Date-stamped : 29 Apr97 - 06:17
Revitalised Irani puts Glamorgan to sword

By Paul Newman at Chelmsford

Essex (211-5) bt Glamorgan (210) by 5 wkts

RONNIE IRANI returned from his first full England  tour with  his
three-year  journey  from  the  Lancashire  second  team  to Test
cricket   via    Essex     seemingly     stuttering     to     an
unfulfilled halt.  But he has made a few running repairs in order
to begin moving forward again.

Irani maintained his outstanding start  to  the   season  with  a
match-winning    role     for     Essex     against     Glamorgan
yesterday, his perfectly paced unbeaten   82   and   three   good
wickets  following  a career  best  123   against   Hampshire and
another  impressive  all-round  performance  against   the   same
opponents  on Sunday.

Dominance at county  level,  as  Irani  has  discovered,   is  no
guarantee  of  international   success.   Yet   the  thought with
which Irani has worked at his game since his chastening visit  to
Zimbabwe  and  New  Zealand  suggests  that he will at least earn
another chance - certainly at one-day level - to  prove that  his
self-belief can be matched by achievement.

Glamorgan can vouch for his form. They were  very  much in with a
shout  of  maintaining  their  recent  one-day  stranglehold over
Essex   when   they   reduced   them   to    95     for     four,
effectively  five  with Nasser Hussain injured, even  though they
wasted the opportunity to post a formidable target themselves.

Yet Irani, firstly in partnership with  Danny  Law  and then with
Robert Rollins, making a surprise return to  the  Essex side, put
the match out of Glamorgan`s reach  with  the  minimum  of  fuss,
victory coming with six overs and five balls to spare.

What was more  encouraging,  for  England  as   much   as  Essex,
was  the  technical refinement Irani appears to have made  to his
game. Not only has  he  again  remodelled  his  bowling action to
protect  his  suspect  back,  a  move  that  has  already brought
nine wickets this season,  but  his  batting   has  undergone   a
subtle  yet  significant  change,  a  Gooch-like  `power`  stance
belying a less rigid  touch   and   softer   hands,  particularly
against  Robert  Croft`s  off  spin.  The  belligerence  is still
there,  as Irani showed when he  bludgeoned  Darren  Thomas   for
two   huge  sixes  over  midwicket, but it is now channelled more
effectively.

He would have been stretched further if  Glamorgan  had cashed in
on  their  aggressive start. When Hugh Morris and Matthew Maynard
were in tandem ascendancy  looked   guaranteed   but   the  Welsh
faltered  from 140 for two in the 28th over to  210  all out with
three balls wasted.

Both Morris, in supreme touch, and Maynard fell to one  expansive
stroke  too  many  while  the  Essex fielding  was of the highest
calibre.   Paul   Grayson,   Paul   Prichard    and  Hussain  all
contributed  well-judged   catches.   Rollins,   meanwhile, added
three catches and two stumpings, the second to end the  Glamorgan
innings.  And  to  think   the  more  pessimistic among the Essex
sages  were  forecasting   that   their    talented  wicketkeeper
would be missing for much of this season with a  broken finger.

Glamorgan needed early  wickets  and   the   wayward   but  often
incisive  Thomas  and  Owen   Parkin   struck  blows  which, with
Hussain on painkillers for a  badly  ricked   neck,   could  have
proved   decisive.   Irani,  however,  put  paid  to  any notions
of a Glamorgan triumph.

Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/)

<END> Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)