Sharewatch

In the week of the first test at Lord's, Costain struck the market as sweetly as Mark Butcher dispatched the Zimbabwean attack.

The contractor's annual meeting proved to be the shot that lifted its share price 12.4% to 34p. David Jeffries led the offensive, declaring that the company was perfectly positioned to catch the government's drive to improve transport infrastructure and hospitals. Recently the company won a contract with Balfour Beatty on the A303, which is part of the government's £22bn strategic road programme.

Batting on a stickier wicket was Berkeley. Its share price fell 4.4% to 666.5p on the news that board director Tim Farrow has left for the pavilion earlier than expected. The 46-year-old was due to go in October, but this has been brought forward five months after Berkeley completed several deals in double-quick time.

Retirement homes specialist McCarthy & Stone was hit by a 4% drop to 404p. But this is just a bad run for a company that has had a good season, well up on its year-low price of 272.5p.

Atkins is also playing well. A dip of 2% took the share price to 245p last week, but this is well up on the end of last year, when it was just 52p.