Cricket: Gooch wins contest of the golden oldies

ACB Chairman's XI 232 England 236-3 England win by seven wickets It is not often Graham Gooch feels like a spring chicken or, still less, looks like one. Compared with the creaking joints and measured treads of four of the opposition, however, the grand old man of English cricket was a positive juvenile. He pushed the geriatrics around a bit, too, helping himself to 129 in the first match of the tour here yesterday.

Gooch's century guided England to a routine victory by seven wickets over the Australian Cricket Board Chairman's XI at the picturesque Lilac Hill ground in suburban Perth. This fixture is rather like the Arundel pipe-opener for visiting teams to England, complete with obligatory corporate yuppies. Around the back of the lunch marquee could be seen 20 people, with mobile phones pinned to their ears, pacing up and down and looking like that old sketch when everyone was Alan Whicker.

Gooch has provided a tricky poser for the England management. He opened only because of Alec Stewart's broken finger, but he is anxious to have the job back permanently. However, Keith Fletcher insisted England will, once Stewart is fit again, remain faithful to their original plan of Stewart opening with Michael Atherton, with Gooch shoring up the middle order at No 5. Yet if Gooch keeps scoring centuries going in first, it could get embarrassing.

Graham Thorpe helped Gooch put on 169 in 30 overs and also got his tour moving immediately. Darren Gough, working up a fair head of steam, was England's fastest bowler and Phillip DeFreitas the most accurate. The Chairman's XI were restricted to 232 all out after Ricky Ponting, a 19-year- old Tasmanian, launched a brilliant and furious assault on Martin McCague.

Shaun Udal, the Hampshire off-spinner, became the second man in successive days to damage a digit. He expects to be playing again within a fortnight after fracturing his left thumb attempting to hold a return catch from Ponting. With Stewart and Udal injured, England are down to 14 fit players, but Fletcher does not believe a replacement is required.

More than anything, yesterday was a time for memories and, thankfully, the legends fell a long way short of making fools of themselves. The 45- year-old Dennis Lillee was fit enough and fast enough to whistle a bouncer past Atherton's nose and follow- through down the pitch to within a yard of the batsman. This time, though, there is a smile on his face, not a snarl.

Lillee still removes sweat with a flick of his finger and his classical action remains straight from the textbook. When he removed Atherton and Graeme Hick, we could have been in a different era.

Rod Marsh once more pawed the ground behind the stumps like a grizzly bear and Jeff Thomson's incredible trunk rotation and slinging delivery has survived the years. He is just 40 mph slower, that's all. Greg Chappell failed, and must have felt rather daft as he watched Gooch score his hundred a day after saying that, at a mere 41, he was too old to succeed in this series. Mind you, Chappell walked out wearing only a cap to bat against Gough in full flight, and to do that at 46 takes a special kind of arrogance. Indeed, the fab four were the only players in the match to bat without a lid.

Marsh, having smashed McCague over his head one bounce into the crowd, was bowled having another heave. Lillee marched out, the pair swapped bats, and was then bowled first ball. Suddenly, there was expectation, there was an edge. Thomson survived. A hat-trick victim against the Poms? Even in your mid-forties, pride prevents certain things.

(Chairman's XI won toss) ACB CHAIRMAN'S XI T M Moody lbw b Gough 0 G R Marsh c DeFreitas b Gough 46 R T Ponting c and b Gough 82 * D M Martyn c Thorpe b DeFreitas 36 G S Chappell b Gough 3 G B Hogg lbw Benjamin 33 T J Zoehrer b Gough 4 B P Julian c Rhodes b DeFreitas 1 R W Marsh b McCague 11 D K Lillee b McCague 0 J R Thomson not out 2 Extras (lb1 w5 nb8) 14 Total (49.4 overs) 232 Fall: 1-15 2-132 3-139 4-143 5-213 6-213 7- 214 8-230 9-230.

Bowling: DeFreitas 10-3-27-2; Gough 9.4-1- 32-5; McCague 7-0-61-2; Benjamin 10-1-50- 1; Udal 6-0-29-0; Hick 7-0-32-0.

ENGLAND G A Gooch c Marsh b Martyn 129 * M A Atherton c Moody b Lillee 8 G A Hick c and b Lillee 7 G P Thorpe not out 61 M W Gatting not out 16 Extras (b4 lb2 w3 nb6) 15 Total (for 3, 47.2 overs) 236 Fall: 1-32 2-44 3-212.

Did not bat: S J Rhodes, P A J DeFreitas, S D Udal, D Gough, M J McCague, J E Benjamin.

Bowling: Lillee 10-0-32-2; Thomson 7-1-30-0; Moody 8-1-33-0; Martyn 7-0-36-1; Julian 8-0- 41-0; Zoehrer 6-0-47-0; Chappell 1.2-0-11-0.

Umpires: R Evans and G Bibby.

(Photograph omitted)