Date-stamped : 30 May95 - 06:28 CC: Essex v Middlesex, Chelmsford, 25-29 May 1995 ====> Day 1, 25 May 95 Radford takes to excelling in his own right - Peter Deeley First day of four: Middlesex (329-6) v Essex TOBY RADFORD, who has a BA honours degree in journalism, proved yesterday that the bat can sometimes be as mighty as the pen - or computer. On his championship debut for Middlesex, deputising for Mark Ram- prakash, Radford progressed from a nervous pre-lunch crawl, scor- ing only 35, to a very creditable 69 in 3 hours 45 minutes. Radford, 23, could hardly have had a better nursemaid on his bap- tism than Mike Gatting. The Middlesex captain has almost always enjoyed the Essex bowling, and here he got within six of his ninth century against their attack before surrendering his wicket going down the pitch to Peter Such. The pair put on 146 for the second wicket after Mark Waugh had picked up Jason Pooley at second slip off Ronnie Irani. Despite their evident differences in physical build, the burly Gatting and the diminutive Radford used their feet well on what looks like a county rarity these days, a good pitch offering some help to everyone. Gatting hit John Childs for a six over mid-on to go with his 11 boundaries and Radford collected eight fours before his attempted drive off Darren Cousins was brilliantly picked up one-handed by Such at backward point. Radford`s connections with the Fourth Estate do not end with his academic prowess: he was The Daily Telegraph`s under-15 batsman of the year in 1987. At 31, in his 14th season in the game, Such has tinted his hair and there is a new bounce in his game. As the sweep which got Phil Weekes arced slowly towards John Childs on the fence, the former England spinner was bounding up and down in anticipation like a kangaroo on a trampoline. Much more of this rejuvenation and we shall see Graham Gooch with an earring. Three quick Middlesex wickets at a cost of 16 runs hinted at a collapse, but Keith Brown held the mid-innings together with a half-century built in almost two hours. Then Mark Ilott, looking sharper this season, had Brown, a reluctant walker, caught behind with the first ball of his fifth spell of the day. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com) ====> Day 2, 26 May 95 Waugh goes from riches to rags in Essex return - Peter Deeley Second day of four: Essex (135-6) trail Middlesex (473) by 338 runs AFTER his winning winter sojurn in the West Indies and Bermuda, Mark Waugh has come to earth with a bump in Essex. The sun is shining but the Australian must be wondering what he has let himself in for returning for a fifth season. Not only has he rejoined a team a shadow of its former greatness, yesterday Waugh was upstaged by a Kiwi, Dion Nash, which will have hurt his Antipodean pride. First Nash shared in a century stand for the ninth wicket with John Emburey which brought the New Zealander his highest score, 67. Then he bowled Graham Gooch with a fine delivery which pinned the opener on his stumps, nipped back and bowled him. That was the fifth time Nash has claimed Gooch in this country - three times in Tests and in the tourist match here last season. In his previous four seasons with Essex (1988-90; 1992) Waugh was in a side which hardly knew the meaning of the word failure. The county then never finished outside the first three and won the championship once. Now Essex are struggling in 13th place and there is every possi- bility they will go down to a big defeat here at the hands of their arch-rivals, Middlesex, needing another 189 runs to save the follow-on. Worse, after a day-and-a-bit fielding at slip, Waugh suddenly found himself called on to bowl when Mark Ilott walked off disconsolately with further groin problems. Used to playing with an Australian side where close catching has reached a superlative standard, Waugh can only have been shocked at the rate chances went down around him. In his 14 overs two were spilled by Robert Rollins and Nasser Hussain and earlier Rollins had missed another chance. Two of these were offered by Emburey who scored 87 with his usual economy of foot movement, free use of the paddle stroke and what one might call the fly-fisher`s "cast" - that upward slash which harpoons the ball high and long over the slips. Nash survived one catching opportunity and one agonisingly embar- rassing moment for Essex when, sprawled in mid-pitch, first Paul Prichard missed a shy at the stumps and Rollins failed to hit with the return throw. The final humiliation for Essex was seeing Phil Tufnell playing so freely, hitting an unbeaten 23 off 37 balls with four boun- daries in a last-wicket stand of 56 with Emburey. When Waugh eventually bowled Emburey it signalled Middlesex`s highest total of the season - and the most Essex have conceded. Nor was it the end of the Australian`s forgettable day. After facing nine balls he was bowled by Richard Johnson, pushing for- ward uncertainly at a good delivery. The day`s final act belonged to Emburey and Tufnell - two of four England spinners with a combined age of 145 years in this game - as they winkled out three middle-order batsmen at a cost of 24 runs. Essex have bid in the region of #1 million for neighbouring Chelmsford City`s ground. The football club are in the hands of the liquidator and must quit their stadium at the end of this month. Peter Edwards, Essex secretary, said the plan was to develop the 41/2-acre site to provide facilities for junior cricket and car parking. ====> Day 3, 27 May 95 Middlesex held up by Irani - Peter Deeley Third day: Middlesex (473) lead Essex (207 and 257-6) by nine runs ESSEX are hanging on to this game by their fingernails after Middlesex seemed at one stage to be running away with the points in well under three days. Those spectators looking forward to Bank Holiday Monday cricket here must thank Ronnie Irani, who scored two half centuries in one day, showing the resolution and fight that many of his col- leagues seemed to lack. His first-innings 69 failed to save the ignominy of an Essex follow-on but Irani rallied his tail-enders to such an extent that he and Darren Cousins put on 54 for the ninth wicket. Second time around, after Essex had been reduced to 120 for five by tea, Irani, unbeaten on 62, and Robert Rollins added 58 for the sixth wicket and then a limping Mark Ilott joined the fray to put on another 80 runs. It still seems likely that Middlesex will win. By the close, Essex were 257 for six, needing nine runs to make their opponents bat again, after a day in which 122 overs were bowled. It would be a very rare victory for Middlesex at Chelmsford. There was a time when they had only to turn on to the A12 out of London heading east for fear and trepidation to set in. In the words of a former Middlesex player "we used to dread going there". How things have changed. Now Paul Prichard, the new Essex captain, seems to have inherited a mantle of thorns. While Prichard showed the determination need- ed in a crisis, batting 21/2 hours for his 69, he could only watch aghast as his premier batsmen got themselves out softly. Graham Gooch hit Dion Nash for one powerful six, a flat pull, but when Tufnell came on, Gooch chose to try to hit his second delivery way into the far mid-wicket area and was bowled. With his 17 in each innings here, following on scores of one and 36 in his last game, it is the first time since 1991 that Gooch has failed to score a half-century in successive championship games. Mark Waugh, who scored five off nine deliveries in the first in- nings, this time lasted 27 balls then chopped Richard Johnson high over the slips giving catching practice to Mark Feltham at third man. When Nasser Hussain went down the pitch to John Emburey, the ball cannoned off his pads to John Carr at silly point, who threw the stumps down. Jonathan Lewis was bamboozled by Emburey as he had been in the first innings and just before tea Prichard`s gallant effort ended when he cut Paul Weekes into the wicketkeeper`s gloves. But Middlesex hopes of a day off were denied in the end by Irani and his colleagues. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com) ====> Day 4, 29 May 95 Emburey emphatic with the new ball - Peter Deeley Middlesex (473 & 25-0) bt Essex (207 & 290) by 10 wkts MIDDLESEX duly laid the bogey that has haunted them on this ground for nearly two decades with John Emburey giving a demons- tration of how off-spinners should bowl with the new ball. The London side last won a championship game at Chelmsford in 1976. They would have succeeded in three days but for the resis- tance of Ronnie Irani, who is emerging as an all-rounder of qual- ity. Irani followed his first-innings half-century with 82, which forced Middlesex to come out again to score the 25 runs needed. Batting with a runner, Mark Ilott, who could miss the next game with a groin injury, shared in a seventh-wicket stand of 93 with Irani before he pushed forward to Phil Tufnell and was taken at slip. Mike Gatting claimed the new ball immediately it was available but shrewdly persevered with Emburey. Irani had hit him for six earlier but Emburey immediately fired in a quicker ball which forced the batsman on to his back foot and skidded through. Next ball, Darren Cousins was caught at silly point and Emburey wrapped up the innings with his third wicket in 11 deliveries when John Childs was well caught at mid-off by Paul Weekes. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk) Contributed by The Management (help@*ogi.edu)