Summary of day 1

Shakespeare welcomed Lancashire to Stratford-Upon-Avon burdened with endless team selection problems. Anderson, Flintoff and Mahmood were absent due to international call-ups. Chapple, Hooper, Sutcliffe and Cork were all absent due to injury. Law and Martin were clearly not one hundred percent fit. Once again, lady luck eluded Lancashire at the toss - the fourth championship match in a row. The visitors were so desperate for players that Dinesh Mongia was signed to play for 3 weeks at 9am from Little Stone. John Wood made his debut for the season, while Paul Horton made his first four day appearance for the club.

The outfield was lightning fast and the boundaries were shorter than usual - a common feature of playing at an out ground. The match started in a similar manner to that of the previous two matches, with the home side scoring freely. The first ball of the day went for four byes! Warwickshire only offered one chance during the first session - a relatively straight forward catch to Stuart Law at first slip by Wagh (44). Needless to say, the ball found itself on the deck for the eighth time this season - no further comment required! Just when the home side seemed certain to reach lunch without loss, Keedy trapped Knight (53) in front of the stumps and the players exited the field with the scoreboard reading 141 for 1.

During the afternoon session, Mark Wagh passed both his 100 and 150, and combined with Ian Bell in a second wicket partnership of 154. Steven Crook returned to the attack shortly before the tea interval and induced 2 poor strokes from both batsmen. On each occasion, Law held the catch at point. Bell fell one short of his 50 (295-2) and Wagh was dismissed for 167 (304-3). Gary Keedy struck in the final over before tea to remove Troughton (8) courtesy of Law's third catch of the day, this time fielding at silly point (313-4).

Lancashire new boy, Dinesh Mongia, struck 11 overs into the final session to remove Dougie Brown leg before wicket for 16 (356-5). Hegg failed to stump Brad Hogg with a sharp chance in the 90th over - it summed up the captains' plight. One could sense that there was a team morale problem on the pitch all day, particularly between Hegg and Law. Trott reached his half century before strangely shouldering arms to a delivery from Martin (419-6). Tony Frost returned to the home dressing room after just 3 deliveries - another leg before wicket verdict in favour of Lancashire (419-7). Brad Hogg blasted 50 from just 41 balls to add to Lancashire's problems late in the day. He was eventually undone by a superb yorker from Martin for 54 (446-8). Neil Carter hit several boundaries and the only six of the day before hauling out to Alec Swann on the deep extra cover boundary for 32 (478-9).

In the penultimate over of the day, Lancashire squandered two chances to wrap up Warwickshire's innings by dropping two chances. Pretorius offered a sharp chance to Swann at second slip, while Tahir offered a much easier catch to Martin at mid-on. Warwickshire finished the day on 495 for 9. Once again, Lancashire are left to play catch up - one can only hope that they apply themselves at the crease for a change when they eventually bat on the second day.

Key Notes of the Day

• Warwickshire won the toss and elected to bat
• 50 for 0 in the 12th over (50 partnership) - Knight 19* Wagh 21*
• Chilton first bowling change - 56 for 0 in the 15th over
• Wagh 44 dropped by Law at first slip - 92 for 0 in the 24th over - Knight 35*
• 100 for 0 in the 28th over (100 partnership) - Knight 40* Wagh 46*
• 50 Wagh from 91 balls (10 x 4) - 104 for 0 in the 29th over - Knight 40*
• 50 Knight from 104 balls (8 x 4) - 127 for 0 in the 34th over - Wagh 61*
• Knight lbw bowled Keedy 53 (Last ball before lunch) - 141 for 1 in the 38th over - Wagh 72*
• 152 for 1 in the 41st over - Wagh 80* Bell 4*
• 100 Wagh from 152 balls (20 x 4) - 185 for 1 in the 47th over - Bell 13*
• 50 partnership - 191 for 1 in the 48th over - Wagh 106* Bell 16*
• 203 for 1 in the 51st over - Wagh 117* Bell 17*
• 100 partnership - 243 for 1 in the 56th over - Wagh 138* Bell 30*
• Wood receives warning for bowling a beamer - 243 for 1
• 251 for 1 in the 57th over - Wagh 138* Bell 34*
• 150 Wagh from 204 balls - 29 x 4) - 267 for 1 in the 61st over - Bell 36*
• 150 partnership - 291 for 1 in the 65th over - Wagh 164* Bell 45*
• Bell caught Law bowled Crook 49 (Point) - 295 for 2 in the 65th over - Wagh 164*
• 301 for 2 in the 67th over - Wagh 166* Trott 4*
• Wagh caught Law bowled Crook 167 (Point) - 304 for 3 in the 69th over - Trott 6*
• Troughton caught Law bowled Keedy 8 (Silly point) - 313 for 4 in the 72nd over - Trott 7* - last ball before tea
• 350 for 4 in the 80th over - Trott 32* Brown 12*
• Brown lbw bowled Mongia 16 - 356 for 5 in the 83rd over - Trott 34*
• Hogg 34 - missed stumping chance by Hegg - 400 for 5 in the 90th over - Trott 43*
• New ball taken - 403 for 5 in the 91st over - Trott 44* Hogg 33*
• 50 partnership - 407 for 5 in the 91st over - Trott 48* Hogg 33*
• 50 Trott from 70 balls (7 x 4) - 409 for 5 in the 91st over - Hogg 33*
• Trott bowled Martin 54 (Shouldered arms & hit top of off stump) - 419 for 6 in the 93rd over - Hogg 39*
• Frost lbw bowled Martin 0 (3rd ball) - 419 for 7 in the 93rd over - Hogg 39*
• 50 Hogg from 41 balls (8 x 4) - 441 for 7 in the 96th - Carter 10*
• Hogg bowled Martin 56 (Yorked) - 446 for 8 in the 97th over - Carter 10*
• 450 for 8 in the 97th over - Carter 10* Tahir 4*
• Carter caught Swann bowled Wood 32 (Deep extra cover) - 478 for 9 in the 102nd over - Tahir 6*
• Pretorius 0 dropped by Swann at second slip (Tough) - 483 for 9 in the 103rd over - Tahir 10*
• Tahir 12* dropped by Martin at mid-on - 484 for 9 in the 103rd over - Pretorius 1*
• 495 for 9 from 104 overs - Tahir 22* Pretorius 1* - Close of play
• Warwickshire 5 points, Lancashire 3 points

(Article: Copyright © 2004 Neil Adams http://www.cricketimages.co.uk/adams-report/intro.html)

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