Cricket: `Heavy' hitter runs up a score

STEVE REDGRAVE belied his status as one of the "heavies" of Henley Royal Regatta, where for the past three years he has been one of the 50 Stewards who own and run the regatta, by reaching the final of one of the senior events for the 20th time.

Redgrave, racing in the Steward's Cup for coxless fours in the colours of Leander Club, dealt dismissively with the national team reserve four, including the the Olympic coxed pairs champion Jonny Searle. Today the fours final will be a repeat of last year's contest with the World and Olympic lightweight champions, Denmark taking on the heavies. If the wind swings from the grim head breeze of Saturday to tail, as forecast, the chances of the Danes will improve. But, giving away over four stone a man, they have a stern test.

St Peter's School, Adelaide, became only the second Australian crew to make the final of the Princess Elizabeth Cup for school eights when they weathered an early storm from St Paul's School, London.

St Peter's, who finished second in both the state and national titles before coming here, are hoping to convert to first today. Yesterday they began at a low rate, but with a longer, more effective stroke, and were able both to put their bow in front by Fawley and prevent a Pauline conversion at the finish. They will now meet St Edward's School, Oxford, who put out their third seeeded opponents, Abingdon School, coming back from a half-length down through the second half of the course in spite of facing the worst of the stream and wind.

The upbeat British mood was dampened by the defeat of Greg Searle in the Diamond Sculls. His opponent, Marcel Hacker, was junior world champion in 1995 and won the German national trials this season before finishing third in the World Cup. Hacker, in full German colours, kept up the pressure throughout and never let Searle, a notoriously slow starter, mount his usual late challenge. Hacker was delighted by this scalp in front of such an audience and will start as favourite against Jamie Koven of the USA, the 1997 world champion and winner here last year.

In the women's invitational eights, the British national eight raced an American crew from their national training centre, but not a full US crew, and won by a length in relatively good form after a poor World Cup campaign had sapped confidence. Today they will meet the supposedly stronger British women's squad, who have raced this season in the pair, double scull, and quadruple scull, and who put out the Polish eight by four and a half lengths in their first race as a unit.

In the women's sculls the German champion Katrin Rutschow won easily over her British opponent Kirstin McLelland Brooks. And the five-times winner, Maria Brandin of Sweden, meted out similar justice to Frances Houghton, a junior world medallist last year in the double scull.

Brandin has no form from the World Cup and Rutschow, who has been in the thick of it all season, must be the favourite to become the first German to win the Princess Royal Cup.

The British team coxless pair of Simon Dennis and Steve Williams made sure of their place in the final of the Silver Goblets with a demonstration row over Gray and Partridge of Leander.

Williams and Dennis, who lead the World Cup going into the final round at Lucerne next week never look entirely easy when the pressure is off.

But, in tough races, when the power is on, and which they claim to prefer, they lose their hesitancy and the boat flows that much more smoothly.