Date-stamped : 07 Jun97 - 06:16 Bowen proves his point By Peter Deeley at Northampton First day of four: Northants 226-9 v Notts MARK BOWEN is the latest Northamptonshire discard to make the county suffer for the indignity of his departure. He marked his first return to the County Ground in two years with five for 52 - four wickets coming in two hostile pre-lunch spells. It would have been five wickets inside 16 overs at a cost of only 27 runs if David Ripley had been held at slip off the first ball of Bowen`s third stint. As it was, Bowen had to wait until the final half-hour for his fifth, a delivery that zipped across John Emburey`s bat and sent the off stump cartwheeling. The miss off Ripley, then on 30, proved costly. He went on to pull the home side out of trouble, after they had been 69 for six when he arrived at the crease. He was out just before the close, after batting for four hours for 77. Ripley and David Sales added 59 for the seventh wicket, then the broad bat of Emburey joined the Northants` wicketkeeper and they added 85, though it took 2.75 hours, to gain a batting point that hardly looked likely earlier on. The day`s first half belonged to Notts, who continue to tweak the noses of the many critics who have labelled them "hardly first-class" and "predictable strugglers". They are short of four regulars, yet on a firm pitch with a twinge of green they had Northants reeling at 79 for six by lunch. Bowen got enough movement to have the openers dismissed by the fifth over and was ably assisted by Chris Tolley - another who has been belittled by observers - an able foil with his ability to get bounce. How pleasant it must be to rub your former county`s nose in the dust. Before Bowen, Mark Robinson took six for Sussex against the East Midlanders at the season`s start and then Simon Brown collected a similar number against his old comrades for Durham in the Benson and Hedges Cup. Bowen now has 26 championship wickets this season, six fewer than the whole of last summer. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Noon puts heat on Northants By Peter Deeley at Northampton Second day of four: Notts (259-9) lead Northants (235) by 24 runs ONCE again a reunion of Northamptonshire old boys has served to embarrass the home county. Wayne Noon, who moved up the M1 to Trent Bridge after four years here, scored a career-best 83 to guide Nottinghamshire into an unexpected first-innings lead. Noon came in when Notts were a miserable 91 for six and with Mark Bowen, another escapee from the Tudor Rose county, added 63 for the ninth wicket. Bowen, who took five wickets on the first day, reached his own highest score. Early on Kevin Curran removed debutant opener Guy Welton, of- fering no shot, and Notts` decision to push Usman Afzaal up the batting flopped when Curran removed his off-stump with a ball that came back on the left-hander. Nathan Astle, Notts` New Zealand Test player, lasted five balls on his English debut before Rob Bailey took a diving catch at third slip off Mohammad Akram. That was the only high spot in the day of the Pakistani fast bowler. He bowled most of the time off half a run - perhaps in- dicating he is still not fully fit after only one day`s activity in the last month. Paul Johnson carved him for a succession of boundaries before lunch and Akram`s 20 overs cost 79 runs. As for the quality of his ground fielding, Bailey`s thoughts proba- bly matched the purple of the socks he was wearing. Notts themselves were in strife over the signing of another Pakistan fast bowler, Mohammad Zahid, whose contract had to be can- celled because of back injury. Perhaps counties should think deeply about future similar signings. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Snape hits heights for Northants By Peter Deeley at Northampton Third day of four: Northants (235 & 253-5) lead Notts (272) by 216 runs THE lesser batsmen on both sides have consistently outshone their betters in this unspectacular and grinding contest. Jeremy Snape`s half-century made him the third man from the lower half to register a personal best. Snape`s unbeaten 61 is his highest against a county side, though he has gone better against Mashonaland on a South Africa club tour and against Oxford University. What is more, he has successfully attacked the bowling in a manner matched only hitherto by Notting- hamshire`s Paul Johnson, cracking nine boundaries in a fifty in 63 balls. Despite the tedium of much of the play, the game is evenly balanced. As on the first two days the batting side, this time Northamp- tonshire, were in dire trouble early on effectively on- ly 107 for five when Mark Bowen took wickets with successive balls, giving him eight to date. But Snape and a watchful 78 from Rob Bailey have so far added 109 giving Northants the upper hand for the first time. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Northants rocked by Dowman 111 By Peter Deeley at Northampton Notts (272 & 301-7) beat Northamptonshire (235 & 337) by 3 wickets NOTTINGHAMSHIRE secured their third victory in a nail-biting finish which brought them success by three wickets with only three balls to spare. Set 301 to win after a declaration by Northamptonshire captain Rob Bailey, Wayne Noon scored the winning run via an inside edge in the 77th over. Mathew Dowman set up Notts` success with a career-best 111, including 20 boundaries, and then his captain Paul Johnson kept the vis- itors going along in the last hour at more than six runs an over with a half-century. Paul Taylor bowled a gruelling 25 overs and finished with sev- en for 87. He had Usman Afzaal dropped off successive deliveries be- fore lunch and in the afternoon took three wickets in as many overs for one run. New Zealand Test player Nathan Astle scored a half-century and added 156 for the third wicket with Dowman. Then Taylor`s purple streak put Northants back in the game. Notts still might not have made it if Mohammad Akram had not been given the ball with three overs remaining and 19 runs still wanted. His first over went for 13 - including a no-ball, a wide and a full toss which Johnson swung away for four. Johnson was caught off a top edge on the deep square-leg boundary in the penultimate over with four wanted, but the cause was lost. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)