His girl has been a joke for years and, with too many days like yesterday, his cricket team is in danger of becoming one. Lancs won by inn and 60 runs

SPARE a thought for Essex man. Essex 216 and 138; Lancashire 414. A year ago, when they were second in the championship, you might have backed them to do it Not so now that they are bottom.. John Carr joined him for most of the ride and, though showing little of his partner’s flourish, carried on the work when Haynes was gone for 134, moving on to 78 not out.As a result of their exploits, Glamorgan have a daunting total to chase tomorrow. Having played second fiddle to his skipper, Haynes now took charge and after grinding to his 50 in 121 balls he hit the second part of his century in just 53.

He stepped outside a straight one from Barwick that kept low and turned to see his bails flying. It was this favourite shot of Gatting’s, however, that proved his undoing. Gatting found his feet somewhat quicker and stepped up the pace after lunch, plundering both Ottis Gibson and Barwick in the arc between third man and extra cover, where he is so strong. Haynes’s uncertain start gave no indication of what was to come, but after Mike Roseberry’s early departure came Gatting’s arrival and with it the sort of authoritative batting that signified an intention to hang around most of the day.Gatting’s and Haynes’s partnership was effective – Gatting blocking, Haynes too hesitant to offer many shots at all – but so slow and the boredom level so high that the Glamorgan seamers were eventually dulled into delivering the sort of fare the batsmen could attack. Glamorgan’s tail – the two wickets left of it – had taken only half an hour to finish off and Middlesex started their second innings with an 18-run deficit.

Unfortunately, he was so taken with it that he tried the same four overs later and was out leg before .What Haynes achieved in 279 minutes was to swing this match firmly in Middlesex’s favour. His stroke of the day was a reverse sweep to Stephen Barwick which raced for four, played with such fluency that there was none of the awkwardness that traditionally marks the shot. Last week, he set the jaws dropping at Uxbridge with some stunning strokeplay against Essex, and yesterday he had Lord’s gripped in admiration for the same stuff. This match had been looking for a batsman to put some distance between the two sides, but it was only when Gatting had gone that Desmond Haynes established himself as the man for the job with a magnificent century.
This was the second successive Saturday that Haynes had hit the hundred mark. But, run out on 73 when he had mastered the Glamorgan attack in Middlesex’s first innings, he surrendered his wicket yesterday when again firmly in the driving seat. Middlesex 267 and 368-4; Glamorgan 285

IF ANYONE had the power to turn the match it was Mike Gatting.

‘There would be nothing left for us to do.’(Photograph omitted). He wants the team to play from day to day and match to match ‘If we won all four, we’d have to retire,’ he said. Warwickshire, however, are a distinct possibility for the quadruple.But Woolmer prefers not to contemplate the possibility. Trying to put Warwickshire’s dominating position in perspective, Woolmer says that, while they can still win four titles this season, Worcestershire could win three This may be strictly true, but it beggars belief.

To be reminded that they are mortal might even improve their collective character.Woolmer can imagine circumstances in which they might not win the championship: four more wickets like this; four more lost tosses like this. On Monday, however, they will still lead the county championship, even if Leicestershire beat Nottinghamshire extravagantly.The summer has gone so well so far, with only one defeat in all varieties of cricket, that they can absorb a few bad days like these in county cricket. Warwickshire had managed only one batting point and, with the score 295 for one after 120 overs, they did not manage a single bowling point. When the partnership was worth 133, Curtis declared, leaving 14 overs for Warwickshire to prevent a bad day deteriorating into a disastrous one.Watching from the pavilion, Woolmer was being stoical. With Worcester 124 ahead at the time, a breakthrough looked possible, but it never happened.David Leatherdale and Stuart Lampitt took advantage of Neil Smith’s fatigue and Twose’s loose bowling A century partnership came in 20 overs. In two sessions before tea, they ground the Warwickshire bowlers down, and in just 20 overs after tea took advantage of the attack’s weariness.Shortly before tea, Worcestershire lost two wickets in one Neil Smith over, one of them being Curtis, who played a tired shot to Tim Munton at mid-on; his century had taken 10 minutes short of six hours; the rest came in 137 minutes.The other Worcester batsman to fall to Smith was Gavin Haynes, well caught by Keith Piper diving in front of the batting crease. He went for seven and was followed by the genuine night watchman Graeme Welch, who scored 10 before the close when Warwickshire were still 201 behind.Clearly anxious to avenge a devastating defeat in the Benson & Hedges final last month, Worcestershire batted as though employing boredom as a strategy It worked well.