Date-stamped : 07 Jun97 - 06:16 Thompson on call to cure Kent malaise By Doug Ibbotson at Tunbridge Wells First day of four: Kent (30-0) trail Warwicks (314) by 284 runs WHEN one international class bowler, Mark Ealham, is on Test parade, two contemporaries, Dean Headley and Min Patel, are injured and leading strike bowler Martin McCague breaks down after five overs, it is little consolation to have a doctor in the house. True, Julian Thompson MBBS, senior house officer of the Kent and Canterbury Hospital, claimed a couple of wickets when Warwickshire were threatening to romp towards a score of epidemic proportions and later picked up three more, but a thought that persisted at the Nevill was, "what price Alan Igglesden?" In fact, the former Test bowler and stalwart of the Kent attack from the turn of the Nineties is seeing a specialist today for advice on a back-related problem which has kept him out of the side this season. Providing the consultant sees no physiological risk in playing, Igglesden will be re-introduced to the senior side via the Sunday League. Meantime Kent earnestly hope that McCague`s left hip injury will recover sufficiently for him to resume today. Certainly at the point of his withdrawal yesterday, stringent strike bowling was at a premium as Andy Moles (42) and Nick Knight (36) laid about some erratic deliveries from Ben Phillips. Phillips conceded 23 off three overs and Thompson, who succeeded him, was showing little better promise until he apparently mesmerised Knight into offering Alan Wells a straightforward catch at slip and subsequently bowled David Hemp off a hurried bat. In the interim, happily for Kent, Paul Strang had been introduced to bowl his leg-spin with great economy and commendable willingness to get on with it. It was Matthew Fleming, though, who removed the marauding Moles with a first delivery to which the Warwickshire opener unaccountably offered no stroke. Thereafter the burden of run-gathering was assumed by Trevor Penney, and, to a lesser extent, Dominic Ostler. Penney, at an elegant rather than frantic pace, faced 166 balls and struck 12 fours before, on 84, giving off-spinner Nigel Llong his second wicket in two overs. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Fulton falls short again By Doug Ibbotson at Tunbridge Wells Second day of four: Kent (319-8) lead Warwickshire (314) by 5 runs A NONDESCRIPT day at the Nevill Ground was noteworthy for what did not happen rather than what did. In the immortal words of Stanley Holloway "no one got shipwrecked nor drownded; in fact nothing to laugh at at all". It did not happen for the umpteenth time for David Fulton, who has been seeking a maiden championship century since 1992. He came within six runs at Trent Bridge last week. Yesterday, on his 39th championship expedition, he sailed handsomely to 73 with 14 fours and a five (four overthrows) then scuttled the in- nings with a wild, wide harpoon to slip off Doug Brown. Nor was it much of an occasion for his early Kent colleagues as they sought to make a substantial impression on Warwickshire`s 314. Matthew Walker made only 11 before providing Gladstone Small with his first championship wicket of the season, Nigel Llong (13) made it two and Matthew Fleming three. As the matched roamed towards the gloaming Tunbridge Wells stalwarts were much obliged to Alan Wells for raising a beam of enter- tainment: 70 positively acquired runs including seven fours and two six- es driven off Neil Smith. This was enough to induce Smith to fall to his knees and kiss the pitch on bowling Paul Strang (12) for a first senior wicket of the season in his 99th over. All of which prevented several people nodding off and allowed Kent`s ninth-wicket pair to feign such enjoyment that they de- clined an offer of bad light and compiled the best stand of the innings. Small, on the other hand, had had enough and hobbled off with a groin strain. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Heroes blossom amid the carnage By Doug Ibbotson at Tunbridge Wells Third day of four: Warwicks (314 & 237-6) lead Kent (379) by 172 runs THE CELEBRATED Tunbridge Wells shrubs that this season remain if not unsung then mercifully unspelled are particularly appropri- ate in a setting that is rapidly resembling a casualty clearing sta- tion. Warwickshire arrived at the Nevill apparently courtesy of the am- bulance corps, lacking such seasoned warriors as Allan Don- ald, Tim Munton and Keith Piper. Pretty soon Andy Moles (Achilles tendon) and Gladstone Small (groin) had withdrawn from the trenches while Kent`s Martin McCague withdrew behind the lines with a hip injury. Inevitably there are heroes familiar and less so. Yesterday, Ben Phillips and Julian Thompson, who came together on Wednes- day when Kent were still 71 adrift, completed a ninth-wicket stand of 109. In the process Thompson hit his first six in senior cricket in a career best of 59 not out. Both were soon back in action: Phillips removing Neil Smith and Trevor Penney at modest cost and, more significantly, Nick Knight, whose progress to 30 had looked ominously fluent. Meanwhile, however, David Hemp, Warwickshire`s close-season recruit from Glamorgan, was working his way towards a wonderfully un- ruffled century off 159 balls, which he reached with 17 fours and a six to midwicket off Paul Strang. Hemp was there to succeed a fifth partner batting with a run- ner, if only briefly. When Matthew Fleming, for the second time in the campaign, removed Moles in the first over of a spell, War- wick- shire were 152 and the match simmering towards probably its most in- teresting day. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Frost`s antics turn the air cold By Doug Ibbotson at Tunbridge Wells Kent (379 & 216-6) beat Warwick (314 & 280) by 4 wickets SIR Colin Cowdrey, an active and persistent opponent of slang- ing and associated forms of gamesmanship, would have been dis- mayed by player behaviour at Tunbridge Wells, jewel in the crown of his former county. After Kent`s frequent and frantic self-congratulation of bowlers who managed to locate the middle of the bat, Warwick- shire, as ex- emplified by their ring-leader, raucous rookie wicketkeeper Tony Frost, took over. Frost, deputising for the injured Keith Piper, kept up a ceaseless prattle at full volume between deliveries with the ex- press in- tent of unsettling the batsmen. In view of an over- all match perfor- mance that often found him grubbing on the ground for all but the easiest takes, Frost may care to heed the advice that if he is to seriously bid for Piper`s rightful role, he should spend more time with his gloves open and his mouth shut. Umpires are almost powerless to intervene on such issues un- less it can be established that batsmen are the clear target. While a fielding side purports to be motivating themselves, this is difficult to prove. And they know it. One answer available to the batsmen is to ram the ball over the boundary, but this is not without risk, as Trevor Ward dis- cov- ered when Kent unfurled the spinnaker in pursuit of 216 to win. Matthew Walker had gone at 43, somewhat bogged down on 14 by Neil Smith, when Ward, in partnership with the steady David Ful- ton, suddenly launched himself down the pitch, opened the haymak- ing season and was comprehensively bowled for 11 by the same bowler. Fulton`s demise was surprising: a rare loose stroke on the back foot steered the ball straight to Dominic Ostler in the slips. Nigel Llong, on the other hand, got an awkward ball from Graeme Welch. Yet Alan Wells, with his second half century of the match, steered Kent home by four wickets. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)