Date-stamped : 08 Dec93 - 09:48 SOURCE: The Guardian DATE: 23 April 1993 SPO PAGE: 17 Cricket: Gooch good as his word PAUL WEAVER AT CHELMSFORD Essex v England A THOSE who know him best insist that Graham Gooch does have a sense of humour and that an archaeologist with a persevering na- ture may unearth it one day beneath the topsoil of stubble and stoicism. What is already clear is that he does have an extremely keen sense of mischief. The captain of Essex and England now has the chance to record his 100th first-class century against Cambridge University at Fenner's one week tomorrow. Everyone thought he had become the 23rd batsman to reach this landmark in January, when he retired hurt after compiling 102 against India Under-25s at Cuttack. Everyone, that is, except the secretary of the International Cricket Council, who in a state- ment of memorable idiocy the following month said that he did not consider rebel-tour matches first-class. Gooch's understandable response was that his rebel hundred in Johannesburg in 1982, against the Test-class South African attack of Rice, Le Roux, Van der Bijl and Jefferies, was one of his better ones and that ''I'll just have to get another one against Cambridge University''. He may get there in his second innings of this match, and he may not pick himself for next weekend's game, but somehow a hundred on a damp afternoon at Fenner's would be a fitting anticlimax. He looked certain of a century yesterday at Chelmsford, where he had scored his first against Leicestershire in 1974. The last En- glishman to make 100 hundreds, Dennis Amiss (in 1986), was there to watch, along with the other England selectors. Jack Russell spoiled everything with a beautiful, diving, rol- ling catch down the leg side. Gooch had made 88, with 12 fours and a six from 189 balls. ''I'm a bit rusty, but happy enough with my form,'' he shrugged lugubriously last night. ''I'm philosophical about missing my hundred. It's all swings and roundabouts in this game.'' He might have been talking about the fairground beside the New Writ- tle Street ground. This was certainly not one of Gooch's better innings, not so much a purring V12 as a spluttering two-cylinder job. It must have been far too scruffy for Ted Dexter's taste. He was dropped twice, at second slip when he had made three and at third slip when he had reached 53. Andrew Caddick was the un- lucky bowler each time. If there were a Sir Richard Hadlee look-alike contest, the great man himself would undoubtedly come runner-up to Caddick. The Somerset seam bowler looked class yesterday, his creamy run-up culminating in a delivery stride that generated bounce and away movement. He failed to take a wicket but in a match that is vir- tually a Test trial he maintained the impetus of his successful A tour of Australia. Ian Salisbury and Dominic Cork also enjoyed good spells, but it was a bowler who was not even meant to be playing who had the best day: Paul Taylor, standing in for the injured Martin McCague, took three wickets in four balls. Taylor played in the first Test in India last winter but did not feature in another meaningful match on the tour until the final one-day international in Sri Lanka. The left-arm seamer's opening spell yesterday was a harmless nine-over affair. But he has obviously been watching Waqar Younis; in his second effort he pitched the ball up, swung it and for a short time looked deadly. First he dismissed Gooch, swishing down the leg side. He bowled Nick Knight next ball, when the left-hander did not offer a stroke. He almost had a hat-trick when he hit Mike Garnham on the back leg, and he had him leg-before with his next ball. Essex, having been put in by Martyn Moxon and reaching 158 for the loss of John Stephenson, were suddenly reduced to 180 for five. Then Derek Pringle was run out as he lumbered for a third, and Don Topley fell leg-before to become Taylor's fourth victim. That Essex reached the relative prosperity of 306 for seven by the close was almost entirely due to Nasser Hussain, who scored a stylish and unbeaten 76. But the selectors probably had not come to watch him either. SOURCE: The Guardian DATE: 24 April 1993 SPO PAGE: 22 Cricket: Such spin provides Fletcher with a silver lining PAUL WEAVER AT CHELMSFORD Tetley Bitter Shield Essex v England A IT WAS a strange and troublesome experience for Keith Fletcher, the gnarled old gnome of Essex cricket, as he gazed out of rain- spattered windows at the County Ground yesterday. He is off the Essex payroll for the first time in over 30 years but his love for the county is so deep that he cannot stop smil- ing when they enjoy such days as this, reducing England A to 137 for eight, 257 behind. As England team manager, however, his day was less satisfactory as he watched some of the country's most promising batsmen prove themselves just as inept against spin as their seniors had been in India last winter. John Childs and Peter Such each took three wickets as they resumed the partnership which was such a salient factor in Essex's championship last season, especially in the latter months of the summer. Such took three for four in five overs. England A's batting was desperately disappointing, apart from a shimmering little jewel of an innings played by Mark Lathwell, who hooked Mark Ilott for a memorable six which flew well in front of square. Mike Roseberry was out first ball, Martyn Moxon was dropped twice scoring a scratchy 26 and Graham Lloyd and John Crawley came and went before they had been even identified by some. Even Graham Thorpe, who has reminded Fletcher of Allan Border by his refusal to be dominated by twirl, spent almost two hours over a nervous 26. The only batting prize of the day went to Essex's Nasser Hus- sain, who in the morning registered his 11th century in his 100th first-class game. All this might look like a healthy augury for Essex, the favour- ites to win the reconstructed championship, especially with Salim Malik, Paul Prichard and Neil Foster to come into the side. But Ilott, stronger and faster than last season and impressive yes- terday, could be lost to England, unless Essex can have a quiet word with the gnome. SOURCE: The Guardian DATE: 26 April 1993 SPO PAGE: 17 Cricket: Champions take the money with Such ease JEREMY ALEXANDER AT CHELMSFORD Essex v England A WITH the help of another washed-out morning, England A spun out their match with the champions close to its final possible hour. But Peter Such did the more significant spinning out: his six for 98 gave him match figures of 11 for 124, his first first-class haul of 10. It pointed Essex to a victory worth pounds 1,500. The ground staff should claim their share: it was hardly their fault that Sunday cricket in the decency of white flannels ended here to the thundering beat of an adjacent fun-fair. Such took two wickets yesterday, both winter colleagues in Aus- tralia, both caught at silly mid-off. He and Lathwell have seized this early opportunity to endorse the good impression they made in that A tour, and Such looks likely soon to follow Childs as a county discard nurtured and elevated by Essex to Test status. Keith Fletcher might yet be of more use to England in charge of his beloved county. England A, three behind at the start with four wickets left, could have made the finish tighter but for Lloyd's careless ambi- tion. Three fours off successive balls from Pringle were followed by lofted capitulation at extra cover. A second century of the season went begging. Thanks to the last wicket whacking 34, Taylor was able to un- leash himself a second time with purpose at Gooch. It was a waste of effort. The England captain, who on Saturday announced his availability for the Ashes series, was magisterial, battering him for three fours in an over as Essex reached their target of 75 in short order. Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)