Date-stamped : 01 Aug95 - 14:30
====> Day 1

Capel to the rescue before Twose tucks away runs
By Peter Deeley at Edgbaston

First day of four: Warwicks (159-6) lead Northants (152) by 7
runs

ENGLISH cricket would be in an altogether healthier state at the
level directly below the Test game if the championship served up
more dishes with the drama and spice of this absorbing
top-of-the-table meeting, even though it ran 80 minutes over
time.

Leaders Warwickshire made such short shrift of their nearest
challengers, Northamptonshire, in the first half of the day that
it was difficult to see who could prevent them retaining the
title.

Most sides would have been destroyed psychologically by that
battering but Northamptonshire retaliated by having half the
Warwickshire batting back in the pavilion inside 30 overs.

Half-a-dozen players merit praise for their individual
performances, but Roger Twose and David Capel must take the
accolade. The Northamptonshire all-rounder added four wickets to
his half-century, while the Warwickshire left-hander moved to
within two runs of a hard-worked hundred.

The damage done at the outset to Northamptonshire in two
menacingly fast spells from Allan Donald was more in the mind
than in the body. But for the suspicious, this was not the kind
of pitch so condemned by England after the Edgbaston Test. It
was testing, with some variation in bounce, but does not deserve
being marked down because of that.

Allan Lamb's decision to bat seemed to hand his opponents the
cricketing equivalent of a primed hand grenade

Donald's four wickets brought his championship total for the
season to 44 at under 17 runs apiece in his eighth game and he
was admirably supported by the whole-hearted Tim Munton, whose
opening spell lasted two hours.

Allan Lamb's decision to bat seemed to hand his opponents the
cricketing equivalent of a primed hand grenade, but he could
hardly be faulted for wanting to get a total on the board at the
outset.

Donald removed both openers in his first seven overs with
yorkers of great pace: Richard Montgomerie's middle stump was
split in two. Munton had Rob Bailey leg before and then tempted
Mal Loye into a rash pull.

Donald's first eight overs yielded him two for 11 but as soon as
he went off, Lamb hit Dermot Reeve for two fours, the first
deliberate aggression of the innings. Reeve was revenged when
his opposing captain was lured into pushing forward to a ball
that cut away and when Dougie Brown left Kevin Curran's off
stump leaning back, Northamptonshire were a gloomy 76 for six at
lunch.

Capel, ever a battler, led the second-half batting order in some
semblance of defiance, sharing a 51-run partnership with Russell
Warren for the seventh wicket. But the return of Donald brought
two more wickets in three balls and Capel sensibly took the
attack to the quick bowler hitting him for two fours and a
top-edged hook for six.

"If Donald don't get you, then Munton will," seems to be the
Warwickshire rallying cry these days and the latter immediately
ended Capel's 79-ball fifty and the Northamptonshire innings,
giving him 28 championship wickets to date.

The unwary might have thought it was now plain sailing for
Warwickshire and when they reached 37 without loss by tea, this
looked like another of those one-horse races. If so, they
counted without Capel, who, in six overs, removed three batsmen
at a cost of 22 runs.

Wasim Khan was bowled round his legs, next ball Dominic Ostler
was leg before trying to work the ball round, and then Trevor
Penny was victim to the one delivery which really misbehaved,
lifting off a length.

Kumble came on and in the space of four balls forced Anurag
Singh, on his debut, and Brown on to the back foot, bowling them
with his top spinner.

At the end, Reeve aided Twose in an invaluable stand of 37
before Capel claimed his fourth wicket - and there are surely
still some tantalising twists and turns to come deserving a
larger audience.

====> Day 2

Capel at his best to put Northants back in the frame
By Peter Deeley at Edgbaston

Second day of four: Northants (152 & 254-6) lead Warwickshire
(224) by 182 runs

THIS compelling duel should reach its climax today and if your
appetite is for total team endeavour interlaced with individual
valour I cannot think of a better place to be.

Northamptonshire, now 18 points adrift of Warwickshire at the
head of the championship table, have hauled themselves back into
a game that seemed lost halfway through the opening day.

For that they must thank David Capel, who turned in a
career-best seven for 44 to restrict the home side to a
first-innings lead of of 72.

Since then Andrew Fordham has played an innings of patience and
resilience very similar to the one from Roger Twose, who held
together Warwickshire.

Yet there is one player who for physical strength and mental
fortitude - allied to his outstanding ability - stands above
even this trio. In the sticky heat Allan Donald bowled unchanged
for two hours after tea, sending down 13 overs of sheer
hostility and taking three middle-order wickets when the
visitors were getting their noses in front.

He bowled 24 overs in the day and at times seemed totally
drained at over's end, walking back to third man and sinking on
to the boundary railings for support, a towel draped over his
head rather like a champion boxer between rounds.

Kevin Curran will testify to the venom Donald engendered.
Countless deliveries snaked round his white helmet - one making
contact somewhere - before he was eventually caught at third
slip after a brave 30 as the cordon walked forward, presumably
on a prearranged signal.

Then there was the battle between Donald and fellow South
African Allan Lamb. Twice the Northants captain was laid low by
toe-crunching yorkers. He somehow survived the first but the
second honed in on the stumps like a missile and from the way
the field rejoiced you would think they had just won the title.

It could have been game ball but Fordham, having survived one
early chance, remained for over five hours and reached his
second hundred in successive matches just before the close.

Twose's second hundred of the season came up with his second
ball of the morning and it seemed that he would carry his bat
through a completed innings for the first time in his career
before he lost patience and was last man out, bringing his
5.5-stay to a close, hooking Capel to long leg.

He will be a big loss when he goes to live in New Zealand this
winter and given the quality of the Kiwis' present opening pair
should be making his debut in Test cricket across the world
before this year is out.

====> Day 3

Reeve finds way to break Kumble spell
By Peter Deeley at Edgbaston

Third day of four: Warwicks (224 & 161-6) trail Northants (152 &
346) by 113 runs

A GAME which has had more twists and turns than a mountain pass
is still in the balance as Warwickshire, the title-holders and
championship leaders, pulled back from the brink of disaster.

Their nearest challengers Northamptonshire were in sight of
victory in late afternoon when the home side - needing 275 to
win - plunged to 53 for six.

The Warwickshire top order had crumbled in the face of a
four-wicket display by Anil Kumble and there seemed no way back
but Dermot Reeve led by example with an unbeaten half-century in
a 108-run partnership for the seventh wicket with Neil Smith.

Warwickshire are by no means out of the woods yet but who is to
say that this match, which has thrown up many moments of drama
and personal achievement, is out of their grasp. They need
another 114 tomorrow for victory.

When the day began few would have imagined that Northants, who
had themselves been on the rack at the start of the game at 69
for six, would extend their lead to any size.

But four dropped catches by Warwickshire in the innings, three
of them off Allan Donald, cost dearly: none more so than the two
which allowed Alan Fordham to complete a battling century and
Russell Warren reach 70.

Northants' last four wickets added 144 runs and it was probably
understandable in the tension which existed in the middle that
Warren should depart with ill grace only after the umpires had
consulted when Reeve took a low catch at slip.

John Hughes soon removed Wasim Khan and then David Capel, whose
indomitable spirit has been so in evidence, collected his eighth
wicket of the game, removing the first innings century-maker
Roger Twose with a splendid ball.

Kumble's appearance in the attack after 15 overs, with
Warwickshire then 27 for one, seemed to exert some kind of spell
over the batsmen but, as he tired, the pendulum swung away from
Northants.

Rob Bailey's occasional off-breaks were tried and Reeve
nonchalantly reverse swept him for successive fours while Smith
cover drove a boundary in the same over which brought up 14
runs. This in a contest when every odd single could count at the
end.

This has been county cricket at its compulsive best and nobody
comes out of the contest with greater credit than Allan Donald.
Exhaustion was writ large on his face at the end of a marathon
40 overs in the heat, in which he took his 50th championship
wicket of the season in his eighth game - with match figures of
10-136.

Sadly, Birmingham will not seek his like again on the field at
Edgbaston. Brian Lara is back at the club as the overseas
professional next summer and to retain the man who is probably
the fastest bowler in the world Warwickshire have put together a
financial package to encourage Donald to stay on as a backroom
guru - and deny opponents the chance to obtain his services.

This would involve a coaching role, time away to play in league
cricket and of course availability for South Africa at
international level during the winter. We are talking about well
over £50,000 a year and Warwickshire chief executive, Dennis
Amiss, says that the club are hoping to attract some South
African sponsorship to top up the offer.

====> Day 4

Northants defy odds to open up title race
By Peter Deeley at Edgbaston

Northants (152 & 346) bt Warwicks (224 & 267) by 7 runs

NORTHANTS' stirring victory has thrown the Britannic Assurance
Championship wide open and if the intensity which marked these
four days can be maintained by the top sides then we are set for
a title run-in of rare quality.

It is not uncommon for teams to come from behind to win, but to
overcome a nightmare start - 69 for six on the opening day and
then 72 behind on first innings - on Warwickshire's home turf
and against Allan Donald at his peak was a truly outstanding
performance.

Warwickshire also showed enormous character in overcoming
similar hurdles in their last innings. Anil Kumble reduced them
to 53 for six, before a valiant partnership of 148 between
Dermot Reeve and Neil Smith.

When Kumble ended the Warwickshire captain's stay of almost five
hours, the 47 runs needed looked an unbridgeable gulf. But as
the last pair of Donald and Tim Munton chipped away at the
target, palms were sweating in the middle.

Kumble was feeling the heat - and the pressure - and put down a
fierce return drive from Donald. Then Paul Taylor's throw from
backward point was wide of the stumps and wicketkeeper Russell
Warren could not drag the ball back in time as Munton flew past
him.

Kumble was now bowling with the new ball and starting to concede
priceless runs. Another 30 runs were added to bring the margin
down to single figures before David Capel found Munton's pads
with a full-pitched swinging delivery.

Capel disappeared beneath a scrum of jubilant fielders and
Donald walked from the field, unbeaten on 27, but realising his
enormous contributions to the Warwickshire cause had been in
vain.

It was fitting India's Kumble and South Africa's Donald should
be at the eye of the action. For all the debate about overseas
professionals in the domestic game, this match was raised
immeasurably by the presence of two men of world class.

Kumble finished with 10 wickets in the game to follow on his 13
in the previous match against Hampshire and now has 66 in the
championship. Donald too took 10 wickets to give him 50 in nine
games. Both gave their all here: Kumble bowled 42 second-innings
overs and Donald 39.1 in frazzling heat.

Each had more than able lieutenants: Capel finished with nine
wickets, as well as an invaluable first-innings half-century,
and is close once more to the form which made him an England
player. Munton collected six and produced from somewhere the
strength to bowl long, accurate spells.

While Reeve and Smith were together Warwickshire seemed capable
of scoring the 114 runs they needed when the game restarted, but
the tension was quickly evident when Reeve called on spectators
in a hospitality box behind Kumble's arm to settle down.

Smith took over the major role and he reached his highest score
of the season before trying to repeat a boundary cut off Kumble
and the off stump sagged back.

At lunch 53 were needed, but Kumble then took two wickets in
seven balls. Keith Piper, struggling against the leg-spinner,
gave a sharp return catch and three runs later Reeve was on his
way when Rob Bailey dived across the stumps from short point to
short leg, grabbing the catch in a flurry of dust.

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