Date-stamped : 09 Nov96 - 14:13 Day 1 Report From Laurie Colliver, CricInfo's own reporter BUTCHER AND WHITE HOLD UP SOUTH AUSTRALIA A solid knock by Mark Butcher and the innings of the day by Craig White held up South Australia on day one of the England A game in Adelaide. Tottering at 4/46, White joined Butcher and helped add 108 in just over two hours in good style. White went after the slow bowlers hitting 2 sixes in his stay of 61 before being Bradley Young`s first wicket in first class cricket. When Butcher fell just after tea it looked as though South Australia would get in before the close. But Lancastrian wicket kepper Warren Hegg batted stoicly for nearly two hours for 21 and Headley, who hasn`t his grandfathers batting ability held on for half an hour after the 2nd new ball helped left arm quick Mark Harrity (4/61) pick up the days bowling honours Day 1: Electronic Telegraph Butcher and White prevent A team rout Peter Deeley in Adelaide ANOTHER disappointing start by England's young batsmen left them in difficult straits against South Australia, the Sheffield Shield champions, on the first day of the opening first-class game of the tour here. Too many ambitious shots were played regardless of the way the ball was moving around and it took a third half-century of the trip in as many innings by Surrey's Mark Butcher to save the A team from a near rout. He was joined by Yorkshire's Craig White in a 108- run stand for the fifth wicket after the tourists were 63 for four at lunch. The left-handed Butcher is in splendid form and, with Jason Gallian unable to play because of a damaged hand, looks the one batsman capable of stepping up to the seniors this winter should anyone fall by the wayside. Mike Gatting, the coach, thought England's 232 for nine was acceptable on a pitch where the ball swung early on in humid conditions and then seamed later. He may be gilding the lily a touch there but when Dean Headley saw what the ball was doing, he could hardly wait for the morrow. Left-armer Mark Harrity claimed four wickets starting with Michael Vaughan, who attacked the third ball he received and was caught behind. But it was Jason Gillespie who posed most problems, conceding only 25 in 18 overs. When Greg Blewett came on with his medium-pacers, Anthony McGrath was immediately squared up and dismissed and then Owais Shah, who is showing technical flaws in spite of his quick reactions, received a lifting ball from Gillespie and was taken low at slip. It became 46 for four when Adam Hollioake drove at a Harrity delivery that was leaving him and England were making the same sad start which heralded their defeat against New South Wales seconds. Butcher scored only 31 in the pre-lunch session and should have been caught at slip but he and White went on the attack afterwards. White hooked Gillespie for six and Butcher straight drove Harrity for an all-run four which would have brought up his half-century if the scorers had not maintained it was White batting. The mix-up hardly mattered for each man went past the fifty mark in a two-hour stand. White pulled Blewett for another six and England were slowly getting on top when both were out to shots for which they must have kicked themselves. White skimmed a drive from the left-arm spinner Brad Young to mid-off and although Butcher survived another chance, he flicked carelessly into the hands of midwicket after over four hours in the middle. Adam Gilchrist, replacement wicketkeeper for the injured Ian Healy during Australia's recent trip to India, scored 108 not out in Western Australia's 293 for six declared on the opening day of the match against West Indies in Perth. Source :: Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk) Day 2 Report From Laurie Colliver, CricInfo's own reporter LAST SESSION GETS ENGLAND A BACK INTO THE GAME A very good final session by England A saw them get back into the game at AdelaideOval on day two of their clash with South Australia. After adding 62 in the morning session thanks to a very good innings by Warren Hegg (69 in nearly three hours), the England A bowlers strggled after gaining the early wicket of Blewett for a duck. Left handed Ben Johnson and skipper Jamie Siddons added a century partnership either side of lunch and at tea with SA 2/151 things looked good for a Redback onslaught in the final session. After tea Siddons brought up his hundred in a shade under three hours, but Headley wasbrought back to bowl and immediately picked up Siddons caught at the wicket. Lehmann, who was looking in ominous touch then fell to Giles for 26, as the England A bowlers got their side back into the match. Brayshaw and Scuderi added 35 for the fifth wicket, but as Brayshaw was starting to look set became Giles' second victim caught by Vaughan for 22. Then just before the close, White got one to lift from the pitch and had Scuderi caught off the glove for 16. Young, either as nightwatchman or just plain number eight was lucky to survive a run out chance from a mix-up from an attemped leg bye and South Australia reached the close without further loss with still another 68 needed to overhaul England A's first innings total of 294. Headley was the best of the bowlers with 2/40 from 21 overs and the left arm spin of Giles, who suffered at the hands of Siddons early fought back well to have 2/72 from 21 overs. England A with a new ball due in nine overs, are well placed in the match togain a good first innnings lead and set themselves up for outright victory in this match Day 3 report from Laurie Colliver ENGLAND A COLLAPSE TO SOUTH AUSSIE SPINNERS England A collapsed in its second innings after it had seized its initiative on day three in its match with South Australia. SA spinners Peter McIntyre (4/43) and Bradley Young (3/29) wrecked the middle and lower England A batting after the visitors had established a lead of 18 in the first innings. Dean Headley took 4/19 in the morning session as South Australia were all out for 276 half an hour before lunch. Wicket keeper Tim Nielsen was last out for 37 in a stay of just under two hours. Midway through the day England were going along nicely at 3/122 with Hollioake and Shah batting positively but the skipper fell in disappointing fashion holing out to Young at deep mid off to start a collapse which saw England A lose 6/11 in 35 mins. Peter McIntyre, overlooked for the Australian XI v West Indies game in favour of Western Australian Bradley Hogg, took four wickets in a row a firstly Shah (27) was well held at slip, Ealham (1) was beaten in the flight and bowled, and Hegg (0) and Giles (0) both caught by Siddons at slip. Young mopped up the last two wickets in an impressive debut for his state. South Australia had to negotiate two overs, in pursuit of its target of 170 and succesfully did so, with Ben Johnson clipping Headley off his toes for a boundary to see the homeside at the close needing a further 164 to repeat its 1992/93 success over England 'A'. Day 3 report- electronic Telgraph Tour Match: England baffled by spin of McIntyre By Peter Deeley in Adelaide EVEN in the long litany of England batting collapses against Australian sides, this debacle takes some beating. Only if Dean Headley can reproduce the quality of bowling which earned him six for 60 is there any chance of saving face today with South Australia needing 164 runs for victory. One moment England A, having taken a highly creditable 18-run lead from the first innings, were easing along at 122 for three. Little more than an hour later they had been bowled out for the addition of 29 runs with Peter McIntyre taking four for five in the space of 21 balls. It was a chastening experience for England's young hopefuls. Once again, as in the opening defeat against New South Wales seconds, they were laid low by a combination of leg spin - from McIntyre - and a left-arm slow bowler, this time the inexperienced Brad Young. It is not difficult to draw lessons from this bad day: England's batsmen - and not just those on this trip -simply do not see sufficient of these types of bowlers to understand them. Yet McIntyre is probably only the third or fourth best 'leggie' in Australia and Young was taking his first first-class wickets in this game. It cast a dark cloud over what should have been a moment to salute Headley. This was his fifth five-wicket haul in five England A games - including the tour of Pakistan last year - and he has earned the respect of colleague and opponent alike for the manner in which he is always attacking, and often beating, the bat. What is more he shows considerable maturity when things do not go his way. There were any number of close appeals which the umpires turned down but the Kent bowler took it all in his stride. He and Surrey's Mark Butcher look the two players most likely to go further if the senior side is forced to look for replacements. The combination of Headley and Ashley Giles prevented South Australia's ambitions of a first-innings lead in the morning session, the last four home wickets going down for only 50 runs. Disappointingly Andrew Harris bowled only six overs in the innings, the explanation being that others could better exploit the reverse swing of the ball. With Jason Gallian unable to play here because of injury, England are having to play three relatively raw batsmen high up the order and frustratingly all the first five got their eye in before largely getting themselves out. Butcher and Anthony McGrath were pinned in the crease by fast full-length deliveries. Aware of the manner of his dismissal in the first innings Michael Vaughan eschewed everything outside off-stump. He lasted for almost two hours before pushing forward to a delivery that flicked his off-bail. Adam Hollioake's form with the bat has been disappointing so far on the tour but he and Owais Shah added 56 for the fourth wicket. Having hit Young for a series of fours, however, Hollioake went for another against the spinner and was picked up at mid-off for 28, England A's top score. Shah, after all the early promise, is looking increasingly uncertain in his footwork and was truly flummoxed when McIntyre found bounce and turn, backing away to leg to play an edge which ended up in the hands of Jamie Siddons at slip, the first of his four catches. The slide became a rout after that as McIntyre baffled the England lower order. Warren Hegg, caught by Siddons via the wicketkeeper's glove, seemed to think he had not touched the ball, but the Lancastrian's downfall was of little consequence in the sum of events. Four playing hours after he had proudly led England off the field, Headley was back on it, batting this time to save their necks. He could justifiably feel that he had been let down by his colleagues. Source :: Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk) Day 4: A report by CI's corresponsdent Lawrie Colliver HEADLEY STARS AGAIN AS ENGLAND A NARROWLY DEFEAT SOUTH AUSTRALIA In an exciting finish England recorded a win in its opening first class match of the tour with a twelve run win over South Australia. The heroes for the visitors were Dean Headley who took 5/38 to take eleven wickets in the match and left arm spinner Ashley Giles who took 3/28 from 14.2 accurate overs. Headley bowled with hostility in this match and on the value of his performace, would be a real show of making his test debut against Australia in June SA who resumed on six without loss, lost the early wicket of Blewett caught behind off Headley without adding to his overnight score of two. Johnson and Siddons added 32 in just over an hour before Headley, who was bowling with great hostility, trapped the South Aussie skipper in front for 18. Siddons, after being given out stood at the crease for a short while, bemused at the decision. James Brayshaw came in and pushed his first ball to cover and ran, but could not beat the brilliant throw of Vaughan who charged in from the off-side to effect a great run out. It appeared that had Brayshaw grounded his bat he may well have survived the run out appeal. In Headley's next over, Johnson edged a ball to the second slip region where Adam Hollioake dived forward a caught the ball. Johnson waited to be given out by umpire Hunter as it appeared the ball had bounced in front of the England A skipper. Johnson was given out after a pause of several seconds and looked very displeased with the decision. Scuderi the non striker, remonstrated with the fielders claiming they knew the ball did not carry. Umpires Kinnear and Hunter stepped in as a disappointed Johnson made his way to the pavilion. SA had slipped from 1/38 to 4 but effectively 5/41. Headley was rested after a spell of 9-4-11-3, and the left arm spin of Giles was introduced. Giles in his third over picked up the wicket of Nielsen caught at the wicket for 11 to see SA fall to 5/59. Debutant Bradley Young joined Scuderi and proceeded to bat well adding 70 with his partner in 102 mins, before falling to Giles caught at slip by White for a fine 37. SA were now 6/129 and within 41 of victory. For a half an hour Gillespie proved a great ally adding 21 with Scuderi before being bowled through the gate for 8 and then McIntyre fell first ball trapped in front by Headley to leave SA 8/150 needing 20 to win. Scuderi went to tea unbeaten on 49 and upon resumption brought up a fine half century in three hours seven minutes. But minutes later Harrity was bowled behind his pads by Giles for nought and England had claimed a narrow 12 run victory. Day 4: Electronic Telegraph Tour Match: Headley takes heat off batsmen with match-winning haul By Peter Deeley in Adelaide DEAN HEADLEY, nobly aided by Ashley Giles, came to England's rescue with another heroic bowling performance, yielding an epic 12-run victory over South Australia, the Sheffield Shield champions. The Kent bowler finished with career-best match figures of 11 for 98 as the home side, needing another 164 to win on the final day, were bowled out soon after tea. Coach Mike Gatting said of Headley's performance: "This is good news for England because we need another strike bowler to reinforce our cause. After what Headley did here some fast bowlers in the Test party should not think about resting on their laurels." He coupled the Warwickshire spinner in that compliment. Giles finished the game with five for 120, including the victory-clinching wicket, and Gatting remarked: "A certain left-arm England spinner [Phil Tufnell] shouldn't be resting on his laurels either." Headley and Giles needed to produce something extra yesterday to extricate the England batsmen from the consequences of their woeful form. So far on tour, against two state XIs, England A have not reached 300 in an innings and twice have been bowled out for under 160. In fairness, South Australia were down to 10 men in their second innings with Darren Lehmann sent to Alice Springs by the Australian Cricket Board to do promotional work for a game against the West Indies. There were also some sore tempers at a couple of decisions which went England's way. The Australians' captain, Jamie Siddons, was adjudged leg before to Headley and stood his ground for some seconds, glaring at the umpire. He said later: "When you're standing outside leg and see all three stumps you don't normally expect to be given out." Joe Scuderi, whose three-hour unbeaten half-century carried South Australia almost to the winning line, was spoken to by the umpires after a verbal duel with England captain Adam Hollioake. He is expected to be named in their report, though no further action is likely. Hollioake took an outstanding one-handed catch low at second slip to remove Ben Johnson, again off Headley. Johnson stood his ground too until the square leg umpire indicated the catch had been cleanly made. At the other end Scuderi, a regular player for Nelson in the Lancashire League, considered otherwise though he would not elaborate. Hollioake, however, said: "I thought I'd taken the ball cleanly and the umpires gave the decision." The England dressing room had been "like a morgue" according to one player after the appalling batting of the third day seemed to have presented South Australia with the game. But Headley lifted spirits as early as the third ball when he dropped one fractionally short, moving away from Test batsman Greg Blewett off the edge. Twice in the game Headley had removed the man due to play for Middlesex next summer, at a cost of two runs. On Siddons's departure James Brayshaw was run out first ball by a fine diving throw from Michael Vaughan. When Headley eventually came off, his morning figures were 10-5-11-3 but Giles immediately had Tim Nielsen taken behind as he pushed forward to a turning ball. Scuderi and Brad Young slowly inched South Australia back with a 70-run stand for the sixth wicket. Vaughan bowled two overs which cost a valuable 14 runs - Scuderi pulling him for six - but when Giles came back he immediately had Young fencing at a lifting turner which Craig White snapped up at slip. Headley returned "for the ferrets" (his description of the tail) and collected wickets in successive balls as Jason Gillespie was bowled by a swinging yorker and Peter McIntyre was trapped on his stumps. Scuderi prevented Headley's fourth hat-trick in a year but Giles completed the unlikely win when he bowled Mark Harrity round his legs. The bowler galloped joyfully round the ground, submerged by his jubilant team-mates. Truly, joy was unconfined. Source :: Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)