Date-stamped : 06 Sep97 - 06:08 Brilliant Law keeps up form for final By Geoffrey Dean at Old Trafford First day of four: Essex 389 v Lancashire ESSEX supporters and neutral cognoscenti of fine batting will be heartened to hear that Stuart Law`s form in the approach to the NatWest final on Sunday is as sublime as it was at Trent Bridge and Colchester five weeks ago. Then, his quarter-final cameo at Nottingham was described by Paul Johnson as the best 49 he had seen, and his 175 on his home ground as one of the best innings James Whitaker had wit- nessed. It is difficult to imagine that anyone this season can have played a better championship knock at Old Trafford than his 155 yester- day off 131 balls, made out of 199. Lancashire found it impossible to bowl to the Australian, de- spite the pitch offering turn to their spinners. Law refused to allow them to exert any sort of pressure or control, skilfully and repeated- ly using his feet. Throughout his innings, it seemed as if Law was batting in a waltz, swirling around untouched by profundity. His timing was won- derfully sweet as he whetted the appetite with some exquisite shots through the covers before bettering them with some glorious on-drives. His fifty came in just 39 balls and his hundred in 84. Like many of the deliveries that he dispatched, the three that he hit for six off Gary Keedy`s left-arm spin were perfectly re- spectable. Keedy bowled well to take only the second four-wick- et haul of his career. The Lancashire seamers stuck to their task well with the ball seldom swinging on a flat pitch. Ian Austin produced two good deliv- eries to remove Paul Prichard and later Ian Flanagan who, aged just 17, was streaky but promising. Law at times lived dangerously, but was into the seventies be- fore he was nearly bowled playing loosely at Gary Yates and then al- most caught at backward point off the same bowler. But blemishes were rare in his exhilarating 157-minute stay, which ended when he top-edged a pull. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Lancashire caught on a turner By Geoffrey Dean at Old Trafford Third day of four: Lancs (39-0 dec & 213-6) need 138 to beat Essex (389 & 2nd innings forfeited) LANCASHIRE were brave, perhaps overly so, to agree to a target of 351 after the loss of nine hours made contrivance unavoid- able here. Essex dangled the carrot of a minimum 135 overs to get the runs, but on a pitch that turned from the first day, they had bargained cleverly. Once Peter Such and Paul Grayson were oper- ating in tandem, batting proved demanding. Lancashire`s long chase started well enough. The ball would not swing and the wicket was flat for the seamers, which meant that it required a tentative push from Nathan Wood at a widish delivery from Danny Law to get a nick. Mike Atherton and John Crawley played skilfully while taking the score to 107 for one. Atherton regularly unfurled his trademark drive between point and cover and, after being dropped at first slip off Mark Ilott when 41, he reached his first cham- pionship fifty since the end of May. Such gained reward for his accurate probing by having Atherton caught at slip off what appeared to be an arm ball. This was the first of three wickets to fall in six overs. Neil Fairbrother was lbw to Grayson to one that turned sharply out of the rough, while an attack-minded Graham Lloyd then chose the wrong ball to cut, chopping Such on from too close. All hope for Lancashire seemed lost when Crawley was caught off bat-pad at silly point off Such, but Ian Austin ensured that there would be play on the fourth day. He hit three straight sixes off Grayson on the way to his sixth championship half-cen- tury of the season before the slow left-armer exacted revenge. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Essex triumph as Lancashire prove defiant By Geoffrey Dean at Old Trafford Essex (389 & 2nd innings forfeited) bt Lancs (39-0 dec & 324) by 26 runs ESSEX very nearly lost this match yesterday after being seem- ingly certain of victory when Lancashire resumed at 213 for six. Audaciously and skilfully though Warren Hegg and Richard Green played, Essex will want to bowl and field considerably better in to- morrow`s NatWest Trophy final than they did yesterday. When Gary Yates was seventh out at 220, caught off bat-pad, Essex`s first championship win since June looked a formality. But for the next 23 overs while Hegg and Green put on 97, Essex never looked like parting them, presenting runs with plenty of loose balls and sloppy fielding, their minds perhaps on the Lord`s final. Hegg and Green may have had nothing to lose, attacking boldly from the outset, but they were allowed to settle too easily by Paul Prichard. All but the last two runs of their partnership came off the spinners, Peter Such and Paul Grayson, whom he over-employed, surpris- ingly declining to switch either to the other end. Neither bowled especially well on a turning pitch, being swept and cut as their direc- tion and length faltered. Green was commendably positive, striking the ball cleanly to reach a maiden first-class fifty off 65 balls with two sixes hit down the ground off Grayson. But immediately after a long overdue bowl- ing change when Ashley Cowan was at last brought on, Green was lbw half forward to a full-length ball. Lancashire still had a good chance with 34 needed when the ca- pable Peter Martin joined Hegg, who had completed his own more mea- sured fifty off 151 balls. Prichard`s re-introduction into the attack of Such proved, however, to be good captaincy, for with his first ball he tempted Hegg to play round a nicely flighted delivery. In the next over, Martin then swept Grayson straight to deep midwicket. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)