By Christopher Martin-Jenkins at Leicester
First day of four: Leicestershire 301-6 v Essex
THERE are those who claim that Vince Wells is the best all-round cricketer in England. That he is a mightily effective county player is not in any doubt and he played a magnificent innings in by no means easy conditions at Grace Road yesterday to maintain Leicestershire's impetus towards a second County Championship title in three years.
Put in to bat by Essex on a green, firm pitch, and on a squally morning on which they would much have preferred to field, Leicestershire were greatly indebted not only to Wells's chanceless third hundred of the season but to the wonderfully positive way in which he went about his business. Keep the game simple and believe in yourself are two of the wiser tenets on which to build a cricket career and Wells has adhered to them both through thick and thin.
For a long time it was mainly thin. He is 33, but it was not until 1996, when he scored the first of his three championship double hundreds, that he made a thousand runs, after four years at his native Kent and another two at Grace Road before he won a county cap. Finally picked for a winter tour last week, albeit for nothing more high-profile than the World Supermax Eights, he was philosophical when he heard that the tournament had been cancelled.
Wells batted all of the 84 overs which were fitted around two rain interruptions, hitting 19 fours and a straight six off Peter Such with which he reached what, remarkably enough, was only his 12th first-class century. He hit imperiously through the covers, often on the up, and square-cut heartily too, occasionally pulling or hooking for variety. Ashley Cowan, his right shoulder better after almost nine weeks away, and Ronnie Irani bowled well and Such eventually gave the ball some air after a cautious start but generally there was too much width and too little length from Essex's attack.
There was rather less help than Paul Prichard had hoped but enough movement off the seam, especially after the late-morning shower, and sufficient bounce too for Leicestershire to have bowled Essex out rapidly if the coin had fallen the other way. Wells, top of the bowling averages, would have seamed it about and Alan Mullally had recovered from a calf strain to keep Jimmy Ormond out of the side. The adaptable nature of Leicestershire's resources was underlined when Carl Crowe, the off-spinner, was preferred to Matthew Brimson, no doubt to have both spinners fine-tuned for what is expected to be a turning pitch at the Oval next week.
Darren Maddy, who is having one of those seasons, got a very thin outside edge in the sixth over and Iain Sutcliffe was lucky to be given not out caught off bat and pad before he had scored when the umpire was unsighted. He stayed to hit some robust strokes before he also got an outside edge in the last over before lunch.
Wells was already 73 not out, having driven and pulled the brisk but inaccurate Jamie Grove for three fours in an over. He got to his hundred off 161 balls and Phil Simmons, at last batting more like the pulverising stroke-player of 1996, was no less commanding in a partnership of 118 in 28 overs. He was caught at second slip after a 70-minute stoppage.
Essex made some progress as Irani followed up with a beauty which cut away late to spoil Aftab Habib's careful reconnaissance and Mark Ilott had Paul Nixon dropped at second slip. He celebrated with some crisp strokes before Such bowled him round his legs, but Wells was immovable.
Day 2: Leicester take grip on title
By Christopher Martin-Jenkins at Leicester
Second day of four: Essex (95 & 58-4) trail Leics (395) by 242 runs
WHILE Surrey were cursing the weather and Lancashire preparing for their match at Trent Bridge today, Leicestershire were speeding towards harbour with a wet sail. They whistled Essex out for 95 at Grace Road on the way to their fifth win in five matches, their seventh in eight and, in all probability, their second County Championship in three years.
Essex enjoyed the brief respite of the tea interval before the fox was quickly into their hen house again. Tim Hodgson's brave defence and Ronnie Irani's calculated counter-attack at least made certain that the game would go into a third day, but Essex have to score another 242 to make Leicestershire bat a second time and unless the weather detains them, the present lead of 10 points over Surrey might be extended to something close to unassailable before the two counties meet at the Oval next week.
The kind of catching which wins championships has demonstrated beyond doubt that the force is with Leicestershire, in this game and in the wider struggle for the championship. Phil Simmons, who has taken on the captaincy from Chris Lewis while the injured James Whitaker looks on in approval, set the example with three catches, two of them brilliant, and Iain Sutcliffe, after one miss, held two marvellous catches at short-leg in support of purposeful fast bowling on a sprightly pitch by Lewis, Alan Mullally, David Millns and the batting hero, Vince Wells.
Essex, by contrast, have had a terrible season and they have folded all too predictably here on a surface too bouncy for their comfort. Irani alone put bat to ball with confidence and Hodgson, batting for 88 minutes in the first innings and all but two of the 29 overs in the second, has alone defended his wicket with the kind of defiance which saves games.
A home tie against the side trailing the rest by a distance was, of course, the perfect fixture for a county which had just taken over at the top of the table but Leicestershire have been as ruthlessly efficient as Essex have been feeble. Old Essex hands like Keith Fletcher, once their captain, now their somewhat perplexed coach, know well enough how easily a wilting county will give way at this stage of the season before a side with the title in sight.
It says much about the volatility of county cricket at present that Paul Prichard is the longest-serving county captain after only four seasons in charge. Whether he will serve a fifth term must be a matter of doubt, less, perhaps, because of the virtual certainty of their 10th defeat in 16 games than because Prichard himself has managed only 177 runs in 14 innings with a top score of 24.
He presided over a relatively painless completion of Leicestershire's first innings on the second morning as Wells pressed on beyond 150 with some more decisive square-cutting. Lewis had been lbw to Mark Ilott but the best spell came from Jamie Grove, who again worked up a lively pace and had Wells caught at mid-off from a leading edge before taking the last two wickets with successive balls.
That was a taste of things to come. Prichard was defeated by a ball of full length and Stuart Law bowled by an inswinging yorker. It took Leicestershire only 23 overs after that and Millns and Wells wasted no time once they were allowed in on the act.
Before the close of another blustery day, Prichard had got an edge onto his middle stump, Stephen Peters had fallen to a swallow dive at third slip, Law to a force to backward point and Irani to a chip to midwicket.
Day 3: Cowan's blows keep Leicestershire on toes
By Christopher Martin-Jenkins at Leicester
Leics (395) bt Essex (95 & 201) by an innings & 99 runs
WHEN the job was all but done, Leicestershire took their eye off the ball and suffered the consequences, but they still gained comprehensive revenge for their defeat by Essex in the Benson and Hedges Cup final, winning before lunch on the third day. They remain sure of a commanding lead in the Britannic Assurance County Championship going into the final round, which starts next Thursday, but a last-wicket stand of 102 between Ashley Cowan and Peter Such was an early warning against complacency.
It was Essex's fifth defeat in succession and their third by an innings in four. Leicestershire's fifth win in succession was virtually certain before a ball was bowled yesterday and assured by the time that Such walked out at No 11 in only the ninth over of a morning on which it was dangerous for a spectator to blink.
Chris Lewis, varying his bowling thoughtfully but eventually over-elaborating, had the hitherto obdurate Tim Hodgson caught down the leg side in the second over and Alan Mullally took two wickets in the next as Mark Ilott cut to point and Barry Hyam was defeated by an inswinger of full length. Paul Grayson escaped a low chance to first slip off Lewis before, in the same over, he was lbw and Jamie Grove was castled third ball.
Ninety-nine for nine after being bowled out for 95 in the first innings was an abject performance by the Essex batsmen on what they would have to admit was a good cricket wicket. The umpires, in fact, gave it high marks. When it was too late, however, Cowan - who might answer to Slashley or Bashley from now - hit with merry freedom while Such, all at sea at first, settled to have a good net for the sort of hostile bowling which undoubtedly awaits him this winter in Australia.
Such was dropped when 11 and Cowan when 55, both off Lewis, but by the time Cowan was caught from an inside edge off David Millns they had set the record Essex last-wicket stand against Leicestershire. Cowan used his height and not inconsiderable natural ability to drive and cut his way to a highest first-class score of 94, made off only 81 balls and including 15 fours and a cut off Millns which carried high over the third-man boundary.
As is customary here, in fair weather or foul, win or lose, only a solid core of the county's 5,000 membership were present for the final home championship match. Leicestershire's support in midweek is mainly invisible, as much as anything because a fair proportion of the members have jobs to go to.
The chief executive, David Collier, believes that a realistic view is required for the future, with weekends reserved for one-day cricket and the championship played on weekdays for the prime purpose of developing county and future Test players.
After a brief pause in the steady development of Grace Road, the building is due to start again this winter. The Bennett indoor school, one of the more pleasing buildings of its kind and an excellent cricketing facility, is to be extended to allow for 28-yard run-ups in the nets, more than any bowler should require, with a new media centre on top ready for the two World Cup games which will be staged here early next May.
The present press box, well sited but with a maximum capacity of 14, albeit seated in comfortable red leather arm-chairs, will be missed by some; more so perhaps than the windswept commentary box on the other side of the pavilion.
A much more questionable proposal is the one for a new electronic scoreboard for a six-figure sum to replace one of two adequate boxes; not, I hope, the one topped by a clear and graceful clock and the weather vane which is enhanced by a running fox. And how that famous fox is running.