CRICKET; Schofield's haul keeps England A in charge

England A 336 and 106-1 North Island 371

CHRIS SCHOFIELD, Lancashire's rising prospect, and James Kirtley put in a hard day's graft with the ball to keep England A in charge against North Island here yesterday.

Schofield went for 21 runs from his first two overs before finding his rhythm and finishing with 5 for 107. Kirtley, who yesterday signed a contract which keeps him at Sussex until the end of 2002, weighed in with 4 for 80 as the home side were bowled out for 371 - a lead of 35.

For North Island, Matthew Sinclair made an impressive 182 before being caught at point off Schofield. North Island then lost two wickets in successive overs to the leg-spinner. Brooke Walker went first ball and Chris Nevin (23) followed the same path as Sinclair. Schofield took his fifth wicket when Mark Jefferson offered a catch to short leg and Kirtley took the final two wickets of the innings.

By stumps England A had moved into a lead of 71 for the loss of Ian Ward as Michael Gough ended the day unbeaten on 44 and Vikram Solanki 21.

Third day of four; England A won toss

ENGLAND A - First Innings: 336 (D J G Sales 115, I J Ward 72).

NORTH ISLAND - First Innings

(Overnight: 228 for 3)

M S Sinclair c Sales b Schofield 182

J A H Marshall c Ward b Kirtley 61

C J Nevin c Sales b Schofield 23

B J K Walker c Ward b Schofield 0

M R Jefferson c Ward b Schofield 19

A J Penn lbw b Kirtley 11

D R Tuffey c Turner b Kirtley 1

K P Walmsley not out 3

Extras (lb6, w1, nb17) 24

Total (148.5 overs) 371

Fall (cont): 4-269, 5-329, 6-337, 7-338, 8-361, 9-364.

Bowling: Franks 27-7-76-1; Kirtley 25.5-5-80-4; Alleyne 21-8-45-0; Davies 29-10-52-0; Schofield 45-13-107-5; Solanki 1-0-5-0.

ENGLAND A - Second Innings

M A Gough not out 44

I J Ward c Marshall b Walker 38

V S Solanki not out 21

Extras (nb3) 3

Total (for 1, 43 overs) 106

Fall: 1-80.

To bat: A Habib, D J G Sales, *M W Alleyne, R J Turner, C P Schofield, P J Franks, R J Kirtley, M K Davies.

Bowling: Penn 11-0-44-0; Walmsley 5-1-10-0; Tuffey 7-2-22-0; Walker 14- 4-26-1; Jefferson 6-4-4-0.

Umpires: D Quested and G Stewart.