Butcher misses century again

England 170-7 v Queensland

Mark Butcher again failed to reach three figures as England A struggled to combat a lively Gabba pitch on the first day of their final tour match yesterday.

The Surrey left-hander, who has passed 50 seven times in 13 tour innings, had once again looked set to reach the milestone but his two-and-a-half hours of defiance was finally ended at 72 with a bat-pad catch off the left-arm spinner Paul Jackson, before a violent storm abruptly ended play with an hour to go in the final session.

The Yorkshire trio of Michael Vaughan, Anthony McGrath and Craig White fell in quick succession to put the tourists in trouble at 39 for 3. But Jason Gallian, playing his first innings since cracking his right index finger three weeks ago, scored 26 before becoming the third of four victims for Brendan Creevey on his first-class debut. The captain, Adam Hollioake, was trapped lbw without scoring by Scott Prestwidge.

First day; Queensland won toss

ENGLAND A - First Innings

M A Butcher c Cassell b Jackson 72

M P Vaughan c Barsby b Creevey 0

A McGrath c Law b Muller 1

C White c Seccombe b Creevey 24

J E R Gallian lbw b Creevey 26

*A J Hollioake lbw b Prestwidge 0

M A Ealham not out 32

W K Hegg c Law b Creevey 3

A F Giles not out 1

Extras (lb6, nb5) 11

Total (for 7, 66 overs) 170

Fall: 1-8, 2-9, 3-39, 4-99, 5-114, 6-147, 7-164.

To bat: G Chapple, D W Headley.

Bowling: Muller 17-5-41-1; Creevey 18-4-41-4; Prestwidge 12-2-45-1; Law 5-2-14-0; Jackson 14-6-23-1.

QUEENSLAND: T J Barsby, T J Dixon, J P Maher, *S G Law, M P Mott, J L Cassell, W A Seccombe, S A Prestwidge, B N Creevey, P W Jackson, S A Muller.

Umpires: P D Parker and J F Torpey.