Essex v Australians County Ground, Chelmsford 29,30 June, 1 July 2001 (3-day match)

Result: Match Drawn- Match Report

Toss: Australia (Australia elected to bat)

Umpires: IJ Gould and TE Jesty

 

First Day Report :

The news that Justin Langer had been passed fit to play it today's game was good new indeed for the tourists and for Langer.

Hayden and Slater put on 36 for the first wicket before Michael Slater was tempted to edge the ball down the leg side and was caught at the wicket by Foster off Mark Illot. With the fall of the first wicket came Langer, a player who needed a solid innings
to have any chance of keeping his place for the first test next Thursday.He (Langer) managed to last all but two balls, playing at a rising ball off Illot and was caught by Foster without any addition to the score. Langer returned to the dressing room in contemplative mood, he must surely have doubts about his automatic position in the test line-up next week. It has been a sorry start to the tour for Langer, joining a squad already established is never easy, especially a buoyant and successful one like the current Australia squad.

 

Just under 6000 fans came to watch Essex take on the Australians and it wasn't long before they had something else to cheer on - Hayden caught by Foster, giving the wicket keeper his third catch of the innings and Bishop his first wicket of the innings.
Such would have been a relieved man after dropping Hayden four runs earlier.Ricky Ponting and Mark Waugh added 64 runs for the 4th wicket and Australia looked to have steadied themselves. However, Bishop took his second wicket of the innings when he had Waugh caught for 25. In the 5th over after lunch Ponting tried to cut a ball off Peter Such and was bowled for a creditable 63, he really is looking confident Ponting and there is no doubt England will have their hands full next week if they allow the batsman to dominate as he has done so far on tour.

 

Gilchrist and Martyn took to the Essex attack, striking boundaries at will. Both batsmen scored their centuries in a terrific undefeated partnership of 251. Gilchrist declared on 5 for 405 after reaching the 150 mark. The Australian vice-captain hit 21 fours and 3 sixes in his innings and faced only 149 balls, a superb effort. Martyn not to be outdone hit 16 fours and a six in his innings of 114, however facing 182 balls for his innings, he let his captain take the strain!Essex started poorly, McGrath striking with the score on 7, Grayson caught behind without scoring. When play resumes tomorrow, the home side will face an uphill task.

Second Day Report :

 

Essex resumed on 1 for 16 and were soon in the thick of things with Jason Gillespie ripping into the home side's feeble looking batting line up. England captain Nasser Hussain was the first to go when Justin Langer caught him at short leg for 16 runs, not the best preparation for next week's test match, 35 minutes into the day's play.Clinton (0) fell to Gillespie after facing just three balls of the Australian's next over, lbw to a ball that kept low. The home side were struggling at 3 for 33.41 runs were added before the next wicket fell, Irani falling to a catch at silly point by Ponting off Miller's bowling for 18. Robinson up until this point had looked the steadiest of the Essex batsmen and had started to gain confidence. Unfortunately for him however, it was misplaced, and in Miller's very next over, he charged down the wicket and Gillie took the bails off. Robinson on his way back to the dressing room for 34,
Essex were 5 for 79.

 

James Foster and Graham Napier showed the rest of their team mates how the Australian's should be played, putting on a partnership of 104 for the 6th wicket. On his way to his 50, Napier hit 10 boundaries and 2 sixes (off Hayden). Foster the last man to fall wasn't to be outdone, scoring 11 boundaries in his top score of 74 for his county. The tail-enders offered little resistance with four wickets falling for only 19 runs, 3 of them to Gillespie who ended with great figures of 5 for 37 off 16 overs, the bowler was in top form today. Miller and Lee accounted for the other two wickets to fall, Miller returning the next best although very expensive figures, of 3 for 94. With Foster falling to a catch by Gillespie (off Lee), Essex ended their innings, 174 runs in arrears.Slater and Hayden ripped Essex apart in the final session of day two, both contrib- uting to a superb opening partnership of 138 before McGarry had Slater caught for 58.Between them, the pair hit 27 boundaries in an unrelenting attack on the opening bowlers. Hayden was unfortunate to fall two runs short of what would have been a deserved century, Peter Such taking his wicket thanks to a catch by Grayson.

Langer who needs a significant knock to cement his place in the starting eleven in Thursday's test match ended undefeated on 10, Australia closing the day on 2 for 188, 326 runs ahead.

 

Final Day Report :

 

With the decision to continue with the batting attack, Langer must have thought that he would ease his way out of the doldrums and post a quick fifty, just enough to tell the selectors he was ready. Unfortunately for him it wasn't meant to be, he was the first wicket to fall in the day, adding only seven runs to his overnight total. Such took the wicket, clean bowling the Aussie batsman for 17. Langer took a little over 90 minutes for his knock, facing 71 balls in the process; he was not comfortable and he is certainly struggling with his form.

 

Perhaps a surprising player in form at the moment is Brett Lee, not with the ball but with the bat. Continuing from his overnight score of 7, Lee took to the bowlers in similar style of his opening colleagues, hitting the ball to all parts of the ground. When he finally fell for 79, stumped off the bowling by Such, he had hit 10 fours and 2 sixes. In a 4th wicket partnership of 71 with Gillespie, such was the dominance of Lee; Gillespie only managed 2 runs!