Date-stamped : 25 Jun97 - 06:18
Essex rely on Rollins` rockets

By Barrie Fairall at Beaconsfield

Essex (327-7) bt Bucks (238-7) by 89 runs

THERE   was  plenty  of Bucks fizz, not least when Neil Burns and
Matthew Bowyer shared eight boundaries in 12  balls,  which  went
down   a  treat  at  Wilton  Park  yesterday.  Then  again, Essex
brought their own brand of bubbly, Robert Rollins topping up  his
innings with seven sump- tuous sixes.

It  was  this  sort of blast that put Essex out of sight and into
the second round and the ball onto the Oxford Road. All  of which
left  Paul  Prichard`s  men  in  a far happier frame of mind than
their last appearance  in  the  major  one-day  competition  when
they were skittled out for 57 by Lancashire at Lord`s.

The  last  first-class  side to pay a visit here were Sussex five
years ago,  an occasion highlighted by a century from Alan  Wells
and  a  70-year-old male streaker. Now spectators were greated by
BBC weatherman Bill Giles, who was the public announcer  and  who
promised to keep his umbrella furled.

Spearheading   the  Bucks  attack was Denzil Owen, a truck driver
born in Jamaica. A white Rastafarian tea cosy keeping  his dread-
locks  in place, Owen  ripped out Darren Robinson for a duck with
the last ball of his first over.

Prichard and Nasser Hussain, though, made  half-centuries  in   a
stand  of  123,   while   Paul   Grayson   chipped   in  with 56.
Rollins then wrapped things up by scoring 60 of the last 67 runs.

Besides  brave  Burns  and Bowyer,  Bucks  subsided  despite  the
presence of West Indian Keith Arthurson.

Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/)

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