ward, Alan Wells and Matthew Walker, gave a passable imitation here yesterday and treated their supporters to a de- lightful afternoon`s entertainment in the sun. Another crowd of more than 2,000 witnessed what was, without question, the performance of potential champions and already their bowlers have begun to turn what looks like being the last screw in the cof- fin of Gloucestershire`s latest game attempt to win a modern County Championship. Having laid the basis for a good score by reaching 111 for two in the morning, Kent had rattled up 432 by the end of the 10th over after tea and their declaration set Gloucestershire 482 to win in a min- imum of 116 overs. The pitch continues to have a lively bounce for bowlers of all kinds, for batsmen, too, when they get going, but Gloucester- shire were looking a little like a tramp`s trousers by the time they be- gan their second innings and the thinnest of string was holding them to- gether by the close of a cloudless evening. The second of two night-watchmen, David Lawrence, has survived 11 balls so far, but also a chance to slip and two strident ap- peals for bat-pad catches off Paul Strang, whose leg-breaks were zipping past the edge of the bat like angry wasps. Already he had taken two wickets through sharp catching close to the bat after Dean Headley, bowling with genuine pace and hos- tili- ty from the Nackington Road end, had dismissed Dominic Hew- son and Tim Hancock with rearing balls which two relatively small batsmen could only spar to wicketkeeper and first slip re- spectively. It was a most impressive performance all day by the home side and Ward`s magnificent display of driving was the centrepiece. Coming in during the 14th over of the innings, he was dropped by the un- fortunate Lawrence at mid-off, lofting a drive off Mar- tyn Ball, when he had scored only six. His stand of 193 with Wells was then in its infancy. Kent`s young opening pair had begun positively, which has not always been the case this season. Until August, only four of their opening stands had exceeded 50. Significantly, too, five of the top six have opened the batting for the county in first- class cricket. The arrival of Ed Smith from the slow pitches of Fenner`s has added, how- ever, an additional player of the requi- site class and until Wells got to the landmark yesterday, Smith was the only member of the side with 1,000 runs this season. He is balanced, straight and strong and when Ball came on af- ter 20 minutes, he hit him for three fours in succession, two through midwicket, one off the back foot past cover. Ball`s revenge was swift, thanks to a brilliant catch by Matthew Windows at short square-leg from a firm clip off the toes, but David Fulton played no less well until he edged a drive to slip off Ball`s away floater. There was no sign at this stage of the disintegration of Glouces- tershire`s attack. Indeed, they almost nipped Wells in the bud, but a half-chance whistled through Richard Davis`s fingertips as he sparred loosely at a lifting ball from Smith and quite sudden- ly in the early afternoon, the accelerator was pressed. Ward and Wells played quite brilliantly and in much the same style, both quick to spot the slightest chance to drive and making their own opportunities by quick footwork and the will to impose. There were seven fours and a six in both their fifties, Wells reaching his off only 70 balls. Ward needed only 65 for his second fifty, surg- ing to his first century since last May shortly before his partner miscued a pull to midwicket. Walker launched, if anything, a still fiercer attack on wilt- ing bowlers. In 38 balls either side of tea, he hit eight fours and a six, helping Ward, whose driving only increased in splendour, to add a further 76 off nine overs. Only when Davis was bowling over the wicket into the rough did Gloucester- shire have any means of stemming the flow, although Smith should surely have been given more than nine overs. The final blow was a mighty smite by Mark Ealham off Ball into the balcony of the Colin Cowdrey Stand at wide long-on. Cow- drey and Ealham are names from the title-winning days of the 1970s and their sons may be celebrating two more trophies be- fore this season is over. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Strang to miss Kent final push for title By Christopher Martin-Jenkins at Canterbury Kent (305 & 432-4 dec) beat Gloucestershire (256 & 209) by 272 runs GLOUCESTERSHIRE made them work hard, which is as it should be, for their seventh win of the season, but Kent duly won a match they had controlled more or less from the moment Steve Marsh won the toss. Their eyes remain firmly fixed on their first championship since 1978. The extra pace of Dean Headley and the leg-breaks of Paul Strang did the trick, Headley taking five for 92 to finish the job 45 minutes before tea. Only two wickets had fallen in the morning, howev- er, and the hours which followed the fall of the last four wickets were not entirely free of tension either for those watching Ceefax for news of the progress of Glamor- gan, Surrey, Yorkshire and Worcester- shire. Gloucestershire`s sights must now be set a little lower, on prize money for as high a place as they can manage. Despite a fine innings yesterday by Matthew Windows and a wor- thy one by Mark Alleyne, they have not had the requisite weight of batting since Andrew Symonds decided that he is an Aus- tralian after all. They have done very well to come so close. Kent would be breaking an unwritten rule if they were to win the title with only one spinner, great asset though Strang has proved. He has taken 58 wickets in his first championship season but a prob- lem looms in that he will be playing a Test for Zimbabwe when Kent are engaged in their final game against Surrey at Canterbury in a fort- night`s time. Marsh hinted that they might have to press Min Patel into an early return after major operations on both knees, but they will at least have Martin McCague fit for next week`s match at Head- ingley, not to mention Alan Igglesden and Julian Thompson in re- serve. Those on the field had to do the job yesterday and Headley went to work without stinting. A bouncer to Syd Lawrence, the surviv- ing night watchman, produced a top-edged hook in the sev- enth over of the morning but Shaun Young, who is likely to be offered a longer-term contract as overseas player next week, helped Windows, stocky and defiant, to resist. Two leg-side fours in an over by Young persuaded Marsh to bring on Mark Ealham for a long and testing spell. Young, leg before on the crease, was his only victim but he should have had Alleyne too when Headley, at third slip, missed a straightforward edge from the outswinger which makes Ealham a consistent threat in most conditions. Instead Gloucestershire went to lunch at 151 for six, still battling. Strang had bowled tirelessly through the morning from the Pavilion End but without luck. Marsh has done an ad- mirable job both as wicket-keeper and captain this season and no one is better placed to judge how a bowler is doing but on this occasion there was a case for more changes. Big Ben Phillips, for example, had not been called on. A tac- tical discussion with John Wright during lunch repaired that omis- sion and in his third over the cheerful flowerpot man pro- duced the neces- sary breakthrough when Windows, after 213 min- utes of defiance in which he hit the ball crisply through the offside gaps for most of his 16 fours, went back to a ball of fullish length. One great challenge remained for Kent: Jack Russell. For eight overs he kept the rearguard going but, to one little man`s great de- light and the other`s chagrin, Strang finally spun a leg- break round a forward defensive. It was a matter of time now, for all Alleyne`s care. Headley, who bowled unchanged for 10 overs after lunch, pro- duced a nasty lifter for Martyn Ball from a pitch which had held to- gether well, to get an lbw decision. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)