Edgbaston joy for Kaneria

Danish Kaneria ripped through the Warwickshire batsmen

Danish Kaneria launched Essex’s bid to make up ground on Division Two promotion rivals Warwickshire when their LV County Championship meeting got under way on the third day at Edgbaston.

The Pakistan leg-spinner took 6-48 as the home side crashed for 154 after losing nine wickets for 74 in a dismal performance in the afternoon.

It was Kaneria’s fourth five-wicket haul in his last six Championship matches and his 18th return of five or more in only 39 appearances since making his Essex debut in 2004.

Chris Wright instigated Warwickshire’s troubles by dismissing opener Ian Westwood for 40 with the first ball after lunch and the former Middlesex seamer went on to claim a handy three for 21 after capturing two of the last three wickets.

The speedy demolition job was a confidence boost for Essex’s bowlers before the Friends Provident final against Kent at Lord’s on Saturday, but the batsmen were given a tougher ride in reaching 38 for two in a rain-interrupted final session.

England Under-19 seamer Chris Woakes removed Jason Gallian with an edge to third slip in a spell of 8-4-7-1 and Irishman Boyd Rankin, on his injury-delayed Warwickshire debut, had Varun Chopra taken at second slip.

With so much time lost to the weather, bonus points became the main issue when umpires John Holder and Martin Bodenham finally declared the ground fit for a start at midday.

Warwickshire quickly lost Navdeep Poonia, lbw in Graham Napier’s second over, but their decision to bat first seemed to have been justified when Westwood and Darren Maddy batted comfortably in a second-wicket stand of 74 in 21 overs.

The situation only changed when Westwood, after hitting six fours, followed a ball from Wright and gave a straightforward slip chance to Gallian.

Jonathan Trott made some headway with two fours in an over from David Masters and another off Kaneria but then got himself out for 22 when pulling the spinner to Mark Pettini at mid-on.

From that point Kaneria took his six wickets for 23 in 57 balls.

Jim Troughton’s firm defensive prod resulted in a catch by wicketkeeper James Foster and Maddy, after batting well for 47 from 108 balls, became the first of four lbw victims for Kaneria. Tony Frost and Woakes played across the line and Ian Salisbury was out pushing forward.

Wright was equally effective in killing off the tail. Neil Carter sliced a simple catch to Masters at point and the paceman finished the innings with a good delivery which took out Rankin’s middle stump.