Graham Napier was the star turn in front of a 4000 crowd as Essex boosted their hopes of avoiding relegation with a 30-run victory against Northants in their Totesport League confrontation at Southend's Southchurch Park.

Man of the match - Graham Napier hits out Picture: ROBIN WOOSEY

First he scored a crucial 25 runs in the county's modest total of 168, and then followed it up with figures of 4 for 23, his best of the summer, as the visitors were bowled out for 138 with l5 balls left.

The way batsmen were made to struggle for every run suggests that the pitch weighed heavily in favour of the bowlers. But Napier dismissed that theory.

"The pitch was pretty dead," he said. "But the ball swung enough to present problems and we always felt confident that we could protect our total."

So it proved. Northants, despite fielding what on paper was a formidable array of strokeplayers, never seriously threatened to claim the victory that might send them top of Division One.

Of the first four batsmen, only Tim Roberts managed to reach double figures, making 23 before edging to wicketkeeper James Foster to provide Scott Brant with one of his two successes.

Usman Afzaal and John Louw, joining forces after half the side were back in the pavilion for 66, dug in to stage a mini-revival that produced 30 runs, but once Napier returned for a second spell, Northants quickly folded.

Published Monday July 26, 2004

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