da dobrowin： A round-up of all the action from the third day of the latest round of County Championship matches
Andrew McGlashan29-Apr-2005
Mark Ramprakash: a class above the rest of the batting at Cardiff © Getty Images
Scorecard
A destructive career-best performance from James Ormond and yet another century for Mark Ramprakash put Surrey on course for their first Championship win of the season. Ormond ran through the Glamorgan batting with 7 for 63 and only Mark Wallace’s second half-century of the match gave Surrey any sort of a target to chase. Twenty wickets tumbled in the day, which started with Ramprakash trying to get the visitors as close to Glamorgan’s first innings as possible. He received useful support from Rikki Clarke (35) but Ramprakash was the only batsman to really come to terms with the conditions. Ormond and Mohammed Akram then set about reducing Glamorgan to 87 for 7. Wallace and Alex Wharf put up the only resistance with an eighth-wicket stand of 80 before Ormond wrapped up the tail. Surrey began their run-chase aggressively, Scott Newman hitting 48 from 41 balls and, although they then lost a couple of late wickets, Ramprakash was again in controlScorecard
Ian Bell turned his stylish century from the second day into a superb double-hundred as Warwickshire took control against Middlesex. Bell, aiming for a place in the England Test line-up, extended his partnership with Ashley Giles to 167 as the county champions took the lead. When Giles fell to Alan Richardson, Heath Streak offered valuable support as Bell pressed on until he was the ninth wicket to fall. Middlesex’s second innings began solidly as Andrew Strauss finally managed to play himself in, after starting the season with three failures. But he was undone by Alex Loudon, by which time Giles had settled into another probing spell. Giles has started the season as Warwickshire’s main wicket-taker and again proved their trump card. He ended Ben Hutton’s painful 12 – spanning 103 balls – and also trapped Ed Smith lbw before Middlesex edged into a narrow lead.
Jason Gallian: fell just short of 200 as Nottinghamshire plundered Sussex © Getty Images
Scorecard
Nottinghamshire’s batsmen enjoyed themselves as they plundered the Sussex attack for 456 runs in a day. They were led by Jason Gallian, the former captain, and Stephen Fleming, the current skipper as both notched up hundreds. Gallian was run out one short of a double-century, while, for Fleming his 111 made up for a poor debut against Middlesex at Lord’s where he managed just one run in two innings. After Sussex had managed two early breakthroughs Gallian and Fleming added 186 for the third wicket. Even when Fleming was run out there was no respite for Sussex as David Hussey took up the reins. He cracked 89 from 133 balls and was set to be the third century-maker of the innings until he was undone by Johann van der Wath. Chris Read chipped in with a brisk cameo – including 21 off one van der Wath over – as Notts built up a useful advantage for the final day.Scorecard
Kent remained in the driving seat at Bristol thanks to a disciplined bowling performance. Gloucestershire found run-scoring hard work as the outfield remained slow and moved along at just over two runs an over in reply to Kent’s 359. Chris Taylor, Gloucestershire’s captain, fought hard for his 66 – which took 173 balls – but became one of Min Patel’s two wickets from 24 probing overs. The most successful of Kent’s attack was Simon Cook, who was rewarded for his consistent line and length with 3 for 37. Alex Gidman fell just before the close and though Gloucestershire will save the follow-on they may still find themselves with an awkward period to survive tomorrow afternoon. The day had started promisingly for them, as Jon Lewis wrapped up Kent’s innings to claim 5 for 57 from 34 overs but the home side’s batting failed to back-up his sterling effort.