Danish strikes twice to keep Essex in charge

Date: Thursday 27 August 2009

Essex 517-9dec (Maunders 150, Foster 103*, Westley 71, Masters 67, Naik 2-71, Henderson 2-101, White 2-101, Harris 2-109) lead Leicestershire 93-2 (Boyce 47*, Nixon 40, Kaneria 2-30) by 424 runs with eight wickets in hand.

Two late wickets from Danish Kaneria checked Leicestershire’s progress in response to Essex’s substantial first innings tally of 517-9 declared on the second day of the Championship match at Chelmsford.

County had a solid start with Paul Nixon (40) and Matthew Boyce (47*) sharing 83 for the first-wicket, but both Nixon and captain Boeta Dippenaar fell to the Pakistan leg-spinner in the final twenty minutes of play as Leics closed on 93-2.

It was a disappointing way to end proceedings, but Kaneria (2-31 off 14) is always capable of producing a bit of magic and Leics shouldn’t be too downhearted with their reply, which has had plenty of guts and patience in the 39 overs to date.

Earlier in the day, County’s nemesis James Foster (103*) made his first century of the season - and fourth against Leicestershire in his first-class career – as Essex recovered from a largely poor first session to post a daunting total.

As well as Foster prospering, the old-boy theme of the first day continued with David Masters making an Essex-best score of 67 in a stand worth 104 with his stand-in skipper.

That ninth-wicket partnership knocked the stuffing out County in many ways. After finding wickets hard to come by on the first day, the opening session definitely belonged to Leics, who claimed five wickets at the cost of 99 runs.

However, the stand either side of the break ensured Essex got both the score and the momentum they were looking for.

An immediate double burst lifted County’s spirits on day two. With the new ball only three overs old, AJ Harris capitalised on having the new cherry by snaring both unbeaten overnight batsmen in the opening twenty minutes of play.

Indeed, Harris struck with the very first ball of the day, trapping Tom Westley leg-before.

The seamer then thought he had John Maunders caught at the wicket by Tom New, but despite a lengthy appeal, Vanburn Holder decided against giving the former Fox out.

Maunders then moved to 150 from 303 balls in a knock that included twenty boundaries - but Harris did not have to wait too much longer to claim his second wicket.

Although there was doubt about the first appeal, there was definitely an edge this time as Nixon held the catch at first slip and County were right back in the thick of things with the score on 321-5.

It turned out to be County’s opening hour, with only 27 runs added in that time for the loss of the two wickets.

Things improved for Essex in the second hour as stand-in captain Foster and Tim Phillips shared a brisk 71 with their sights set on 400 and full batting points.

To do that, the ante needed to be upped – and it was in the second hour as Foster played particularly fluently.

The 'keeper stroked four boundaries in quick succession to get the board moving. He played a couple of nice drives, swept Henderson through square-leg and also found the third man boundary along the way.

A Phillips sweep also went fine for four as he moved into double figures, and the stand passed fifty shortly afterwards.

Foster continued to find the boundary with regularity, scoring five more in another profitable little period. The ‘keeper went on to bring up his fifty from 65 balls with ten fours.

County were probing away though and Henderson snared two wickets in quick succession in a fascinating 120th over.

Essex were looking for 13 runs from those six deliveries in order to take full batting points. Henderson struck twice to ensure that didn’t occur and also got County a second bowling point for good measure.

The first wicket gave County a second point as he had Phillips stumped by New and then the twirler claimed a second victim as Danish Kaneria fell two balls later via a catch by James Benning.

A third wicket fell in the space of just seven runs as Ryan ten Doeschate - who seemed incredibly low batting in the number nine position - perished to Naik.

The Dutchman, who must have been carrying an injury of some description, chipped a return catch to the off-spinner as County enjoyed a purple patch prior to lunch.

That was as good as it got though. Number ten Masters helped his skipper through to the break on 409-8 and looked good early on in finding the boundary twice.

Indeed, his pre-lunch form was a sign of what was to come as the batsman progressed to his second half-century of the season after the interval.

Masters was always handy with the bat for County, including making a century as a night-watchman during a game against Sussex at Hove in the match where the South Coast side won the Championship in 2003.

However, rarely was he seen in such aggressive form as he was here, scoring his runs at just under a-run-a-ball and making roughly two-thirds of the stand with his senior partner Foster.

The seamer wasn’t afraid in putting bat on ball and his fifty came from just 58 balls in little more than an hour spent at the crease. He struck seven fours and a six by that point.

Foster continued to construct patiently and defiantly, as he always seems to do against the club. The ‘keeper made his highest first-class score of 212 against the team on this ground in 2004 and also had two further centuries against County before this innings.

Masters was a more than useful ally, and added another six with a lusty blow over mid-wicket.

Fortune is said to favour the brave and Masters received a reprieve on 61 when Wayne White put him down at long off from the bowling of Henderson, with the fielder possible hampered by the sun.

It was certainly a moment of frustration and the stand went past three-figures, but Masters then ran himself out to end his resistance.

He flicked the ball to James Taylor at backward square-leg, and taking the liberty of a quick single to County’s shotgun fielder is never the wisest of options. Masters soon found this out when being run out by a good yard.

Foster was joined by last man Chris Wright, who helped his captain move to three-figures.

The ‘keeper hit a six over long-on to bring up his hundred from 160 balls and thirteen other boundaries were included in the milestone. He passed 1,000 first-class runs against Leics in the process of making the ton.

The declaration duly followed with Wright unbeaten on a single. For County, Harris, White, Henderson and Naik all took two wickets as the workload and wickets were shared around. Mention must go to Benning, who was unfortunate to gain no reward for all of his hard work.

The pullout left the team needing to face six niggly overs before tea and they were safely negotiated by opening duo Nixon and Boyce.

Both were watchful, while Boyce also played a pleasant cover drive as the side reached the interval on nineteen without loss.

The careful approach continued after tea, with boundaries in short supply as both batsmen looked to book in, which was precisely the right way to go about the task.

Danish’s introduction was always going to be critical and the spinner was bought on as early as the 13th over from the River End.

He reeled off four maidens to start with to make his intentions clear and with ten Doeschate only going for four runs from his opening four, the home side had implemented an early stranglehold.

The score was 36-0 after twenty overs, but Nixon was anxious not to get bogged down. The batsman took the attack to Danish in his fifth over - taking eleven off it in all - including two reverse-swept boundaries to get the scoreboard moving.

The fifty stand came up during the 24th over as Boyce also got in on the boundary act with two of his own. Boyce continued to be positive when he could, including playing Kaneria through mid-wicket for his sixth four.

Nixon continued to be innovative with the reverse sweep, and found the boundary again in his 11th over.

However, the shot proved to be his downfall and Nixon was caught behind by Foster off a feather from the bowling of Kaneria for 40 with twenty minutes of play left to give the hosts a boost.

It also gave Dippenaar an unwanted little spell to bat and he perished too, caught at slip by Phillips off the leg-spinner.

Naik came in and fulfilled his night-watchman duties alongside Boyce, who had battled through 118 balls by stumps.

More careful batting will be required tomorrow to keep Essex at bay, with the negotiation of Danish again the most important task. County are still 275 behind the follow-on target, and avoiding that will be the primary objective.