da bet7k： A superb century from Matt Hayden, and another productive afternoon for spinner Ashley Giles, were the highlights of a see-sawing day’s County Championship cricket between Northamptonshire and Warwickshire at Edgbaston today
Staff and agencies28-Jul-2000A superb century from Matt Hayden, and another productive afternoon for spinner Ashley Giles, were the highlights of a see-sawing day’s County Championship cricket between Northamptonshire and Warwickshire at Edgbaston today.Australian import Hayden was at his rugged and authoritative best in an innings of 122 that contained as many as fourteen boundaries and four thumping sixes. In Hampshire colours three years ago, the powerfully built Queenslander plundered a double century and century against Warwickshire and he used the presence of a short boundary on the Pershore Road side of the ground to afford the same opposition another painful look at his talents today. In a hand that hinted strongly at both the range of his strokeplay and his vast reserves of concentration, he was the steadying influence around whom his team built to a total of 296/7 by stumps.For Warwickshire, the prospect that a sound performance here could pave theway for it to assume leadership in the Division Two standings seemed tofaze its front-line attack initially. With the omitted Ed Giddins lookingon in forlorn fashion from the pavilion, new ball bowlers Allan Donald(1/38) and Alan Richardson (0/35) were both badly off target early and itwas not until Giles (4/116) entered proceedings shortly before lunch thatthe attack began to genuinely assert itself. Without any great support,the left arm orthodox spinner worked his way steadily through the defencesof Adrian Rollins (19), Mal Loye (2), David Sales (19) and Jeffrey Cook(27) before a completely unnecessary run out and, later, a surprisinglymisdirected Hayden off drive further tilted matters in the home side’sdirection. All four of Giles’ victims were taken at slip.At that stage, a score of 240/6 raised visions of a relatively swift end tothe innings. Moreover, it did not seem to reflect as much credit on thevisitors’ ardour for runs that it might otherwise have done; accordingly,Warwickshire appeared poised to place itself in precisely the sort ofstrong early position that their leadership ambitions demanded.Thankfully for the sake of the match’s future, and as fitting reward for the earlier application of his teammates, the resourceful Graeme Swann (58) thenavailed himself of the opportunity to turn the tide once more and signalthat Northants is not generally in the business of granting such favourswithout a fight.