Date-stamped : 10 Jan96 - 10:38 World Masters Series, Match #4 India v Pakistan Sharjah National Stadium. 8 January 1996. Barnett shines in hair and tortoise race - Martin Johnson CRICKETERS come in all shapes and sizes, particularly when they have nominally passed their sell-by date, but very rarely can an England team have been carried to victory by a man who once had some hair but now hasn`t, and a man who once didn`t have any hair, but now has. The bald facts of the matter are these. England`s veterans, re- quiring 236 to beat India in the final qualifying match of their grandiosely titled World Masters competition here, got home by nine wickets with four overs to spare, largely on the back of an opening partnership of 156 between the 42-year-old Graham Gooch, and, at 35, the baby of the side, Kim Barnett. Gooch, who went on to make an unbeaten 144, not so long ago had the sort of coiffure that was more in need of a chamois leather than a comb. Nowadays, however, the former England captain has more hair than a 1960s pop singer, thanks to a extravagant weave which not only makes him look several years younger, but also earns him money. Quite apart from being paid to have it done (plus a free monthly service) Gooch is shortly off to New Zealand and Australia on a promotional tour, a hair-raising venture if ever there was one, along with one or two other former cricketing baldies such as the Australian off-spinner Greg Matthews. However, whether Barnett will ever receive a set of silver hair- brushes for Christmas (except in jest) is another matter, in that the Gooch transplant is the kind that requires some kind of growth on top to begin with. Barnett has a bit around the sides, but on sunny days at Derby (admittedly rare), he has the kind of dome that could cause a hold-up in play from reflected glare. It was pretty hot here yesterday, but with Barnett wisely keeping his hat on, most of the dazzle came from the middle of his bat. Adding to the impression that England were fast approaching de- crepitude with their third match in five days was the sight of David Graveney emerging from the pavilion carrying a chair There was another heroic performance to report on, too, as Mike Gatting managed to overcome a potentially hairy situation by mak- ing the ultimate sacrifice for his country, and forgoing a large portion of his lunch break. Anyone who has seen Gatting`s waist- line lately would realise that this rates very highly in the an- nals of great Britons facing adversity with fortitude, and if Drake was worth a knighthood for carrying on with his game of bowls, then "arise Sir Gatt" is the very least a grateful nation should demand after the captain pushed away his third plate of pudding to go and argue the regulations with the match referee. This all came about because England bowled their overs so slowly that India had only received 43 of their 45 overs when the allot- ted time (television, as ever, having the ultimate say in these matters) was up. As the regulations apply here, India were enti- tled to be awarded the same number of runs for each of these two lost overs as they had averaged over their previous five (which amounted to 12 more on to the total) but even though the referee, Clive Lloyd, rather generously cut this to one lost over on the grounds of time consumed for two balls having been smitten into Sharjah High Street, Gatting was having none of it. "No, no boys, you have the rest of my treacle tart," were doubt- less his final words before marching into Lloyd`s office, and some time later he emerged triumphant. Gatting had argued that the match had started a few minutes late, and while Gatting`s overseas arguments do not always get resolved in his favour (see Faisalabad, 1987), this one did. The size of the winning margin would suggest that it didn`t matter very much, but this would be to ignore the uplifting ef- fect on morale that Gatting`s gesture would have had. Had anyone suggested to one of his team-mates that Gatting would cut short a meal for the greater good of the team, the dressing-room would have dissolved into helpless mirth. Little wonder that Gooch and Barnett strode out and put India to the sword. It was, in truth, a bit rich of Gatting to be arguing for lati- tude, in that the main reason for England failing to complete their overs in the generous time allowed was the fact that some of their bowlers could barely hit a barn door, never mind a set of stumps. They sent down no less than four extra overs in wide deliveries, and Tony Pigott, responsible for 15 of them, came close to making Devon Malcolm look like a metronome of line and length. Adding to the impression that England were fast approaching de- crepitude with their third match in five days was the sight of David Graveney emerging from the pavilion carrying a chair, although it turned out that, as a non-selection, he was intending to use it from behind the boundary rope rather than to take the weight off his feet between overs. England decided to insert the opposition on the grounds that the ball might swing early on, but as India`s openers racked up 70 runs from the first 10 overs, Gatting`s face indicated that if food were for thought, he`d have put on another half a stone in the first half-hour. England did eventually pull the scoring rate back, but with San- deep Patil hitting four sixes in his 86-ball innings of 80, India were always on course for a useful total. England needed to win, too, having lost to the West Indies the previous day, but now - short of Pakistan beating the West Indies today, and scoring a hatful of runs in the process - England and the West Indies are almost guaranteed to contest the final (the first prize is $50,000 [#32,000], second prize $30,000) on Fri- day. If England bowl to the West Indies as they did to India yester- day, then second prize is guaranteed. They were taken apart by Desmond Haynes and Viv Richards on Monday, although the wonders of modern television almost cost England the services of their wicketkeeper, Ian Gould. Gooch, bowling without much success to Haynes, had been wired for sound by the television people, and he jocularly asked for one of their commentators - Michael Holding - to come to the microphone and offer him some on-the-spot coach- ing. "Give him a bouncer," was Holding`s not unexpected advice, and Gooch duly delivered. Neither batsman nor wicketkeeper expected this type of thing from a 42-year-old barely medium pacer with a shuffling pigeon-toed run-up, but while Haynes was relatively safe underneath a helmet, Gould, standing up to the wicket, was very nearly decapitated as the ball whistled (well, grunted anyway) past Haynes`s hasty duck. Yesterday, though, Gooch was doing what he does best, with not a hair - artificial or otherwise - out of place. World Masters (Sharjah).- India 235-8 (43 overs) (Y Sharma 80); England 236-1 (39 overs) (G Gooch 144 not). England won by 9 wkts. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)