Cowan plays role of chief destroyer

Lancashire 166 Essex 167-1 Essex win by nine wickets

Life just keeps getting better and better for the Essex captain, Ronnie Irani. Not content with leading his side to a Lord's final and selection for England's triangular one-day series starting next week, the all-rounder led his side to a crushing victory here yesterday over his former county, Lancashire, with more than 21 overs remaining .

The only surprise was that Irani failed to add another man of the match award to his season's tally of four. Nasser Hussain may have won the Gold Award for a violent 83 not out, but the irreparable damage was inflicted by the home team's bowlers earlier in the day, with Ashley Cowan the chief destroyer. Cowan is a tall man with a high action that enables him to extract bounce and movement out of most pitches and yesterday he did just that. If he continues to bowl like this he should once again interest the England selectors and that could be sooner than he might think if Darren Gough fails to prove his fitness for the triangular series. Saturday's Benson & Hedges Cup final against Warwickshire gives him the ideal stage to show what he is capable of.

On a slow, low pitch he took two important early wickets and justified Irani's decision to field first. The most important of the four he ended up with was that of his former team-mate, Stuart Law. The Australian, who left Essex at the end of last season, on the most acrimonious of terms, got an inside edge on a ball that bounced and nipped back on him, through to the keeper Andy Flower. Cowan received good support from the other bowlers, who were backed up by sound fielding.

The only period of play where Lancashire looked competitive came when Mark Chilton and Andrew Flintoff were at the crease. They put on 48 for the fourth wicket, but neither went on to make a notable score. Both fell to catches taken by Hussain in the gully, the second of which was breathtaking. Diving to his left he clung on to a Flintoff drive with his fingertips and that ended the visitor's last chance of posting a decent score.

Lancashire had a day they would like to forget. Problems for the former kings of one-day cricket started before they arrived at the ground when their captain and wicketkeeper, Warren Hegg, was forced to pull out after injuring his neck in the team coach. Flintoff took hold of the reins, but found himself on the back of a carthorse rather than a thoroughbred. Following a day like this he may question the wisdom of becoming vice-captain.

The early and sudden conclusion to this contest allowed one of the teams to get some extra net practice. Surprisingly it was Essex who ventured out to make the most of the facilities, some of their players did not get the work out they wanted for the big day at Lord's.