UFO Info Week-End

There was a school of thought that now wanted to drop him to No

There was a school of thought that now wanted to drop him to No 6, but the selectors spoke to Stewart and he said that he would rather open, where he has made most of his runs, and they agreed.It was still the worst possible situation for him when the time came to bat. He had just withstood nine hours behind the stumps while Australia scored 427 runs. In 10 minutes, Stewart had to come off the field, change his clothes, put on a different set of pads and go straight out to bat. At that point, England had an outside chance of getting back into the match and this was underlined by the splendid opening partnership of 106 between Mike Atherton and Alec Stewart.Stewart’s innings was quite remarkable, not least in the way that it gave the lie to those who feel he should be protected from having to open as well as keep wicket. This became a certainty when Mark Taylor had the good luck to win his fifth toss in a row. It may well be that England will lose but it has still been a more encouraging match for them than either of the last two.

There have been things to admire about England’s cricket.
On the second morning, the bowling and fielding was exemplary as they brought Australia back from 302 for 3 to 427 all out. His defiance at one end while ineptitude reigned at the other was an example to all. Such contrivance at a result was a miracle in itself since the two captains, Mark Alleyne and Somerset’s Peter Bowler, disagreed over which pitch to play on once the weather relented on the second day.Gloucestershire won that brief battle, but there will be those who argue that it may have cost them the war But at least they tried. Tim Hancock scored a classy century – the fourth of his career and his second against Somerset – which fairly sparkled with delightful drives and cuts. For Somerset, there were three wickets on his Championship debut for Jones, a Cambridge double Blue at cricket and rugby, as well as a fine innings from Mark Lathwell, who sadly perished five runs short of his first Championship hundred of the season.But honours ultimately went to Somerset and in particular Shine and Rose.

The latter is in the middle of a great season in which he has scored more than 500 first-class runs and has already taken 45 wickets. Instead, the Pakistan leg-spinner lasted for a further 16 precious overs, and although Smith eventually accounted for Mushtaq and Andre van Troost, his 63rd victim of the summer, and Ball taking care of Steffan Jones, there were just not enough overs left to secure the victory that would have lifted Gloucestershire into joint leadership of the table.Somerset had been set an improbable 277 to win off 45 overs after a couple of judicious declarations. This year, in tandem with Graham Rose, who dug in for the best part of two and a half hours, he saw out 37 desperate deliveries to salvage a draw from a match that had appeared to be lost following a dramatic collapse or two and some excellent swing bowling by Mike Smith and some guileful off-spin from Martyn Ball, who at one point had claimed three wickets in four balls and finished with an impressive 4 for 15 off 17 overs.
If Tony Wright at third slip had hung on to a catch from Mushtaq Ahmed off Shaun Young, it could have been a different story. Of the young side that Essex are bringing forward, Tim Hodgson took the daunting No 3 position and looked promising.Kent, shepherded by the former New Zealand opener John Wright, had a sprightlier look at this stage of the season, with impressive injury-cover and alternatives for all roles – Matthew Walker is out of form, for example – but a man with a career-best 275 not out loses touch only briefly – while the former Test bowler Alan Igglesden competes with Thompson for the third seamer slot behind McCague and Dean Headley.Today’s one-day game, by lucky chance, has as much spice in Canterbury Festival week as the Championship fixture – the teams lie joint third in the table at start of play.. Much depended on their valuable Australian Stuart Law, but he chose this game for a rare double failure, and their signing from Sussex, Danny Law, has yet to show his potential. McCague bowled Essex out of a match that his batting colleagues had already insured against defeat, when in a Thursday-evening spell of inspired ferocity he blew away the top of the Essex order.Kent’s security was based on a first hundred for his new club by Alan Wells, a cavalier career-best 138 by Matthew Fleming, and inspired lower- order hustling by Steve Marsh and Strang. On Friday morning, the fast- bowling doctor from Guy’s Hospital, Julian Thompson, completed McCague’s work, and Essex were sunk.At the start of this sun-drenched game, Essex were fourth in the table, just two points behind Kent, but they have suddenly found their strength in depth sorely tested.

Mark Ilott and Ashley Cowan missed this match through injury (though they may return to the team today), Nasser Hussain is on England duty, and of the settled side that took them up the table Graham Gooch has spontaneously combusted. He deserved to carry his bat but was at last undone by Martin McCague and the new ball, 90 minutes into the morning; he fell 21 runs short of his highest score; and was just nine runs away from asking Kent to bat a second time.
Prichard’s cause was a hopeless one, of course, but the richness of cricket allows one to revel in such epic cussedness. Batting in extreme discomfort after damaging a hamstring when on 69 – which must threaten his role in Tuesday’s NatWest semi-final against Glamorgan – Prichard was denied three moments of satisfaction after a heroic performance that had surely earned them all. Even in the little hilltop town above Lake Trasimeno where you turn up for a concert of Baroque music, that third of the audience not related to the orchestra and the soloists turns out to be, judging by the accents, from Hampstead and its environs.
In the forbidding medieval fortress-city of Perugia, bookstalls sell a range of English newspapers and the clothes shops are a magnet for British visitors, eager to snap up sale bargains from Dolce e Gabbana and Armani. This is Chianti-shire in full swing and it’s all too easy, if you’ve been coming here for a long time as I have, to be rather sniffy about it.Until, that is, you visit English friends in a nearby village and realise, as you swap stories about the Fra Angelicos in Cortona, that you’re just as much a part of the English-in-Italy experience as anyone else. It is getting mighty congested up there, but after this smooth and controlled performance Kent look in shape to challenge for a first Championship title since 1978.