Report
Bevan hits Sussex to resounding win
A stunning fourth century in five County Championship innings from Michael Bevan has led Sussex to an emphatic seven wicket win over cellar dweller Middlesex at Southgate this afternoon and to the top of the Division Two standings
Staff and agencies
31-Jul-2000
A stunning fourth century in five County Championship innings from Michael Bevan has led Sussex to an emphatic seven wicket win over cellar dweller
Middlesex at Southgate this afternoon and to the top of the Division Two
standings.
Bevan (173*), who also became the first man to pass one thousand first class runs for the summer in the course of his hand, was in serene touch. He cut, he drove, he pulled, he hooked, and he rarely looked in trouble at any stage during a 193-ball stay replete with twenty-one powerful boundaries and three contemptuous sixes. The New South Welshman's rumoured weakness - an inability to cope with well directed short-pitched bowling - was well tested, but his bat was generally impassable and his defences impregnable. There was one major scare - as he survived a loud lbw appeal in Angus Fraser's third over - but that was as close as Middlesex came to removing him.
If any other statistics were needed to verify the authoritative nature of this latest effort, then the truest measure of the left handed Australian's dominance probably comes in the notion that stubborn nightwatchman James Kirtley (26*) scored less than one sixth of the 166 runs they added in their unbroken stand for the fourth wicket. It was appropriate that Sussex's triumph, which came twenty minutes after lunch, was sealed with a Bevan boundary.
Full postSoaking rain nips things in bud at Roses match
Heavy overnight and morning rain in Leeds has seen to it that the final day of the match between Yorkshire and Lancashire has been abandoned without a ball being bowled
Staff and agencies
31-Jul-2000
Heavy overnight and morning rain in Leeds has seen to it that the final day of the match between Yorkshire and Lancashire has been abandoned without a ball being bowled.
Even though a draw had appeared the most likely result in any case - with
Lancashire at 127/2 in its second innings and in possession of an overall
lead of eighteen runs - it was a disappointing way to end a match that had
offered absorbing cricket throughout.
The frustration will likely be felt most acutely by Yorkshire's players and
administrators. Their reaction to the disruptions to their squad being
perpetuated by the new England contract system appeared to be developing
into one of much angst even before this latest stroke of ill-fortune.
Captain David Byas also bemoaned the intervention of rain on the second
day, identifying it as the crucial factor in preventing the locals from
pressing home an advantage which they had held for most of the opening
three days.
Full postOpening combination goes undisturbed as Canterbury tale ends tamely
Openers Steve Titchard and Steve Stubbings have recorded the second highest partnership in Derbyshire's history but their feat carried little relevance beyond the statistical as their team's Championship fixture with Kent ended in a tame draw at
Staff and agencies
31-Jul-2000
Openers Steve Titchard and Steve Stubbings have recorded the second highest
partnership in Derbyshire's history but their feat carried little relevance
beyond the statistical as their team's Championship fixture with Kent ended
in a tame draw at Canterbury today. Titchard and Stubbings batted
undisturbed through the fourth and final day of the match to take the
visitors to a second innings score of 293/0 before play was called off in
late afternoon.
Titchard's unconquered 141 represented his highest score for his new team
since his transfer from Lancashire at the start of 1999, while Stubbings'
135 snared him a morale-boosting maiden hundred for the county. Both
played very straight - on and off drives were in abundance - but neither
the pitch nor the attack posed too many terrors. It was a measure of the
extent to which the match had lost any genuine meaning that Kent captain
Matthew Fleming even found time toward the end to ensure that all eleven of
his players received a chance to bowl at some stage of the day. The home
team also took the opportunity of resting Rahul Dravid and Min Patel just
after tea, sending on substitute Ben Trott and physio Martin Sigley in
their places as the inevitable early finish loomed.
By the time that the match was finally brought to a merciful halt at
5:20pm, the teams had each taken nine points away from it. This a result
which leaves Kent entrenched in sixth place on the Division One table but
which has seen Derbyshire relegate Hampshire to bottom position. It is
Hampshire which Derbyshire meets in its next match (beginning on Wednesday
at Derby). Kent's players, meanwhile, stay at home to ready themselves for
a clash with Leicestershire which starts the same day.
Full postFinal day washed away at Chester-le-Street
Not a ball was bowled as persistent showers washed out the fourth and final day of the County Championship match between Durham and Somerset at Chester-le-Street
Staff and agencies
31-Jul-2000
Not a ball was bowled as persistent showers washed out the fourth and final
day of the County Championship match between Durham and Somerset at
Chester-le-Street. The prospect of at least some play looked a possibility
for a time when the rains cleared at shortly after the scheduled start
time; when they returned within the hour, though, the die was cast.
Having found itself at a score of 73/3 overnight - and in the lead by
eighty-five runs overall - the home team would have been expecting to use
the last day to push for a victory and to narrow the gap between these two
teams on the Division One table. As it was, though, the abandonment
ensured that both sides left with nine points to show for their efforts in
the match.
Somerset, which did well to share the honours after finding itself in
massive trouble at 88/6 at one stage in its first innings, now heads home
to prepare for a battle with Yorkshire beginning on Wednesday. Durham,
meanwhile, is not engaged in action again until the occasion of a National
League clash with Glamorgan on Sunday. The break will be a welcome one and
should allow both Melvyn Betts (who is nursing a knee strain) and Steve
Harmison (who begins his comeback in the county's second eleven team
tomorrow following a shin complaint) some much-needed time to prepare
themselves.
Full postEngland complete NatWest Series with 3-wicket win at Hove
England's Under 19 cricketers confirmed their superiority over Sri Lanka in the NatWest Series with a 3 wicket win in the third match at Hove, having won the two previous encounters in Cardiff
Ralph Dellor
31-Jul-2000
England's Under 19 cricketers confirmed their superiority over Sri Lanka in the NatWest Series with a 3 wicket win in the third match at Hove, having won the two previous encounters in Cardiff.
Sri Lanka won the toss and decided to bat first on a pitch of no great pace. No doubt part of the strategy was to make England bat under lights, but the fact that Sri Lanka were bowled out in under 44 overs meant that most of the reply was made in daylight.
The Sri Lankan batsmen contributed to their own downfall with some injudicious shots and a needless run out. The bowling was not necessarily of the highest order, with too many wides, but the fielding was out of the top drawer. Captain Ian Bell set the tone with a fine low catch at slip off Kabir Ali to dismiss Ian Daniels in the third over.
Runs were scored with great alacrity, but so too did the wickets fall so that half the side had gone by the eleventh over with 53 on the board. Muthumudalige Pushpakumara was joined by Kaushalya Weeraratne and the pair put on 58 for the sixth wicket before the captain holed out to deep mid-wicket. Pushpakumara went on to 48, but the remaining wickets fell cheaply with James Dalrymple picking up 3 wickets, as did opening bowler Mark Davies.
Full postWorcestershire regains division two lead as McGrath breaks new ground
Fast bowler Glenn McGrath has returned the best match figures of his career to lead Worcestershire to a 52 run success over Gloucestershire at New Road and guide it back to the top of Division Two of the County Championship
Staff and agencies
30-Jul-2000
Fast bowler Glenn McGrath has returned the best match figures of his career
to lead Worcestershire to a 52 run success over Gloucestershire at New Road
and guide it back to the top of Division Two of the County Championship.
The Australian paceman paired a second innings return of 3/40 with
yesterday's haul of 7/29 to claim overall figures of 10/69 and put the
skids under a Gloucestershire side that never seriously looked like
successfully pursuing a target of 237 to win. Only five days before he is
due to fly back to Melbourne to represent his nation in three one-day
internationals against South Africa, McGrath could hardly have exemplified
his worth to his adopted team any more effectively than with the fifth
return of ten wickets in a match in his career.
Speed, spirit and accuracy were all abundant again, albeit in a slightly less lethal package than the one he had concocted earlier in the fixture. It was a measure of his centrality to the outcome of proceedings that, as soon as he summoned the ability to strike twice in his third over - removing Dominic Hewson (4), with an edge to first slip, and Matt Windows (0), courtesy of an obvious lbw verdict - he had as good as defined Gloucestershire's fate.
Wicketkeeper Steve Rhodes also profited handsomely, his five catches for
the day permitting him the chance to equal his own county record of nine in
a game.
Full postEverything turns on Brown's dominance
From first to last, this Warwickshire-Northamptonshire County Championship battle was a match of oddities
Staff and agencies
30-Jul-2000
From first to last, this Warwickshire-Northamptonshire County Championship
battle was a match of oddities. It was contested on a pitch far drier than
is customary at Edgbaston; it was played in the presence of a boundary
shorter than usual on the ground's Pershore Road side; it featured a
dominant performance from not one, but two, Warwickshire spinners; and,
most of all, it contained the sight of Northamptonshire sustaining, and
actually converting, an advantage over an opponent in a season of more
downs than ups.
Ostensibly, it was the bowling of off spinner Jason Brown (whose 6/90 gave
him match figures of 11/178) which won this third day for Northamptonshire
and, with it, the game by a margin of 54 runs. There was nothing
particularly glamorous or demonstrative about his display but the gentle
subtleties of his flight, length and turn proved perfect for the situation
as Warwickshire found itself on the wrong side of a battle to chase down a
target of 259.
Brown was introduced into the attack early in the afternoon - with
Warwickshire already off to a shaky start at 30/2 - and promptly proceeded
to extinguish any vague semblance of life from his opponents' cause by
taking three wickets in the space of his opening ten deliveries. The
twenty-five year old lured David Hemp (3) into adopting the erroneous idea
of meekly lobbing the ball back in his direction; extracted an outside edge
from Trevor Penney (2); and then comprehensively beat an attempt at a sweep
from Dougie Brown (8). Later, he returned to skid an arm ball underneath
the defences of Ashley Giles (2) and to remove Warwickshire's two most
productive contributors - Neil Smith (67) and Nick Knight (43) - by way of
lbw decisions.
Full postBowler, Rose celebrate a day for the ages
Peter Bowler, a stalwart of over 250 first class games, celebrated his thirty-seventh birthday with his third century of the season as Somerset evened up its County Championship clash with Durham at Chester-le-Street today
Staff and agencies
30-Jul-2000
Peter Bowler, a stalwart of over 250 first class games, celebrated his
thirty-seventh birthday with his third century of the season as Somerset
evened up its County Championship clash with Durham at Chester-le-Street
today.
To experienced Bowler watchers, news of this latest century will come as no
surprise as the situation was tailor made for a man of such a temperament
and application. He restarted his innings at 62 today and built slowly
toward his landmark, so much so that he had still not ascended to it by
lunch. When it did come - in a minute over six hours and from 283 balls -
the generous and spontaneous applause that it prompted from the crowd was a
measure in itself of its quality and importance. By the time that Simon
Brown (3/69) eventually found a way to beat his defences with an off
cutter, he had reached 107 and had added a magnificent 157 in partnership
with the almost equally resilient Graham Rose (82*) for the seventh wicket.
The pair had taken Somerset from a dire position to one of near parity
with the Durham first innings of 292. That the tail enders could only
contribute another thirty-five to the total after Bowler made his exit only
reinforced the centrality of their twin contributions.
Here a word of praise needs to be devoted specifically to Rose, another
player nearer to forty years of age than thirty. When the Somerset innings
was eventually terminated at 280, he was left only eighteen short of his
own century - one that would likewise have been well deserved. To add to
his good day, he then had opener Michael Gough (5) edging to second slip as
Durham revisited the crease. With the score on 29, he struck again, this
time causing first innings centurion Jon Lewis (12) to shoulder arms and
ignominiously lose his off stump to a delivery that kept slightly low as it
swung in toward him. His was a fabulous all-round performance.
Full postBevan reclaims edge for Sussex after second Ramprakash hundred
Michael Bevan has responded to another excellent Mark Ramprakash hundred by firing a sweet half century of his own to afford Sussex a slight edge over Middlesex after three days of the teams' absorbing County Championship fixture at Southgate
Staff and agencies
30-Jul-2000
Michael Bevan has responded to another excellent Mark Ramprakash hundred by
firing a sweet half century of his own to afford Sussex a slight edge over
Middlesex after three days of the teams' absorbing County Championship
fixture at Southgate.
Bevan (57*) reached his milestone in smart time to lead the visitors to a
second innings mark of 118/3 by stumps, one which leaves them precisely 150
runs short of victory in a contest in which they have always appeared to
have their noses slightly in front. Typically, it was the Australian's eye
for spotting gaps in the field, and placing his shots into them with a
minimum of fuss, which lay at the core of his innings. Although an
injudicious attempt from Toby Pierce (25) to loft a Phil Tufnell (2/39)
delivery over mid wicket and a similarly ill-timed lapse in concentration
from Chris Adams (20) in pushing out an arm ball from the same bowler did
not help the cause, his efforts largely ensured that Sussex was back on
track for success by the time that stumps were finally drawn.
Just in case no-one had noticed the events of two days ago, it had earlier
been Ramprakash (112) who had dominated the opening two sessions of the
day's play with a brilliantly crafted fiftieth first-class century. Right
now - with another Test axing hanging over his head and his Middlesex
batting teammates seemingly doing precious little on the field to help ease
the pain - he could have been forgiven for cutting a tragic figure. But,
in again summoning the mental and physical resources to prove himself a cut
above his colleagues, he proved the very antithesis. It was a courageous
display and was full of character, no mean feat considering that he spent
the first half of it watching another succession of batsmen come and go at
the other end. It wasn't until Richard Johnson (52) followed his lead, and
batted with unstinting application to contribute half of a priceless 104
run stand for the eighth wicket, that the formidable right hander finally
attained the support that he deserved.
Full postCrawley, Fairbrother work hard to revive Lancs
An unbroken liaison of fifty-three for the third wicket between a hard working John Crawley and Neil Fairbrother has enabled Lancashire to work its way back into its tense struggle with Yorkshire by the end of day three of this excellent Roses match
Staff and agencies
30-Jul-2000
An unbroken liaison of fifty-three for the third wicket between a hard
working John Crawley and Neil Fairbrother has enabled Lancashire to work
its way back into its tense struggle with Yorkshire by the end of day three
of this excellent Roses match at Headingley.
The Crawley (46*)-Fairbrother (26*) stand, which began with the visitors
still thirty-five runs away from erasing a first innings deficit of 109
runs and accordingly still in serious trouble, enabled the Lancastrians to
end the day in upbeat mood and with a chance at least of leaving Leeds
tomorrow with their ongoing quest for Championship honours largely
undamaged. Decisions by Mike Atherton (17) to follow a Chris Elstub (1/15)
outswinger and Andy Flintoff (25) to drive at a wide ball from Chris
Silverwood (1/34) had looked to be condemning the visitors to a sticky
predicament, but the right hand-left hand combination offered by the third
wicket pair soon redressed the balance. Crawley proved particularly adept
at working the ball through the square leg and mid wicket regions, while a
slightly more defensively inclined Fairbrother accumulated most of his runs
with deft shots into gaps on both sides of the wicket.
Earlier in the day, it had been two notable transformations which had
propelled Yorkshire toward its sizeable first innings advantage. First,
the continuing mid-season metamorphosis of David Byas (81) from opener to
middle order player resulted in possibly his most telling individual
contribution of the summer and then, the wag of an until now impotent
Yorkshire tail lifted the locals to the unanticipated heights of a fourth
batting point. In a brilliant response to the early loss today of chief
strokemaker Darren Lehmann (83), Byas became the chief architect of
Yorkshire's progress toward a total of 376. He was given robust support by
Gary Fellows (46) and Chris Silverwood (34), whose respective ease in
mixing attack with defence belied the general difficulties that had
confronted other batsmen on the opening two days of the match.
Having enjoyed a slice of fortune yesterday when the heavens opened to
disturb a dangerous partnership between Byas and Lehmann, Lancashire had
hit back strongly as play began on the third morning. Without addition to
his overnight score, the latter was trapped on the back foot by Mike
Smethurst (3/101) and adjudged to have been hit in line with his off stump.
Glen Chapple (3/80) then further raised the Lancastrians' hopes of claiming
a first-innings lead with another lbw decision against Richard Blakey (0)
in the following over. Such ambitions were, however, quickly dashed and it
was not until late in the day that matters were at least partially restored.
Full post