Cricket: Lively Lewis shows his class

Leicestershire 389 Warwickshire 157-6

INDEFATIGABLE IS not an adjective one would usually associate with Chris Lewis. Nonetheless when Warwickshire began their innings in mid-afternoon, he bowled 11 overs straight off and took the first four wickets to fall in a spirited if rather expensive spell at a cost of 50 runs.

In this spell he gave one of those irritating glimpses of what just might have been if his temperament had ever been in step with his technique.

Jack Birkenshaw, Leicestershire's director of cricket, said they wanted to use him in long spells at the start as he no longer came back as he once did.

At 11 Nick Knight, the Warwickshire opener, played forward to a wide one and was caught behind by Paul Nixon. In the same over David Hemp played loosely off the back foot and was caught low in the gully. The score had progressed to 70 before Mark Wagh was caught behind off a lifter and, after a few flashing strokes, Brian Lara padded up to one which cut back and was trapped lbw.

Later Phil Simmons removed Anurag Singh and Tim Munton and at the end of an excellent day for Leicestershire, Warwickshire, with four wickets left, need 83 to save the follow-on.

Last-wicket partnerships are all the rage these days. There were two of some significance at The Oval during the Test match; on Tuesday the England and Pakistan last-wicket pairs both put on 107 in the Under-19 Test match; now, at Edgbaston, David Millns and Matthew Brimson put on 109 for Leicestershire's last wicket.

They had begun the day at 190 for 6 and maximum bonus points for batting were not then on the menu, especially when Ben Smith and Lewis were soon out with the score at 203. But Allan Mullally now joined Millns and put on 77 before the last pair took them to within reach of 400 and to four batting points.

Millns is no mean performer with the bat and now finished one short of his fourth first-class 100. Brimson was the surprise and his 54 not out was the first time he had passed 50.

He drove and cut and played one drive off the back foot through the covers as if he had been doing it all his life. He was dropped at first slip when two and might have been caught at second slip at 51.

Millns is a pugnacious left-hander who loves to hit the ball. He has a good range of strokes profiting now, mainly from drives and cuts. In the end, he felt for a lifter from Ed Giddins trying to run it to third man and was caught behind after facing 159 balls and hitting 10 fours.