Date-stamped : 24 Aug96 - 10:33 Day 1 Cowan king of Castle By Geoffrey Dean at Colchester First day of four: Essex (72-0) trail Gloucestershire (280) by 208 runs THIS was a good day for Essex, and particularly for Ashley Cowan, 21. The 6ft 4in seamer became the first Essex bowler to take a hat-trick at Colchester and finished with a maiden five-wicket haul. Castle Park is aptly named given that in recent years it has been an almost impregnable fortress for Essex. Last year they scored 662 against Hampshire before their spinners shared 19 wickets to give them an innings victory. Gloucestershire's total can be discounted as significantly below par. Not that the pitch was a blank cheque for runs. It had some bounce in it, which kept the seamers interested and, indeed, extra lift played its part in the dismissals of Dominic Hewson and Monte Lynch. Essex's bowling was somewhat variable. They bowled too short for much of the morning session but still took three good wickets, Mark Ilott's slower ball that castled Matt Windows being a beauty. But Andrew Symonds, having played some splendid shots in his 44-ball 52, fell for the trap set for him when he top-edged a pull. The first victim in Cowan's hat-trick was Dicky Davis, who edged the last ball of an over to third slip; Martyn Ball gloved a bouncer to short leg and Mike Smith was yorked. Jack Russell, typically plucky, was last out, having a go at Cowan. Imperious Gooch is unmoved By Geoffrey Dean at Colchester Second day of four: Essex (194-0) trail Gloucs (280) by 84 ANOTHER Colchester match, another Graham Gooch hundred - his eighth at Castle Park. Only at Lord's and Chelmsford has he scored more, and this was a good one that greatly strengthened Essex's grip once play began at 4.30 pm. It was not without the odd edge or anxious moment that Gooch reached three figures for the sixth time this season. After, as he himself put it, a "hairy" examination by Courtney Walsh on Thursday evening, he opined that a hundred against Walsh on a pitch with this bounce would be "again a deserving one". So it was, as Gooch had to survive another hostile burst from the Jamaican. One brute of a bouncer forced an uncontrolled fend-off that fell inches short of backward short leg. But Gooch is not one to be dictated to and, moments later, he was hooking Walsh off his eyebrows for an imperious four, one of 15. Considering that this pitch is quick, the shot makes any plans to retire look premature, 43 or not. Gooch's on-driving was a feature of his innings. So dominant was he that he went from his overnight 33 to 100 in just 84 balls, and even then after 35 minutes spent in the 90s. DAY 3 ESSEX`S rivals at the top of the championship will have been looking enviously, as well as anxiously, at the amount of cricket Paul Prichard`s side have got in for this match. With only 77 overs lost to rain by tea yesterday, Essex had not only manoeuvred themselves into a winning position but also picked up maximum bonus points. Their lead over Gloucestershire just after tea was worth 230 with four wickets in hand. East Anglia again enjoyed the best weather in the country yes- terday as the Essex run machine, even without the turbocharged Stuart Law, rumbled along as irresistibly as a Chieftain tank. When Prichard was batting, Gloucestershire must have felt they had come under fire from a human multiple rocket launcher as fours flew all over Castle Park. Prichard hit one in every five balls he faced for four, thundering to 88 off just 73 deliveries. His first championship hundred of the season await- ed him before he deposited a long hop straight down the throat of deep square leg. "That summed up my season," said Prichard after- wards, while entertaining his young daughter in the homely surrounds of the tree-ringed ground. His wife, Jo-Anne, and family had made the two-mile jour- ney from their home in the village of Stanway to see a fine innings of the type that Prichard would have loved to have played more in a year in which he has been short of runs, averaging only 29. Prichard, like so many before him and no doubt so many to come, admits he has suffered from the "benefit syndrome" - re- duced productivity owing to the demands of a benefit year. "It`s been so tir- ing," professed Prichard, "I`ve been getting out through lapses in concentration a lot of the time. It`s not that I`ve been scratching around - I`ve actually been hit- ting the ball well all year." How he did yesterday, batting like he drives - in a hurry. Mark Waugh compares being driven by Prichard to being "a co- pilot with Nigel Mansell". Ronnie Irani also slammed his foot on the ac- celerator as Essex needed quick runs. He rushed to 72 not out although not as quickly or convincingly as Prichard. Irani hit a six that al- most scored a direct hit on the marquee of Colchester Week sponsors Lay and Wheeler, the wine merchants Not all the news for Prichard and his side was good, however. Rain, having kept away all day, started to fall in the tea in- terval, and Darren Robinson, having recorded with Graham Gooch the county`s highest opening stand of the season, 194, retired hurt overnight with a bro- ken finger. The injury was inflicted by a delivery from Courtney Walsh late on Friday evening and may keep him out of some champion- ship games in the crucial run-in as well as the NatWest final against Lan- cashire on Sept 7. Gooch added only six more to his overnight 105 before going back too far to Walsh and treading on his stumps. Sadly, what had been his 126th first-class hundred had been missed by his fa- ther, Alf, who was kept away as he has not been well. Source:: Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Britannic Assurance Championship Essex v Gloucestershire at Colchester on 22nd - 26th August, 1996 A CricInfo Special report by Neil Thumpston Thursday 22nd August Gloucestershire opened as brightly and as breezily as the weath- er. Hewson, seemingly unperturbed by the Essex attack, hit 7 fours before being caught by Lewis off Williams, and his partner, Windows, found several opportunities to do likewise. Hewson was replaced by Andrew Symonds who took slightly over an hour to reach 52 before falling victim to another fine catch by Lewis, this time from Ilott`s bowling, but not before Ilott had claimed Windows` wicket in the 24th over. With the score at 134 for 3, Gloucestershire seemed to lose direction. Irani, Cowan and Such struck in succession, claiming the wickets of Lynch, Hancock and Alleyne respectively. It was left to Russell to try to restore a semblance of order to their innings, but there was little he could do to protect his partners from Cowan`s persistently accu- rate and aggressive bowling. Cowan was in superb form, per- forming the first hat-trick of his career at any level by claiming the wickets of Davis, caught at slip by Grayson, with the last ball of his 14th over, and then Ball, caught by Lewis at short leg, and Smith, whom he bowled, with the first two deliveries of his fifteenth. Russell himself fell victim to Cowan, caught by Irani, having put on 63 runs in just over 2 hours in a typical Russell innings that included 12 fours. Much to their surprise, Gloucestershire found themselves all out for 280, their last five wickets having fallen for just 38 runs. In reply, Essex openers, Graham Gooch and Darren Robinson made 33 and 35 respectively, and at close of play, Essex were 72 without loss. Friday 23rd August Rain delayed the start of play here today until 4.30pm, but Gooch and Robinson quickly made up for lost time. Batting confidently, they took the total to 194 without loss, Gooch scoring 105, the 126th century of his career, while Darren Robinson hit an excel- lent 72. At close of play Essex were just 86 runs behind Gloucestershire. Saturday 24th August In a day during which the match swung convincingly in their favour, the only setback for Essex was the news that Darren Ro- binson has a broken finger and will be out for at least two weeks. Courtney Walsh claimed his only wicket of the innings in an unusual fashion, forcing Graham Gooch back onto his own stumps. Paul Grayson proved difficult to dislodge, and, making the most of some pretty lacklustre bowling, the Essex middle order contin- ued to pile on the misery. Prichard hit 88, before being caught by Hancock off Alleyne`s bowling, while Ronnie Irani turned in another excellent performance, eventually run out, just 9 runs short of his century. Alleyne was easily the pick of the bowlers, going on to claim the wickets of Rollins, Ilott and Wil- liams in a spell of bowling that, to be frank, was the only bright spot in an otherwise jaded Gloucestershire attack. Having reached a commanding position, Essex declared at 532 for 8, a first innings lead of 252 runs. Essex continued to push home their advantage with a devastating opening spell from Neil Williams and Mark Ilott. Williams disposed of Windows and Symonds in his second over with two suc- cessive deliveries, while Ilott gave the screw an additional turn, dismissing Hewson and then Hancock. At close of play, the visitors were 27 for 4 and poised on the brink of disaster. Monday 26th August Neil Williams adminstered to coup de grace to Gloucestershire, to bring his second innings tally to 5-43. Only Lynch and Russell refused to lie down and die, the former hitting a determined half-century before being caught behind off Cowan while the latter looked set to repeat his performance of the first innings. In the event, Russell went for 57, with the score still 64 runs short of the home team`s first innings total. Contributed by Neil Thumpston (100344.1532@CompuServe.COM)