CHELMSFORD (second day of four): Essex, with one first- innings wicket in hand, are 464 runs behind Worcestershire
KABIR ALI may have got the call from England yesterday but it was the man bowling from the other end who stole the glory as Zaheer Khan, not wanted by India in the West Indies, produced a spell of ferocity not seen since his namesake, Genghis, ran through the Asia middle order in the 1220s.
Zaheer reacted in the best way to Graeme Hick spilling a chance when Essex were 117 for nought by trapping Varun Chopra leg-before for 53 in his next over. That was just a taster as the fast bowler swung the ball viciously from the Hayes Close End, inducing six edges into the hands of the wicketkeeper or his slips, and bagging two more wickets leg-before. He took nine for 28 in the space of 69 balls and resumes this morning one nick away from taking the first ten-wicket haul in England since 1994.
Things looked bad enough for Essex when Worcestershire added 191 to their overnight 459. The departure of Steven Davies, edging behind in the fifth over, was a false dawn as Gareth Batty added 80 with Roger Sillence and 101 with Ali to allow Vikram Solanki to declare six overs after lunch.
Advertisement
Worcestershire helped themselves to a selection of full tosses, long hops and general dross either side of the wicket. Ryan ten Doeschate was the worst culprit, being hit for 114 runs in 17 overs. There were only two chances in 146 overs, Solanki being dropped at slip on Wednesday and a strong appeal for legbefore against Batty before lunch.
Batty made the second hundred of his career off 126 balls with 17 fours, mostly on the off side. He took 51 balls for the second fifty and three overs later drove Ten Doeschate for six. He needed 22 more runs to pass his highest score of 133 — and with Phil Jaques making his own best of 244 on Wednesday and Zaheer’s bowling feat that would have been a rare and unwanted treble for Essex — but Solanki ended the punishment, with the bat at least.