Cricket: England relieved as Butcher finds form

England 358-9dec & 211-1dec Combined XI 194 & 15-0

MARK BUTCHER virtually cemented his place for the opening Test yesterday by battling through his early tour crisis to deliver a timely innings and complete England's best day since they arrived in South Africa.

Butcher's failure to deliver a significant innings during the opening three weeks of the tour had become a major worry to a management team, who were keen to enter the first Test in Johannesburg with the Butcher- Michael Atherton opening partnership.

After 27 runs in his opening five innings Butcher's inclusion would have been hard to justify even with Nasser Hussain's determination to keep faith in players through hard times. That dilemma was resolved yesterday, however, as Butcher hit an unbeaten 87 in over three hours to put England into a commanding position in their tour match against a Combined Free State/Griqualand West XI and give them the opportunity to push for a victory.

"I'm very happy," Butcher admitted. "It was just what I wanted to score some runs and spend time out of the middle."

His return to form, coupled with a competitive and at times fiery performance from Darren Gough and Alan Mullally to dismiss the Combined XI for a lowly total, ensured the tourists will approach the final day in high spirits.

Their number was also swelled to 18 with the arrival of Chris Silverwood, the Yorkshire fast bowler, from the A tour in New Zealand as cover.

Third day of four; Free State/Griqualand West won toss

ENGLAND - First Innings 358 for 9 dec (C J Adams 84, A Flintoff 65, G M Hamilton 64).

FREE STATE/GRIQUALAND WEST First Innings

(Overnight 156 for 3)

G F J Liebenberg c Hussain b Mullally 92

M N van Wyk lbw b Gough 31

L L Bosman c Stewart b Mullally 0

J J van der Wath run out 0

W Bossenger c Stewart b Gough 3

H C Bakkes c Adams b Gough 8

G A Roe c Atherton b Tufnell 1

C J Vorster not out 2

Extras (lb12, w1, nb4) 17

Total (88 overs) 194

Fall (cont): 4-170, 5-170, 6-170, 7-180, 8-183, 9-192.

Bowling: Gough 21-6-60-4; Mullally 19-11-24-2; Hamilton 10-1-40-1; Tufnell 24-11-31-1; Vaughan 13-2-26-1; Butcher 1-0-1-0.

ENGLAND - Second Innings

M A Butcher not out 87

M A Atherton c Bossenger b Vorster 81

A Flintoff not out 37

Extras (b1 lb4 w1) 6

Total (for 1 dec, 50 overs) 211

Fall: 1-141.

Did not bat: *N Hussain, M P Vaughan, A J Stewart, C J Adams, G M Hamilton, D Gough, A D Mullally, P C R Tufnell.

Bowling: Gidley 12-3-43-0; Bakkes 4-1-16-0; van der Wath 8-2-29-0; Vorster 12-1-67-1; Bosman 8-0-27-0; Roe 6-0-24-0.

FREE STATE/GRIQUALAND WEST Second Innings

G F J Liebenberg not out 3

*M I Gidley not out 10

Extras (lb2) 2

Total (for 0, 10 overs) 15

To bat: L L Bosman, P H Barnard, F C Brooker, W Bossenger, H C Bakkes, J J van der Wath, G A Roe, M N van Wyk, C J Vorster.

Bowling: Gough 4-1-5-0; Hamilton 4-1-4-0; Tufnell 1-1-0-0; Vaughan 1- 0-4-0.

Umpires: D F Becker and R E Koertzen.