Such a late bonus

Peter Such used the patience born of his long experience to keep the England A tour on its successful way on the first day of their tour match against Australian Capital Territory here.

The Essex off-spinner put in a marathon spell at the Manuka Oval and was rewarded when he sparked an ACT collapse to 212 for eight at the end of a largely frustrating day. Such bowled 29 overs and broke two spirited partnerships which threatened to wreck impressive early spells from the Lancashire paceman Glen Chapple and the Yorkshire all-rounder Craig White which reduced ACT to 64 for three inside 25 overs.

But Such, easily the oldest in the party at 32, bowled with control, guile and skill to claim three wickets in 15 deliveries. "Every spin bowler likes long spells," he said. "You need to bowl a lot of overs to get into a rhythm and things tend to work out after that."

ACT, the equivalent of an English minor county, were cruising to a comfortable total at 195 for four when Such struck to break up the defiant partnership between Ian Garrity and Darryle Macdonald. Such finally tempted Macdonald, who had made a painstaking 33 over 36 overs, to drive straight at Ashley Giles at mid-on.

Five balls later Michael Robinson was also outwitted when he attempted to cut and was bowled. Ewan Mackenzie was then tempted to edge behind while Giles ended Garrity's four hours of defiance by trapping him leg before as ACT lost four wickets for three runs in four overs.

Meanwhile England's under-19s ran into Pakistan's latest prodigy, Hassan Raja, in their Test in Karachi. Raja, whose entry into the record books as the world's youngest Test player was erased when tests showed him to be 15 rather than 14, scored a brilliant 124 to take his side to 294 for six declared - a first- innings lead of 56.

England were then faced with a tricky final half-hour to negotiate and, with two balls remaining, Ian Flanagan fell for 13, the leg-spinner Shahid Khan Afridi picking up his sixth wicket of the match.

ACT v England A

First day; ACT won toss

ACT - First Innings

P L Evans c Hegg b Chapple 16

*M R J Veletta c Hegg b Chapple 17

P J Solway c Hegg b White 59

B D Hara b White 7

I A Garrity lbw b Giles 49

D J McDonald c Giles b Such 33

=M B Robinson b Such 0

H O'Meagher not out 6

E A Mackenzie c Hegg b Such 0

B J Smith not out 9

Extras (lb12 w4) 16

Total (for 8, 92 overs) 212

Fall: 1-39, 2-42, 3-64, 4-124, 5-195, 6-195, 7-195, 8-199

To Bat: D J Thornton.

Bowling: Chapple 16-1-43-2, Harris 11-3-28-0, Hollioake 5-2-22-0, White 15-3-49-2, Giles 15-5-26-1, Such 29-18-29-3, McGrath 1-0-3-0.

England A: M A Butcher, M P Vaughan, A McGrath, O A Shah *A J Hollioake, C White, =W K Hegg, A F Giles, G Chapple A J Harris, P M Such.

Umpires: B Thornton and J Hanniford