Brown benefits as records fall

Brown went to Cumnor School, the Surrey school where second- team coach Alan Butcher coached him and his son Mark. And he played for Caterham School where he made double hundreds.

His 203 against Hampshire in a Sunday League game is a record for the competition and his highest first-class score was his unbeaten 295 against Leicestershire at Oakham two years ago.

He is a gambling aficionado and wins most of the card games among the players - and he's a gambler on the field, taking chances to go for big hits.

Most of his 12 sixes in the nine-run victory over Glamorgan came over the 60-yard legside boundary but the majority of his 30 fours came through extra cover, exquisite shots with tremendous power. Stand-in skipper Robert Croft had three fielders in that area and couldn't stop them. Brown said: "I've been in very good form lately, probably the best form of my life. I had butterflies in my stomach before going in and that's always a good sign.

"The thing I enjoyed most was those sixes off Darren Thomas when he dropped it short. It was a good knock - 268 more than I got against Scotland."

Meanwhile, beaten captain Andrew Flintoff summed up Essex's nine-wicket victory over his Lancashire side at Chelmsford by saying: "It was like men against boys."

Four wickets from Ashley Cowan helped to dismiss the visitors for just 166 and then Nasser Hussain blazed away merrily to an unbeaten 83 as Essex romped to their 10th oneday victory in 11 matches with nearly 22 overs to spare.

Essex's next mission in the C&G Trophy is a home quarterfinal against Yorkshire - the team they beat by seven wickets at the same stage of the Benson & Hedges Cup.

C&G DRAW: Kent v Glocs; Essex v Yorks; Sussex v Surrey; Somerset v Worcs. Matches to be played 16 or 17 July.