CHELMSFORD (England won toss): England XI beat Essex by one run

ENGLAND came perilously close to being beaten by the reigning 50-over county champions yesterday. It would have been, at least, a serious embarrassment but Peter Such could drive only one rather than the necessary three off the final ball from Vince Wells - Essex had needed ten from the last over and an erroneously called no-ball off the fifth ball put them within range - and calamity was averted. In any case, there is seldom a cloud without a silver lining.

Having rested their first-choice bowlers, Gough and Mullally, the chief consolation for a patchy performance was the fact that Nasser Hussain opened the batting for Essex and made 82.

Alec Stewart managed only 18 and having see Hussain take his chance so well, the selectors must not now be frightened of the obvious conclusion. The captain, who has made one fifty in 17 one-day internationals since be assumed the leadership of the one-day side last August, has to drop down the order, Hussain has to come back into a side for which he was not originally selected and a chance has to be taken with two occasional bowlers, Hick and Flintoff, to bowl ten overs between them.

Any other course of action would make no sense of what happened both yesterday and in the matches in Australia and Sharjah in the second half of the winter. Nick Knight, it is true, is also going through a bad patch but he has scored consistently well against Sri Lanka at home and away. He is also one of the two best fielders in the squad.

The decision has to be taken now because it obviously makes sense for England to play the XI they will choose for Lord's in their final warm-up game against Hampshire tomorrow. Fairbrother, Hussain, Gough and Mullally for Wells, Hollioake, Austin and Croft in yesterday's team is the side which would give England their best chance in the potentially decisive opening match.

Stewart's class as a batsman is not in question, although his recent record in 50-over internationals belies it and so, to some extent, does his record overall. He has made only two hundreds in 120 matches which, for a top-order batsman, is not good enough. That statistic masks many an effective innings, of course, but the essential point is the lack of form and fluency now and for many months. At his best he uses the pace of the new ball brilliantly but when his head and feet are not in unison he is vulnerable to a white ball which is bound to swing and seam about.

It did so yesterday on a curious, pale Chelmsford pitch on which the ball also turned a little for the spinners and tended to grip and "stop". Such took no wickets but his beautifully controlled spell was as much the reason for England's modest total of 229 as the effective opening overs from Mark Ilott and Ashley Cowan. Before ten overs of a warm, overcast morning had been bowled, England were 29 for three. Knight was shaping to leg when caught at slip, Hick was caught at second slip off a third ball which left him and Stewart also fell to an outside edge, disappointingly so having just hit Ilott handsomely past cover off the back foot.

Not for the first time in recent matches it was Graham Thorpe who came to the rescue, working the ball deftly into gaps before widening his range of strokes once he felt settled. Flintoff, who on this ground a fortnight ago had butchered 143 off 66 balls, had plenty of time to build an innings but, having made half of a stand of 30 with Thorpe he was leg-before to a ball which cut back, his front foot firmly planted. Hollioake and Wells, both aware, perhaps, that it might be their last chance, played inhibited innings, restrained by Such, so it was left to Mark Ealham to provide the impetus.

Ealham alone managed to score better than a run a ball, hitting four fours. Against anything but exceptional pace or spin he is a very effective hitter. He and Thorpe added 67 between the 38th and 48th overs but England's score was still 35 fewer than Bangladesh had managed here the previous day.

The best that could be said about the performance in the field was that England managed to recover after Hussain and Stuart Law had taken Essex to a winning position with cultured, confident batting. Angus Fraser was slow to get into his stride and it was not until the 36th over that any bowler managed a wicket, Paul Prichard having been run out by Flintoff, attempting a third run. Law was particularly severe on Ealham, flat-batting him over the sightscreen as his first first five overs cost 30.

It was when Stewart brought Ealham back, however, that England got back into the game. Law skied to mid-on, Irani fell to an excellent, low, diving catch and Walton, neither forward nor back, was bowled first ball.

Hollioake gave timely support from the River End, but even when Hussain finally skied to mid-wicket, Peters and Hyam middled the ball well enough to set up a genuinely thrilling finish.

N V Knight c Law b Ilott             7
*†A J Stewart c Hyam b Ilott        18
G A Hick c Law b Cowan               0
G P Thorpe c Such b Irani           88
A Flintoff lbw b Irani              15
A J Hollioake c Hyam b Cowan        17
V J Wells c Hussain b Grayson        8
M A Ealham not out                  37
R D B Croft not out                 12

Extras (b 10, lb 6, w 9, nb 2)      27

Total (7 wkts, 50 overs)           229

*N Hussain c Thorpe b Hollioake     82
P J Prichard run out                20
S G Law c Fraser b Ealham           64
R C Irani c Stewart b Ealham         4
T C Walton b Ealham                  0
A P Grayson c Thorpe b Hollioake    10
S D Peters run out                  17
A P Cowan lbw b Ealham               0
†B J Hyam not out                   20
M C Ilott b Wells                    2
P M Such not out                     4

Extras (lb 2, w 2, nb 1)             5

Total (9 wkts, 50 overs)           228