Trescothick took it all in his stride.His defence has tightened in the last 12 months and he is an outstanding stroke maker on both sides of the wicket. His footwork too was good and he is keen to get down the pitch - and not only to the spinners. It was good to see a newcomer so adept at leaving the ball alone.Trescothick has perfected a method of playing deliberately inside the line, which may give the impression that he plays and misses more than he does. I hope he opens the innings with Mike Atherton at Old Trafford on 3 August in the third Test.Trescothick has shown that there are still young cricketers in England who have what it takes and it is now up to the selectors to pull on their boots and go and find a few more - and, having found them, to give them a chance.. It was more stop than start yesterday. Middlesex, having enforced the follow-on, found themselves reduced to the role of helpless spectators. They had a couple of attempts at getting things going but each time were thwarted by the weather It was more stop than start yesterday.
Middlesex, having enforced the follow-on, found themselves reduced to the role of helpless spectators. They had a couple of attempts at getting things going but each time were thwarted by the weather. At least by then Middlesex had managed something positive to reinforce the perception that they are at last turning the corner, even if they are not yet all the way round it.The batsmen are knuckling down and putting in some graft, youngsters are starting to perform and the self belief is awakening in a squad that is in need of an big injection of confidence.They are getting that from their bowlers. Angus Fraser is the nearest thing to perpetual motion in the game - he just goes on and on - and he looks, and is, as good as ever Richard Johnson is positively firing. As for Phil Tufnell, 'Cat' is purring.It was he who picked off the first wicket yesterday, Worcestershire's ninth, virtually ensuring the follow-on and his fourth of the innings, when Glenn McGrath got a leading edge and Tufnell, living up to his nickname, leapt with feline agility some five yards to his left to take a superb return catch one-handed.
The feat stopped everyone, batsmen, fielders and spectators in their tracks. It was that sort of a day.He now has 28 wickets this season at an impressively respectable average of 23.64. Ashley Giles, his nearest rival in the slow left-arm department, had slightly superior figures after the first innings of Warwickshire's match against Sussex, but if England were to want a left-arm spinner for the third Test against West Indies at Old Trafford next month, then the Middlesex man would surely have an edge, despite Giles' prowess with the bat. Tufnell's 41 Tests - nine of which are against the West Indies - and the 120 wickets he has taken since his debut against Australia in Melbourne in 1990, would surely tip the scales.If the weather relents today - a total of just 20.1 overs were possible between the heavy downpours yesterday - then Tufnell and Keith Dutch, whose off-spin wrapped up the Worcestershire first innings when Owais Shah snapped up a bat-pad catch off Kabir Ali to leave them 13 runs short of avoiding the follow-on, will bear most of the bowling burden.When rain brought proceedings to a full stop Worcestershire still needed a further 147 runs to make Middlesex bat again and had lost Philip Weston for a second duck.. Leicestershire stopped coming to Oakham School after Kent put them to the sword in 1938 and may regret not staying away It has not been a happy return, on the field at any rate. Surrey completed a facile victory last evening, winning by an innings and 178 runs with a day to spare.
Leicestershire stopped coming to Oakham School after Kent put them to the sword in 1938 and may regret not staying away It has not been a happy return, on the field at any rate. Surrey completed a facile victory last evening, winning by an innings and 178 runs with a day to spare. The result takes Surrey, the champions, to the top of the First Division and deservedly so, given that Leicestershire would consider themselves to be among the pretenders.Surrey were unbeatable after Alistair Brown's colossal innings, a marathon of eight-and-a-half hours that left him unbeaten on 295 and kept Leicestershire in the field for a day and a half, after which their energy and morale was sapped, not least because they passed up five chances to get him out, of varying difficulty. Back in 1938, Brian Valentine prospered as Kent made hay, scoring 242, which suggests there is something in the Rutland air that suits the visitor from the south. Brown's score sets an individual record for England's smallest county.Leicestershire dug their hole by losing seven wickets inside half a session, after which there was no escape. From 51 for 7 on Saturday they scratched their way eventually to 143 but it was a miserable effort which they could only compound yesterday when Surrey, even with Alex Tudor put out of the attack by a side strain, dismissed them again for 184 in 61 overs.The dunce's cap was freely passed around, although Darren Maddy perhaps should have kept it. As Leicester followed on, 362 adrift, the stroke he offered to Martin Bicknell's opening delivery, well pitched up and swinging away, was a perfect example of how not to play your first ball.