Date-stamped : 26 Oct95 - 10:33 Tour Match: Eastern Transvaal v England Springs, 25 October 1995 ENGLAND STUTTER HOME - Trevor Chesterfield Stylish Mark Ramprakash propped up a stuttering England XI bat- ting performance here last night to steer the tourists to an un- convincing five wicket victory. The Middlesex and England top order batsmen put together an undefeated 89 as they beat Eastern with six balls of the match-remaining. After a poor afternoon in the field, where they gave away 261 runs on a typical, bleached limited-overs pitch the tourists achieved their target after sur- viving a dramatic start to their innings. Dressed in Northern Tranvaal`s colours of light blue, England XI seemed to pick up similar bad batting habits as the top-order battled to come to grips with the Easterns bowling as well as their keen fielding In fact, when Robin Smith departed for 33. the victim of a dicey run out decision, it took an unbroken partnership of 99 between Ramprakash and all-rounder Dominic Cork to steer the side out of stormy waters. Cork, the hat-trick hero of England`s test win over the West Indies at Old Trafford earlier this year, was undefeated on 29. Man of the match Ram- prakask was prepared to ride his luck and take on the bowling attack, such as it was. Harsh decision While Smith, whose arrival was greeted with a mixed of cheers and jeers, could feel that he was judged a little too harshly on his run out by Chad Grainger. The England skipper, Mike Atherton es- caped the axe when umpire Barry Lambson declined the vociferous appeal from the Eastern`s fielders. On TV replay Atherton was out by 20cm; in Smith`s case the bat seemed to have grounded when Cyril Mitchley indicated otherwise. England were in trouble at 165 for five, bringing Cork, the Derbyshire all-rounder to join Ramprakash in the 35th over.Ramprakash was given two lives before he reached 50: the first by the Easterns captain Bruce McBride off Sam Skeete and by Craig Norris off the rotund Corrie Jordan There was some rollicking batting from the Easterns top-order helped along by the sort of fielding performance that was embar- rassing. Rarely has an international side fumbled so badly as did the tourists and it must have worried Atherton. Source :: Pretoria News Contributed by Tony.Hassett (hasett@scientia.up.ac.za) ====> more Ramprakash`s burst of form saves England - Peter Deeley England beat Eastern Transvaal by five wickets ENGLAND began and ended this second warm-up game with a bang. What happened in between was less digestible in terms of the com- ing World Cup, though they beat a `B` class provincial side by five wickets with six balls to spare. After their coach burst a tyre on the way here, the English bowlers lacked proper length as Eastern Province, little more than a Minor Counties side, scored one of the highest limited- overs totals in their history. All came right at the end however as Mark Ramprakash and Dominic Cork put on 99 in 14 overs for the sixth wicket with the tourists chasing more than seven runs an over. Ramprakash, winning the individual match award, was unbeaten on 89 off 93 deliveries and showed all the verve that England will need in the coming months. Cork, though looking exhausted at times, gave him willing support with 29 from 36 deliveries. Fortunately for the tourists the key one-day games are still nearly four months away, time aplenty to iron out their deficien- cies - not the least of which is their catching. Five chances were put down, including two difficult ones in the deep, with Cork suffering most. At the outset Mark Mitchley - whose father Cyril was an umpire here - was put down by Robin Smith in the gully and Graham Thorpe at slip. This spurred Eastern`s opening pair on to a record one-day open- ing partnership of 115 off 29 overs, Wayne Radford - the younger brother of former England and Worcestershire bowler Neal - scor- ing 92 off 110 balls before Cork held a fierce return drive. Richard Illingworth, who took considerable punishment, eventually bowled Mitchley and Radford, after Graeme Hick had failed to hold a hard catch on the mid-wicket ropes. The tourists` innings began in a flurry. In the second over Alec Stewart hit two fours but was brilliantly caught by Same Skeete at short mid-on off Graham Stevenson. Then Atherton, responding to Hick`s call for a quick single, seemed not to have made his ground but was judged not out. Hick fell to a return catch to Jonathan Meyer and then Corrie Jordaan - whose girth makes Mike Gatting look anorexic - lured Atherton down the pitch and had him stumped for 33 off 50 deliveries. Ramprakash led the rally, though he too enjoyed a life when he nicked Skeete into the gloves of McBride. The athleticism shown by Ramprakash and Cork in their running between the wickets justifies all the hard work England have put in since arriving in South Africa. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)