Date-stamped : 19 Jul96 - 02:17 County Championship 1996 Lancashire v Somerset Old Trafford, Manchester 27, 28, 29 June, 1 July 1996 ====> REPORT (Day 1, 27 Jun 1996) Somerset led a dance by Fairbrother`s feet By Geoffrey Dean at Old Trafford First day of four: Lancs (373-5) v Somerset SOMERSET would have cursed their luck at losing an important toss, but their greater misfortune was to run into Neil Fair- brother at his most unstoppably destructive and Steve Titchard at his most solidly impassable. Both scored hundreds of a very dif- ferent nature. Fairbrother must love batting against Somerset. This was his sixth championship hundred against them and was scored off 132 balls. In truth, on such an aimiable pitch, an attack more wil- ling than penetrative was likely to struggle to contain him in this mood. Against the two off-spinners, Harvey Trump and Jeremy Batty, who bowled half the day`s overs, Fairbrother played wonder- fully well. Each got the odd ball to turn but omitted to land their deliveries regularly enough on the required sixpence. Fairbrother`s foot movement - whether feigned or real - was too much for them, and it was following fast sorties down the pitch that he played some marvellous inside out shots over ex- tra cover. Straight blows and sweeps brought him six sixes, all off the spinners. In all, he hit exactly 100 in boundaries. Andy Caddick, like Graham Rose, tried hard but found no bounce. Movement was also minimal. Shane Lee caused few problems but took a good return catch off debutant Paddy McKeown. ====> REPORT (Day 2, 28 Jun 1996) Geoffrey Dean at Old Trafford BATTERED hands and boundary boards have been commonplace during Shane Lee`s visits to the crease this summer. No Somerset player since the days of Ian Botham and Viv Richards has hit the ball as hard as the 22-year-old Australian, who stands at the top of the national averages with 679 runs at 113. Yet, Somerset thought they were getting a pace bowler who could bat. Instead, they have a top-class batsman whose bowling has been disappointing - 18 championship wickets at an average of 41. Lee had never been to England before when he touched down in April. He adapted immediately to English wickets, banishing allcomers from his first innings, an unbeaten 87 against Surrey. But just as his batting has prospered on some flat pitches, not- ably at Taunton, so the limitations of his bowling have been exposed. It will no doubt improve and county cricket will yet again have done its bit for the Australians when they come here next year. Lee plays it straight about why he joined Somerset. "To improve as a cricketer, particularly with the Ashes tour next year," says the blond, blue-eyed New South Welshman. The modest Lee, inevitably a graduate of the Adelaide Academy, was first picked last winter for the Australian one-day side - "mainly because I`m a hard hitter". Although stocky, he moves and fields well, and made six World Series Cup and two World Cup appearances. He only missed selec- tion for Australia`s tour of Sri Lanka this August because the party is one fewer than for the World Cup. Blessed with a fine eye and the power to use it, Lee has scored runs this season against pace and spin alike in all situa- tions, particularly under pressure when the team needed runs. He admits that Taunton`s batting wickets and short boundaries have made it easier for him. As for his bowling, his captain, Andy Hayhurst, thinks he has tried to be too aggressive. Lee agrees: "The wickets don`t have the same bounce here. It`s harder to push batsmen back and I know that I don`t play the waiting game enough. The other thing is that balls at home will reverse swing much earlier than here and we get a new ball after 85 overs as opposed to 100." In eight Shield games last winter Lee took 30 wickets at 30, evidence that he is a better bowler than this season`s statistics would suggest. Yesterday`s play, restricted by rain to 46 overs, was without meaning as three declarations were made to engineer a final-day run chase. Somerset need 351 to win. Source :: Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk) Contributed by Shash (shs2@*.cwru.edu)