Date-stamped : 08 Jan95 - 18:36 WSC 1994/95 : Australia v Australia "A" played at the 'Gabba, Brisbane, 8 January 1995 Injured off-spinner Tim May is out of tomorrow's World Series match against England and in danger of missing the first final in Sydney. May bowled six overs beautifully for Australia in yesterday's match against Australia A before he tore his right hamstring pursuing a ball to the fence. There is a good fortnight before the fourth Test in Adelaide, but his World Series finals involvement is in jeopardy. He will not play in Melbourne and probably not in Sunday's first World Series final in Sydney. His spinning partner, Shane Warne, was rested yesterday, but will play tomorrow. Media manager Ian McDonald described a Melbourne article claiming Warne was having cortisone injections to his right shoulder as ``poppycock''. May's injury was the only disturbing feature of Australia's 34- run defeat of the A team. The demolition men move into the 'Gabba this week, but Mark Waugh reduced the Australian A team to ruins with his vivid splashes of artistry yesterday. Limited over matches mostly pass into memory's oblivion within days, but with a $35 million redevelopment spree about to start, the old 'Gabba will go with a smile on her face. This was a day where Mark Waugh (93 from 102 balls) bloomed as brilliantly as Brisbane's poinsettia trees in high summer. Before him, the A team bowlers were the master's apprentices, even the craggy veteran Merv Hughes (1-55). There are few more cagy, canny limited-over bowlers in the game than Paul Reiffel, yet he had the mortification of seeing Waugh skim 15 runs from his fifth over as deftly as a bank teller would peel off a wad of notes. A cuff through mid-wicket, a daring square drive, a back cut and a cover drive, which Greg Blewett saved on the rope boundary in a flurry of grass clippings, set the A team quaking. They never recovered from the onslaught despite a vigorous 104- run opening partnership by Blewett (63 from 75 balls), the game's main discovery, and Matthew Hayden (51 from 89 balls). It was to Reiffel's considerable credit at the king tide of the game that he regained mental and technical equilibrium to concede only another 31 runs from nine overs as well as taking the scalps of Michael Slater and Stuart Law. Waugh and David Boon (86 not out from 98 balls) slapped their rivals around for a 98-run stand from 115 balls after which Boon and Steve Waugh kept the pot boiling with 50 in 10 overs. The so-called Civil War II was as good as over before Australia's innings was half-completed. And it was won not through violence but through flower power. Waugh's precision and placements left the A team diving vainly as if they were England wearing the Southern Cross-emblazoned green and gold strip. When Blewett looked like ripping and clawing Australia's attack, it was Waugh who held the head-high catch from the South Australian at short mid-wicket. Even more significantly, Waugh was the fieldsman who swept in on the run and under-armed Michael Bevan's wicket down with a one-stump view with the left-hander developing momentum. From 1-104 and 2-166, the A team lost the wickets of Bevan, Ricky Ponting and Justin Langer in 13 balls, Which effectively knocked the stuffing out of their chase. Blewett, the wiry 23-year-old opener-medium-pacer had an exceptional game. His ingenuity in driving down the ground and lobbing to the midfield in the first 15 overs was something all too many openers ignore. Blewett might have done himself more international good than he can imagine. After his team's fifth successive win in the Benson and Hedges World Series, captain mark Taylor attributed his use of Boon (0- 17) as a four over, part-time bowler to the softness of the ball. Unlike the case in Adelaide, the 'Gabba's capacity crowd of 17,000 did not side with the underdog A team and Taylor was generous in his praise of Brisbane's impartiality. England may find the A team is buried in a shallow grave when the teams meet for a finals berth at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Thursday. As a result of their 26-run defeat of Zimbabwe on Saturday, England's second win cranked them up beside the A side, heightening interest for the last two qualifying matches. (Thanks : Phil Wilkins, Sydney Morning Herald) Contributed by David.Mar (mar@physics.su.oz.au)