Date-stamped : 01 Jun95 - 22:25 Tour Match: Leicestershire v West Indies Leicester, 30, 31 May, 1 June 1995 ====> Day 1, 30 May 95 Arthurton makes his mark in Lara`s absence - Brian Bearshaw First day of three: West Indies 389-5 v Leicestershire BRIAN LARA, back home on personal business in Trinidad but due to return on Friday for the three-day match with Northamptonshire, was not missed here yesterday. He could hardly have played any better than Keith Arthurton, another left-hander, who scored a century in three hours with all but 16 of the runs coming in boundaries. He went on to score 146 with 24 fours and four sixes. Close behind was Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who was only three short of his century at the close, and who shared in an entertaining partnership of 223. Leicestershire were severely weakened by the absence of several of their frontline players - Nigel Briers, Vince Wells and Alan Mullally injured and the South African Hansie Cronje off on a ho- neymoon to Paris and Greece. Leicestershire started encouragingly. Stuart Williams, who needs runs to have any designs on the first Test next week, had scored only 13 when he was caught at the wicket; Carl Hooper and Jimmy Adams were out mis-hooking, and West Indies were 72 for three. Richie Richardson, who had had innings of one, four and nought in the previous first-class games, was slow to get going. A big ap- peal for a catch at the wicket when he was 33 was followed by the fast bowler David Millns and wicketkeeper Paul Nixon exchanging high fives. The batsman - and the umpire -were unmoved and Millns was then forced to sheepishly drag himself back to his mark. Gordon Parsons, who amazingly came through the slaughter with two for 21 from 20 overs, hit Richardson on the boot to have him leg before for 60, opening the way for the Arthurton-Chanderpaul dou- ble act. ====> Day 2, 31 May 95 Benjamin runs gauntlet as Dhanraj cleans up - Brian Bearshaw Second day of three: West Indians (468-7 dec & 16-1) lead Leics (194) by 290 runs WHILE Raj Dhanraj, the diminutive West Indian leg spinner, was gently teasing out six Leicestershire batsmen at one end yester- day, fast bowler Kenny Benjamin was running into trouble with um- pire Allan Jones at the other. Benjamin had bowled two bouncers at tail-ender David Millns and was apparently told by the umpire that was his allocation for the over. Benjamin followed up with two no-balls, for over-stepping the crease, and Jones, himself a former fast bowler of considerable experience, spoke at length to West Indies captain Richie Richardson. Jones intimated like an angler displaying the size of his catch that Benjamin had been over-stepping by some distance, presumably suggesting a deliberate action. Benjamin responded by running through the crease for his next delivery without releasing the ball. He delivered 11 no-balls in all and took three for 58 as Leicestershire were bowled out for 194 to give the tourists a first-innings lead of 274. But while Benjamin, Ottis Gibson and Winston Benjamin were charg- ing in to bowl, and adding to the ever increasing number of no- balls, there was the leg-spinner twirling his way to a six for 50 return. This was a weakened Leicestershire team, but this was still a satisfying performance for Dhanraj, who knows his chances of get- ting into the Test team are as remote as Wes Hall deciding to keep wicket. The West Indians had continued their innings in the morning, al- lowing the 20-year-old Shivnarine Chanderpaul to go on to the third century of his career, his first for the West Indies. He was still unbeaten with 140, off 221 balls with 23 fours when West Indies declared at 468 for seven. The sternest resistance to the tourists came from Leicestershire`s acting captain, James Whitaker with an enter- taining 75. The West Indians, who did not enforce the follow-on, were 16 for one when bad light ended play an hour early. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com) ====> Day 3, 1 Jun 95 Benjamin back in good books - Brian Bearshaw West Indians (468-7 dec & 143-4 dec) bt Leicestershire (194 & 130) by 287 runs KENNY BENJAMIN was on his best behaviour yesterday as the West Indians strolled to their first victory in three matches against the counties. Benjamin, who clashed with the umpire Allan Jones the previous day, took four of the first six wickets with well controlled fast bowling that helped bring Leicestershire to their knees at 25 for six. The remaining four wickets put on 105 runs, much of it against the spinners Raj Dhanraj and Carl Hooper. The tourists can have learned little from this game against a severely weakened team including only one capped batsman, James Whitaker. Benjamin probably still has some serious work to do if he is to get into the team for next week`s opening Test at Headingley. There is one county match remaining, at Northampton this weekend, when the West Indians will be hoping to meet stronger opposition than Leicestershire provided. Despite being 274 in front on first innings, the West Indians had not enforced the follow-on on Wednesday, opting for more batting practice in yesterday`s morning session. They added 127 runs in two hours for the loss of three wickets. Their captain, Richie Richardson, was leg before hitting across the line against Gordon Parsons, Stuart Williams was drawn from his crease by Vince Clarke and stumped for 54, and Jimmy Adams was brilliantly caught by Adrian Pierson off his own bowling. Clarke, a tall leg-spinner formerly with Somerset, was clearly jubilant with his only wicket of the match to add to his other first-class victim, Matthew Maynard at Swansea last year. Adams`s innings included two sixes in an over from Alamgir Sheri- yar, 21, a left-arm fast bowler who must have thought county cricket a simple game when he took six wickets, including the hat-trick, on his championship debut against Durham last summer. The West Indians showed him what a cruel game this can be - a match return of three for 187 from 31 overs. The declaration at lunch left the tourists with 60 overs in which to bowl out Leicestershire. Or, to put it another way, left Leicestershire with 60 overs in which to score 418 for a victory that would be talked about for years. In the event, a session was enough, Leicestershire bowled out for 130 in 34 overs. Benjamin took the first three wickets in 12 balls including that of Ben Smith, who had a drawn out death from an edge which took the scenic route via wicketkeeper and first slip before being caught at second slip by Williams. By the ninth over, Leicestershire were groggy at 25 for six. It was time to get out the record books - Leicestershire`s previous lowest against a touring team? - 28 in their match with the Aus- tralians in 1899. Happily, that was comfortably passed and with each of the last five batsmen all reaching double figures, David Millns top- scoring with 28, Leicestershire at least avoided total humilia- tion. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)