Date-stamped : 21 Aug97 - 07:09 Women`s Cricket: Major gives backing By a Special Correspondent at Lord`s JOHN MAJOR yesterday called for more support for wom- en`s cricket, one of the few sports in which England are world champions. The former Prime Minister was at Lord`s for the third women`s one-day international between England and South Africa and was impressed by the standard of play in a game which Eng- land won by seven wickets, giving them a 2-1 lead in the five- match series. "There has been a very high quality of cricket played here and the entertainment value is as good as any men`s crick- et. Any- one who thinks they won`t see good cricket at a women`s match had better come and watch and see how wrong they are," Ma- jor said. He suggested that women compensated for lack of power in their shots with good technique. "Of course women don`t have as much strength, though some women bowlers have been timed at 80 miles per hour. Cricket is first and foremost a game of grace, not power, and you don`t need huge muscles to be a graceful crick- eter." Mr Major is an avid cricket-watcher and was particular- ly im- pressed yesterday with South Africa`s Helen Davies, whom he suggested was a very correct and high-class bat, and Barbara Daniels of England, the player of the match, who is al- so execu- tive director of the Women`s Cricket Association. Daniels scored 53 off 86 balls, her fourth one-day half-century, and also ran out Kerri Laing. ONE-DAY INT`L (Lord`s): South Africa 134 (L Olivier 57; K Smithies 3-15), England 135-3 (B Daniels 53, J Metcalfe 49not). England won by 7 wkts. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)