England A: Butcher adds weight to family values

By Ralph Dellor in Canberra

THERE is a section in every player's entry in the Cricketers' Who's Who entitled ``family links with cricket''.

Mark Butcher's listing was already impressive with his father Alan formerly of Surrey and England, uncle Ian of Leicestershire, and brother Gary at Glamorgan. Since his recent marriage to Judy, he can add brother-in-law Alec Stewart and father-in-law Micky. Those are first-class connections, but it is at the crease that Mark Butcher's true cricketing pedigree has stood out on the England A tour of Australia.

In all matches to date, he has scored 448 runs at a fraction under 50 a time. In nine visits to the middle, he has passed 50 on six occasions and it is only his failure to turn 70s into hundreds that leaves any vestige of doubt that he is ready to step up to the full Test side.

``I'd be lying if I said I didn't think about getting the first hundred of the tour,'' he said. ``Having been well set a few times, it does tend to niggle a bit but I suppose I am doing a job for the side, especially in the four-day games where I've had to grind out long innings of 70 or so. Maybe I'm getting a little tired and concentration goes a bit after batting that length of time, but I'm sure the hundred is going to happen.''

It is bound to if he continues to bat as he is. With runs coming all round the wicket from technically sound strokes, to say nothing of the deliberate placement in the air and along the ground, he is testing the Australian bowlers rather than being severely tested himself.

Furthermore his footwork, against pace and spin alike, has been sparkling. For a young left-handed opening bat with such accomplishments, the future has to be bright.

For the present, however, Butcher and his colleagues have been forced to show patience in the field on the opening day of the current fixture.

ACT - or the Canberra Comets, as the team have been labelled by the marketing men here - chose to bat on a cracked, mottled pitch and appeared to have no greater ambition than to stave off defeat from the outset. Peter Solway, who took 67 off this attack in the recent one-day game, ground out 59 from 105 balls, while Ian Garrity and Darryle MacDonald were equally slow, taking 35 overs to amass 71 for their fifth-wicket partnership.

Then Peter Such struck. After 23 overs costing 23 runs, he induced MacDonald to drive uppishly to mid-on, and in the same over bowled Michael Robinson.

From the other end, Ashley Giles somehow managed to extract an lbw decision from an otherwise reluctant umpire, and when Such set up Warren Hegg's fourth catch of the innings and 24th of the tour, four wickets had fallen for three runs in four overs.

Even though the remaining wickets stood firm, it was another satisfactory day for England A and especially for the tireless Such, who finished his spell with the admirable figures of 29-18-29-3. Now they need to knock over the last two wickets quickly.

Report - Day 2

England A: McGrath sees his way to first tour century

By Peter Deeley in Canberra

ANTHONY McGRATH scored the first century of the tour as England A moved with ease into potentially yet another winning position against the Australian Capital Territory yesterday.

A curious feature of this successful trip is that it took five weeks for anyone to register a hundred. Craig White reached 99 against Victoria but in the main the bowlers have carried the day.

McGrath, at 21 the second youngest player in the party, scored a century in Lahore on the A tour to Pakistan a year ago but until now had not gone beyond 31 here. He batted for 3.75 hours, hitting 12 boundaries, on a large, slow outfield and played the last half-hour in heavy rain and deteriorating light before holing out to mid-on for 108.

England turned down offers of poor light three times in their eagerness to press on. By the close they were already 79 runs ahead of ACT, who had taken 30 overs more than their opponents to reach their 216.

In the morning Peter Such quickly polished off the tail-enders to collect five for 29, sending down a remarkable 21 maidens in his 32.3 overs.

The off-spinner, who has bowled well on tour without luck, did not make the breakthrough until his 23rd over, but then wickets tumbled regularly. Such observed philosophically: ``When you have a long wait, wickets suddenly seem to come in clusters. I didn't do anything different. This is such a slow turner so batsmen have time to adjust.''

It is doubtful whether this pitch will hold out until the fourth day and it is hard to understand why a side the calibre of an average Minor Counties team should have been allotted this length of match, which is not first-class.

England's openers were strolling through their task when Mark Butcher chased a wide ball and was caught at gully. Then Michael Vaughan was the victim of a delivery that shot through.

ACT produced a leg-spinner in Ewan MacKenzie who had the batsmen in trouble early on and bowled a very good ball to have Owais Shah caught behind. The appearance of White changed that. His upbringing in this country shows because he plays his cricket as hard and aggressively as an Australian, as does Adam Hollioake. White gave two chances, always likely when he was hitting the ball with such force.

He hit the spinner for three boundaries in one over which also included a spurned caught-and-bowled chance. White swept MacKenzie for six to take England into the lead, reached his fifty with a four and was then caught in the deep off the next ball.

Day 3 report

England 'A' Tour: Hollioake keeps tourists on top

By Peter Deeley in Canberra

Scoreboard

ADAM HOLLIOAKE again lived up to his reputation as the ``man with the golden arm'', claiming two wickets at the death on this third day and setting up England A to claim what should be a sixth successive win today.

The England captain has now taken 12 wickets on tour with his medium pace and,

as here, has several times nipped in to break up threatening partnerships.

Australian Capital Territory still need another 52 runs to avoid an innings defeat. Their four main batsmen have been removed and on a wearing pitch it is very difficult to see how they can prevent England continuing their run of victories.

For a time yesterday the tourists were made to toil for a change, as the ACT captain and former Test player, Mike Veletta, and Paul Evans made light work of a first-innings deficit of 192 with an opening stand of 106.

England were not helped by having to field in fierce afternoon heat with a swirling wind blowing across the ground. Although the pitch is full of cracks the heavy roller took the bite out of it until very late in the day.

Then Peter Such, who had a marathon spell in the first innings, made the first breakthrough in his 11th over when Evans went to hit him over midwicket but fired the ball high to mid-on, where Ashley Giles, who has such a safe pair of hands, took a well-judged catch.

Two overs later Such had Peter Solway, who has scored two half-centuries against the visitors in less than a week, caught at short leg to give him seven wickets in the game to date.

Veletta, however, looked unmovable until an incident three overs from the end brought him low and won him a place in the umpires' bad books.

He edged Hollioake and Craig White dived forward to take the chance. The ball was spilled and wicketkeeper Warren Hegg seemed to dive underneath White to complete the catch. Veletta stood his ground arguing, waved his bat at the umpires and then threw it on the ground in disgust as he departed.

Veletta has been reported to the match referee for dissent and ``denigration of the umpires'' and will be dealt with after the match. It was doubly unfortunate that his wife and two young children were watching. Mrs Veletta advised her young daughter that it would be unwise

to approach daddy as he walked off.

Then, with the last ball of the day, Hollioake trapped Bruce Hara square on in front of his stumps to put England well on top.

The morning session was notable for Glenn Chapple hitting a stylish half-century in swift time; the afternoon for Mike Gatting's baggy blue shorts appearing at the top of a flag pole.

Day 4 Report Electronic Telegraph

England 'A' Tour: Garrity and caution thwart sixth victory

Peter Deeley in Canberra

SIX runs separated England A from another victory after an exhilarating but unavailing chase for runs here yesterday.

Going at eight an over in the final hour they needed a big hit from Warren Hegg off the last ball but it whistled past his flailing bat.

It was still a bold performance by the tourists as they hunted their sixth successive win. When Australian Capital Territory were bowled out, England needed 129 with 15 overs to be bowled.

A couple of run-outs, a marginal leg-before decision and one short run in that final over helped frustrate them and the game was drawn with England finishing on 123 for five.

As Adam Hollioake, the captain, pointed out afterwards the home side had been out-played for almost all the match and England arrived at the ground with the scent of victory in their nostrils.

ACT still needed 52 to avoid an innings defeat with half their side gone, but the England captain observed: ``It was the hardest day of the tour for us and one of the most frustrating of my life.

``Nothing I tried seemed to work and maybe we were punished for erring on the side of caution in the field, not taking enough risks with the ball.''

Ian Garrity batted with intense concentration for five hours and a sign of his own cautious approach was that his 90 included only four boundaries.

He was given excellent support by the ACT tail-enders on a pitch that was a mosaic of cracks but played - exasperatingly for the England bowlers - as truly as a snooker table.

Hollioake at second slip put down Garrity on 27 off Andrew Harris, but he was once again the shock trooper of the attack, coming back in the heat after tea to claim two wickets in successive balls.

First he got ACT fast bowler David Thornton, who had resisted for over an hour to score 23, leg before. With the first ball of his next over Hollioake had a tired Garrity trying to pull and firing a leading edge up to mid-wicket.

Then the fun began. Mark Butcher and Hollioake took 12 off the first over before the captain pulled a short ball straight to midwicket off the innings' seventh ball.

Craig White hammered quick runs before being picked up one-handed high

at midwicket again. Owais Shah, phlegmatic as ever, played his natural attacking game which included one wonderful pick-up six high over long on and England were 56 for two in eight overs.

But Butcher was the victim of a very tight run-out decision; Shah, who scored 29 off 22 balls, was well down the pitch when given out leg before and Anthony McGrath was left stranded by almost the length of the track.

That brought Vaughan and Hegg together. The Yorkshireman hit a powerful 34 off 20 balls and the couple scored 11 off the final over - not quite enough, but a moral victory at least.