Law unto himself as Johnson trails (17 August 1999)

17 August 1999

Law unto himself as Johnson trails

Clive Ellis

Stuart Law has a seemingly unassailable lead in the PPP Healthcare rankings as the County Championship goes into its final month.

The Essex batsman has assembled seven centuries of high pedigree and tempo and enjoys a 61-point advantage over Nottinghamshire's Paul Johnson.

Jon Lewis, of Durham, is in third place and he is one of three batsmen occupying top-10 positions in both the championship and CGU National League rankings. The others are Jamie Cox, whose century on Saturday guided Somerset into the NatWest Trophy final against Gloucestershire, and Chris Adams.

The Sussex captain is a clear leader of the National League batting table, though Piran Holloway has been showing such purposeful one-day form for Somerset that he may yet make up the 24-point deficit.

Alamgir Sheriyar, the Worcestershire left-armer, remains the bowling pacesetter in the championship, and since second-placed Muttiah Muralitharan is now on international duty with Sri Lanka, Nottinghamshire's Vasbert Drakes is, effectively, the main challenger.

The battle for the National League bowling award could hardly be closer: just four points separate the top four - Steve Watkin, Angus Fraser, Umer Rashid and Andrew Caddick.

1 SG Law (Essex) 352 2 P Johnson (Notts) 291 3 JJB Lewis (Durham) 265 4 JL Langer (Middx) 263 5 VS Solanki (Worcs) 251 6 J Cox (Somerset) 250 7 D Byas (Yorks) 246 8 RA Smith (Hants) 244 9 RJ Turner (Somerset) 242 10 CJ Adams (Sussex) 239 11 JE Morris (Durham) 238 12 WS Kendall (Hants) 233 13 DL Maddy (Leics) 226 14 AD Brown (Surrey) 222 M Burns (Somerset) 222 16 A Symonds (Kent) 217 17 RR Montgomerie (Sussex) 216 A McGrath (Yorks) 216 MJ Di Venuto (Sussex) 216 20 DL Hemp (Warwicks) 215 DJ Sales (Northants) 215 22 RMS Weston (Derbys) 213 23 PN Weekes (Middx) 212 24 A Dale (Glamorgan) 211 25 MA Butcher (Surrey) 210 26 JE R Gallian (Notts) 209 27 MJ Powell (Glamorgan) 199 28 RC Russell (Gloucs) 197 A Habib (Leics) 197 30 IJ Ward (Surrey) 196

1 A Sheriyar (Worcs) 301 2 M Muralitharan (Lancs) 287 3 VC Drakes (Notts) 271 4 SJE Brown (Durham) 267 5 MP Bicknell (Surrey) 262 6 JBD Thompson (Kent) 245 7 AM Smith (Gloucs) 234 8 AR Caddick (Somerset) 233 9 DG Cork (Derbys) 226 10 PJ Franks (Notts) 223 11 DE Malcolm (Northants) 221 12 ESH Giddins (Warwicks) 217 13 IDK Salisbury (Surrey) 207 MPL Bulbeck (Somerset) 207 15 J Lewis (Gloucs) 205 16 AJ Tudor (Surrey) 197 17 MM Patel (Kent) 193 18 SJ Harmison (Durham) 191 19 JP Taylor (Northants) 184 20 PJ Hartley (Hants) 179 21 MC Ilott (Essex) 178 RJ Kirtley (Sussex) 178 23 MA Robinson (Sussex) 175 24 RC Irani (Essex) 174 25 SD Thomas (Glamorgan) 173 CEW Silverwood (Yorks) 173 27 AP Cowan (Essex) 169 28 JD Lewry (Sussex) 166 29 PAJ DeFreitas (Derbys) 164 30 SR Lampitt (Worcs) 162 J Ormond (Leics) 162 Saqlain Mushtaq (Surrey)162

Batting: 1, C J Adams (Sussex) 143; 2, P C L Holloway (Somerset) 119; =3, B F Smith (Leics), A McGrath (Yorks) 108; 5, M J Di Venuto (Sussex) 106; 6, J J B Lewis (Durham) 105; =7, R C Russell (Gloucs), J P Stephenson (Hants) 100; 9, J Cox (Somerset) 98; 10, A L Penberthy (Northants) 96.

11, M A Roseberry (Middx) 94; 12, M P Vaughan (Yorks) 93; 13, S G Law (Essex) 90; 14, A D Brown (Surrey) 86; 15, D C Boon (Durham) 83; =16, D Byas (Yorks), A Dale (Glamorgan), J P Crawley (Lancs), D L Maddy (Leics) 82.

20, M W Alleyne (Gloucs) 81; 21, P R Pollard (Worcs) 79; =22, P D Bowler (Somerset) 78; V S Solanki (Worcs) 78; 24, P A Nixon (Leics) 77; =25, M A Ealham (Kent), G F Archer (Notts), I J Ward (Surrey), C M W Read (Notts) 76; =29, M P Speight (Durham), C White (Yorks) 75.

Bowling: 1, S L Watkin (Glamorgan) 124; 2, A R C Fraser (Middx) 123; 3, U B A Rashid (Sussex) 122; 4, A R Caddick (Somerset) 120; 5, C White (Yorks) 116; =6, P J Martin (Lancs), M A Robinson (Sussex) 115; 8, R J Kirtley (Sussex) 114; 9, R J Sidebottom (Yorks) 113; 10, C E W Silverwood (Yorks) 108.

11, I D Austin (Lancs) 107; 12, O T Parkin (Glamorgan) 106; =13, J B D Thompson (Kent), R S C Martin-Jenkins (Sussex) 105; =15, M W Alleyne (Gloucs), A M Smith (Gloucs) 102; 17, I J Harvey (Gloucs); 18, R C Irani (Essex) 94; 19, P N Weekes (Middx) 93; 20, M P Vaughan (Yorks) 92.

=21, N C Phillips (Durham), N Killeen (Durham), N A M McLean (Hants) 91; 24, R K Illingworth (Worcs) 89; 25, V C Drakes (Notts) 86; =26, K M Curran (Northants), E S H Giddins (Warwicks), A P Cowan (Essex) 84; =29, P A J DeFreitas (Derbys), A D Mascarenhas (Hants) 83.

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