There is plenty of space for tents and marquees, which accommodate most of the facilities during Festival Week. A boating lake beyond the boundary is outside the range of all but the biggest hitters. The playing area is so large that there are actually three squares, although only two remain in use. The central one is kept exclusively for the county’s use.Peter Edwards, Essex’s secretary and a Southend man himself, recalls playing when three matches were taking place simultaneously “It could get a bit crowded,” he said. “The cover fielder in one game might find himself running past midwicket from the adjoining one. But there’s plenty of room for two matches.”The ground has two pavilions, one belonging to Southend Hockey Club. Essex became the first county to be docked 25 points, which ultimately cost them the title.The county took over maintenance of the square the following day, since when there have been few problems.

Indeed, during the last couple of summers, batsmen have prospered. Although most players accept the practice as part of the game, it actually contravenes Law 42 (Unfair Play), section six of which deems that an umpire can signal dead ball if “any player of the fielding side incommodes the striker by any noise or action while he is receiving a ball.”Festival week gives big hitters plenty of room to make a splashAROUND THE GROUNDSSouthchurch Park, SouthendEssex’s only seaside venue since 1977, Southchurch Park, barely half a mile from the seafront, gained notoriety in 1989 when a wicket prepared by Southend borough council for the Championship match against Yorkshire was deemed unfit for first-class cricket. Jim Laker took 79 wickets in 15 Tests against Australia and he and Tony Lock effectively won the 1956 series on their own.TERMS OF THE GAMESledgingNot surprisingly, the term appears to have been coined in Australia, where mouthy close fielders set out to apply a verbal “sledgehammer” to a batsman’s concentration. His analysis at Old Trafford in 1909 came as England were dismissed for 119, but the match ended in a draw. Frank Laver, whom the history books recall as an ungainly batsman but skilled medium pace bowler, combined excellent length with deceptive flight. Nor does he regard himself as a back number on the international stage, though England, having picked him for the Texaco Trophy series, appear to have ditched him again.”I’ve got a bit of a dilemma there,” he said, “because I know if I’m to get back in we’ll have to start doing badly…”THE TOP TENThe best 10 bowling analyses in England v Australia Test matches1 Jim Laker (Eng) 10-53Manchester 19562 Jim Laker (Eng) 9-37Manchester 19563 Frank Laver (Aus) 8-31Manchester 19094 George Lohmann (Eng) 8-35Sydney 1886-875 Glenn McGrath (Aus) 8-38Lord’s 19976 Albert Trott (Aus) 8-43Adelaide 1894-957 Hedley Verity (Eng) 8-43Lord’s 19348 Bob Willis (Eng) 8-43Leeds 19819 Bob Massie (Aus) 8-53Lord’s 197210 George Lohmann (Eng) 8-58Sydney 1891-92Australia’s second bestThe figures of Glenn McGrath (right) at Lord’s on Saturday have been bettered only once by an Australian in Ashes Tests. Off he went again, his critics suspecting that he would always believe in the grass being greener elsewhere.

In fact, it was true.On Derbyshire’s seamer-friendly surfaces, DeFreitas rediscovered his youth, as a bowler at least In other respects, he grew up. Now 31, he has enough experience to be reckoned the man most suitable to lead Derbyshire in their present crisis, although he does not see his elevation to the captaincy in place of Dean Jones as a personal change of direction.”My first job is still to bowl and I don’t see that being captain will affect that,” he said. He fell out badly with Peter Willey, an old-school captain who perceived in DeFreitas an upstart with ideas above his station after his debut tour with England in 1986-87, when he had the misfortune to be dubbed the “new Botham.” Then there was the business with Jonathan Agnew, who threw his kit over the players’ balcony after a dining-room prank went wrong.
In time, “Daffy” fled to Lancashire Sadly, the move was not to his long- term benefit. Old Trafford’s pitches did not suit his bowling, his form and confidence suffered and his volatile temperament surfaced again, especially when he lost his England place. Once upon a time, the suggestion that Philip DeFreitas might wind up as a county captain would have invited laughter. As a young man with Leicestershire, while recognised for his outstanding talent, he was known also as the dressing-room’s “enfant terrible”. Kocinski’s win was his third of the year to equal Slight’s tally, while Chili’s win was his third in three years at Monza.Results, Digest, page 23.

The American Kocinski grabbed a dramatic victory in the opening dry race, getting the better of a seven-way battle for the lead in the 18-lap encounter to beat his Honda team-mate Aaron Slight by a wheel’s length in a 190 mph sprint to the line.
The championship leader, Carl Fogarty, took a close third with the first three separated by only 0.008sec.Thunderstorms before the second race helped the challenge of Chili, who grabbed the lead on the 10th lap and eased away, opening up a six-second lead before finally crossing the finish line 1.8sec ahead of Kocinski.Jamie Whitham revelled in the treacherous conditions on his Suzuki to take his second third place in successive rounds, while Fogarty finished fourth.Slight finished fifth, after colliding with Akira Yanagawa while the pair lapped a slower rider. Katherine Granger and Francesca Zino led from the start to beat Nicole Scott and Scottish international Claire McIntosh.Results, Digest, page 23. Honda’s John Kocinski and Italian Ducati rider Pier-Francesco Chili won a race each in the action-packed fifth round of the World Superbike Championship at Monza yesterday. Gill, Alison Brownliss and Anna-Marie Stapleton rowed magnificently to beat the record by 11sec in their defeat of Queen’s Tower “We were amazed,” Gill said. “We knew that we were rowing well but to do it in that kind of time was incredible.”
“That was immense fun,” Stapleton said. “We really felt good throughout the race and by the half-way stage I knew it was going to be our day.”The four then linked up with the beaten finalists to overpower Tideway Scullers in the final of the open eights.Tideway, containing the Olympian Jo Turvey, took an early lead but the composite crew came back strongly despite the early punishing row to win by a third of a length.Thames Rowing Club took four titles on the day but none were as gripping as the club eights race, which saw the Putney-based club go past Galway in the dying seconds to win by a third of a length.In the new event sponsored by Steve Redgrave, the Redgrave open pairs, a composite pair from Edinburgh and Cambridge Universities took the honours in 5min 40sec. But Ben Hunt-Davis who strokes the crew with Bobby Thatcher at bow was angry that they took the lead with 500 metres to go and were unable to hold the Lithuanians.Greg Searle, the double Olympic medallist, has taken to the single scull and reached a big final for the first time “I made my big race on Saturday.