England enjoy fun and farce

Cricket

JAMES ALEXANDER

reports from Randjesfontein

England 242-4 dec NFO XI 130 England won by 112 runs

England won the opening match of their tour largely as they pleased yesterday and had some fun along the way. Nicky Oppenheimer's collection of has-beens and young thrusters under the captaincy of his son, Jonathan, was never going to provide problems for an international team - even England. The victory margin was 112 runs.

There will be many more demanding occasions ahead - they could scarcely be less demanding - but it was a perfectly pleasant way for England to mark their first game in South Africa for 31 years. The sunshine was flawless, the ground picturesque and the largesse agreeable. The proceeds from a crowd of around 1,000 went to the United Board of South Africa's development programme and, in the spirit of unity, black and white children played happily together on the outfield during intervals.

Oppenheimer decided he wanted his own cricket ground, so he built one on his estate. Diamond billionaires can do that sort of thing. He has made a splendid job of it, too. The pavilion is marble-floored, and Ernie Els could practice his putting on the outfield.

The atmosphere was relaxed, the circumstances occasionally close to farcical. Herschelle Gibbs, one of the most highly-rated young batsmen in South Africa, was unable to field after slipping in the shower. When he batted, he was out for nought. Later, Hugh Page, who had one season with Essex in the late 1980s, faced two balls before realising he was not wearing his contact lenses. When he returned, Page saw the ball well enough to clobber three sixes off Richard Illingworth.

Illingworth, though, collected five wickets and he and Alec Stewart, playing his first match since July, will take most from the game. Illingworth's chances will be at a premium in a Test series sure to be dominated by quick bowling, but he is a vastly improved bowler over the past 12 months - and he will not rock as many boats as Philip Tufnell.

Ray Illingworth says he wants his namesake's sensible character on tour rather than the volcanic presence of Tufnell. He also claimed a degree of credit for helping Illingworth. Apparently, Raymond noticed a flaw in Richard's action and encouraged him to place his rear foot parallel to the bowling crease in delivery stride. ''His action had become slack because of all the one-day cricket," Raymond said, ''and this allowed him to get more body into his action."

A coin was not even required to decide England would bat and, before lunch, the hosts' generosity extended beyond rigging the toss and ample helpings of smoked salmon and chardonnay. Michael Atherton and Stewart were both dropped twice - the chances ranging from dollies to difficult - and some of the bowling was no better than decent club standard. Yet England's batting had an ample coating of rust and the potential carnage never materialised.

Atherton missed a drive at Page and Stewart struggled desperately to discover his timing in his first innings since July. He gradually started to play sweet shots and the two and a half hours he spent in the middle before retiring at lunch will do him no harm.

Mark Ramprakash was in better touch than any of the senior batsmen and one of the management's most fervent hopes is that his sublime talent - 10 centuries last summer - can at last be translated into Test match runs. John Crawley and Robin Smith also looked like men in need of match practice, but at least there is more than three weeks until the first Test. Jack Russell worked the ball around effectively in the late overs.

Devon Malcolm and Darren Gough knew the slow pitch would draw much of their sting and they eased themselves gently into action, never attempting to reach full pace. It was left to Illingworth and Mike Watkinson to run through the batting. Some wickets were earned with genuine skill, others presented by wild slogs as the festival atmosphere lasted until the end.

Scoreboard from Randjesfontein

(England won toss)

ENGLAND

*M A Atherton b Page 34

A J Stewart retired 74

M R Ramprakash lbw b Williams 48

J P Crawley c Oppenheimer b Benkenstein 14

R A Smith c Teeger b Williams 12

R C Russell not out 35

M Watkinson not out 15

Extras (b3, nb7) 10

Total (for 5, 60.2 overs) 242

Fall: 1-66, 2-147, 3-179, 4-183, 5-205.

Did not bat: D Gough, M C Ilott, R K Illingworth, D E Malcolm.

Bowling: Elworthy 11-3-24-0; Williams 12-2-48-2; Page 10.2-3-50-1; Kourie 10-2-36-0; Benkenstein 13-1-63-1; Oppenheimer 4-0-18-0.

NICKY OPPENHEIMER'S XI

M Yachad b Malcolm 2

R F Pienaar lbw b Illingworth 25

G Toyana c Watkinson b Illingworth 28

D M Benkenstein b Gough 1

H H Gibbs c Stewart b Illingworth 0

H A Page c Russell b Illingworth 22

S Elworthy run out 6

J Teeger c and b Watkinson 8

*J Oppenheimer not out 21

H S Williams b Watkinson 13

A Kourie c Gough b Illingworth 1

Extras (lb1, nb2) 3

Total (36 overs) 130

Fall: 1-2, 2-48, 3-56, 4-56, 5-63, 6-70, 7-95, 8-95, 9-115.

Bowling: Malcolm 5-0-17-1; Ilott 6-3-11-0; Gough 8-1-29-1; Illingworth 12-4-48-5; Watkinson 5-0-24-2.