Easy does it for Harris, Pickwick

Left-Handed opener George Harris performed the rare feat of batting an entire day in a Division 1 cricket match, to lead ESA Field Pickwick to a respectable score on a tricky pitch yesterday.

He batted four hours ten minutes and faced 215 deliveries for his unbeaten 66 after home team BET put the championship leaders into bat.

The pitch never produced the terrors which might have been expected considering the recent rainfall but it was hardly an ideal batting track and as Harris explained, there was a degree of variable bounce.

'It takes lots of concentration to bat on a pitch like that,' Harris remarked at the tea break in response to a comment about the slow, disciplined nature of his innings.

When 57, Harris, who has already recorded two centuries this season, reached the 400-run mark in what has been his best performance at the Division 1 level.

In contrast to Harris' more than four-hour vigil no other batsman occupied the crease for even an hour, the closest being fellow opener Jason Gilkes who scored 20 in 57 minutes in an opening stand of 36.

Harris only allowed himself the luxury of two fours prior to reaching his 50 but added three more out of the 16 runs scored since then.

Off-spinner Anthony Morris who claimed the first two wickets, has so far taken four for 39.