Date-stamped : 27 Nov95 - 10:39 Tour Match: Free State v England Springbok Park, Bloemfontein. 26 November 1995 Atherton leads England romp after three-day disappointment By Christopher Martin-Jenkins in Bloemfontein One day game: England (202-3) beat Orange Free State (201-8) by 7 wickets SUNDAY in Bloemfontein in November was much like Sunday in Birm- ingham, Bristol or Basingstoke in June for the England tour- ing team yesterday. Coloured clothes, white balls and all the fun and flippancy of the one-day game were in evidence as naive batting by Orange Free State against the slow bowlers and an opening partnership of 116 by Mike Atherton and Alec Stewart provided them with a facile seven-wicket win. Nine overs in hand in a 50-over match is an unusually comfortable margin. The braaivleis replaced the hot-dog stall, and parasols rather than umbrellas were part of the essential equipment for specta- tors on the bank, but all was nonetheless familiar. There was even the almost obligatory crowd disturbance, caused, in this in- stance, by the sinking of an alsatian`s jaws into the copious flesh of a male pitch-invader. Scuffles ensued, as they do on warm days when people drink too much and the match is not genuinely exciting enough to deter rival attractions. It prompted the questions of how effective police dogs might be on the Western Terrace at Headingley and why the inquiry into the fighting there last August in the NatWest semi-final has still not come to any official conclusion. It is time it did. Essentially, however, yesterday`s was a lighthearted and light- weight game. If anything was truly significant, it was the singu- lar lack of menace of Allan Donald`s bowling on a slow, very true pitch, the same one on which the three-day match had been drawn. Atherton and Stewart got their teeth into Donald`s over-pitched bowling with such relish that he was hit for 25 in three overs. Such one-way traffic is rather less likely at the Wanderers next weekend, but although Donald seemed to be moving freely there was inevitable speculation about the groin strain which troubled him before the first Test. Atherton was badly dropped at mid-off when 29, top-edging a pull off the medium-paced Herman Bakkes Hansie Cronje did not give him a second spell yesterday and he will go into the second game of the series short of match prac- tice, although Donald himself says that a lack of rhythm rather than of fitness is the problem. For once, perhaps, it was merciful that a crowd of decent size - some 7,000 -saw a one-day game rather than the last day of a first-class match, which this was originally intended to be. A smaller gathering - perhaps 1,500 - had witnessed a disappoint- ingly unenterprising conclusion to what had been changed to a three-day game on Saturday, England scoring too slowly despite John Crawley`s worthy 90 and Dominic Cork`s 67 not out, and de- claring too late. It was not a good match for Atherton, who allowed a promising game to drift, nor for Robin Smith, whose 30-ball, 42-minute duck was simply embarrassing. Still, England will return to Johannes- burg today in good spirits to prepare for the second Test start- ing on Thursday. Everyone has had a game over the past four days, only Richard Il- lingworth has hurt himself - and his back strain is said to be no more than a minor muscular twinge - and however small the relevance of yesterday`s win to the Tests, it showed how well England are equipped for a prosperous World Cup in the New Year on the slow pitches of the subcontinent. Free State won the toss and, despite another convincing bowl by the combative Cork and an important wicket for Darren Gough -who found a bit of bounce to have Cronje caught behind as he shaped to cut - they were going well enough at 106 for two in the 24th over. Then, the left-handed Deon Jordaan, who had taken early toll of Mike Watkinson with some thumping sweeps, drove a return catch which Watkinson held well, right-handed. From that point, England off-spinners Watkinson, Ramprakash and Hick held sway. Batsman after batsman hit the ball to deep fielders instead of working it into gaps for ones or twos, only the competent left- handed all-rounder, Nicky Boje, getting it right for long. On such a pitch, 201 was at least 50 runs too few to trouble Eng- land, especially once Atherton and Stewart had made the most of the limitation to two fieldsmen outside the circle in the first 15 overs. Atherton was badly dropped at mid-off when 29, top-edging a pull off the medium-paced Herman Bakkes, and eventually hit another pull to midwicket, but 10 fours off 73 balls were evidence of his good timing. Stewart confirmed his excellent form with 81 off 111 balls and eight fours. By the time that the equally fluent Hick had been yorked and Stewart caught down the leg side, it was already certain that the blues would defeat the oranges. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)