Mitchley adds to Atherton's woes

South Africa 428 England 250-7 : FOURTH TEST: England captain unhappy with dismissal decision as his team-mates display familiar failings under pressure

DEREK PRINGLE

reports from Port Elizabeth

South Africa 428 England 250-7

If the sample population of twelve thousand or so people present at St George's Park was anything to go by, then the whole of the country must have come close to erupting at six minutes to noon yesterday, the moment Paul Adams celebrated his first wicket in Test cricket.

It did not stop there, either, and he later removed the England captain, Michael Atherton, albeit in controversial cicumstances, to finish a poignant day's cricket with 2 for 73 off 32 overs.

In the space of a month his rubber-hinged hiccup of an action has become one of the best known sights in South Africa. Best of all he is a product of what can be achieved in this country now that the old orthodoxy has been supplanted. His presence in this rather faceless side (whose most famous figure is, perversely, a fielder) is as fresh and unfettered as the Cape Doctor that whistles across the Cape Flats where he lives.

It did not matter a jot (except to England) that both his wickets were tinged with good fortune, for he bowled well throughout the day. The parsimonious nature of the pitch offered little turn and after being given some rough treatment by Graeme Hick, who struck him over long-on for his first six, he completed an invaluable first day in the classroom.

However, the rare sight of a third uninterrupted day's cricket did not prevent England from displaying their usual failings under pressure. Only Michael Atherton and Graeme Hick managed to pass fifty, and but for their partnership of 75 and some clever salvage work by Jack Russell and Richard Illingworth, who put on 50 late in the day, England would have been following- on with two days left to play.

Once again England were indebted to their skipper, who scored a grittily compact 72 before being given out caught behind off Adams. The ball - a rare chinaman - brushed the outside of the pad as Atherton went back to flick it to leg.

It was a poor decision from the umpire, Cyril Mitchley, standing in his 11th Test, not least because of the amount of doubt involved. That doubt had been in evidence just before lunch, when he gave Atherton the benefit of it, after the batsman swivelled on a short ball from Pollock, which faintly brushed the bottom glove on its way to the wicketkeeper.

In the event, Atherton looked up in disbelief muttering something under his breath, before trudging off knowing that his job of seeing England to relative safety across hostile country had been left unfinished.

The incident clearly upset Atherton and those that remember the England captain's deft polo swipe sending a plastic chair cartwheeling in Perth last winter, may like to know that a similar one, positioned invitingly outside the England dressing-room, had a leg mysteriously amputated, minutes after Atherton's dismissal.

If there was evidence of off-field chair abuse, there was no clear-cut dissent on the pitch, though 18 months earlier - against this same opposition at The Oval - he had been fined half his match fee (about pounds 1,500) for little more than shaking his head after being given out lbw.

The match referee on that occasion was Peter Burge, who, having been deceived earlier in the summer by Atherton, over the soil in the pocket affair at Lord's, was always going to come down hard. Yesterday's referee was Clive Lloyd, whose quick and sensible intervention promptly defused the ball tampering incident in Durban.

Once again he decided the player involved did not have a case to answer, though he did see fit to speak to the managers of both sides during the tea interval, in a bid to curb players from gesturing at one another on the field. The culprits apparently being Cork to Cullinan on Wednesday and the "I'm reeling you in" gesture Brian McMillan gave Robin Smith a few balls before sending him packing lbw.

Once again Smith showed the indecision that plagues his early minutes at the crease and when Hick followed him, lbw to Allan Donald, 10 overs later with the score 199 for 6, England looked to be listing. It was another poor decision, the ball striking Hick well above the knee roll, completing a trying day for umpire Mitchley.

At the press conference afterwards, Professor Richard Stretch, who has been monitoring a study of Test match umpires' heart rates, confirmed that they can often reach peaks of 140 per minute following an appeal. If this happens to be the case with Mitchley, then perhaps raising a finger is a way of avoiding impending cardiac arrest. If not, he will probably just admit to having had a bad day.

He was not the only one, as the majority of England's top order showed in another poor display on a near perfect batting pitch. Jason Gallian, who was neatly caught by Daryll Cullinan at first slip off Pollock, failed to add to his overnight score.

Gallian still pushes too hard at the good-length ball pitching around off stump, and although his 14 runs represented the highest score so far by an England No 3 in this series, it was a pyrrhic victory.

Another in need of a big score is Graham Thorpe, who looked in fine form, driving and pulling with great control despite an off-the-mark shot that flashed over cover point's head for four. When he was out, miscueing a pull off Adams to Jonty Rhodes at mid-wicket, he had played some of his best cricket of the tour so far.

It is a claim Dominic Cork would not presume to make after his three balls at the crease. He edged a wide one from Pollock, who bowled with persistent accuracy and aggression, finishing a good day for South Africa with 3 for 58.

England, who finished on 250 for 7, can still save this match, though much will depend on how South Africa bat in their second innings and whether Hansie Cronje will be as cautious as he was in Johannesburg, where his delayed declaration probably prevented his team from winning the second Test.

Port Elizabeth scoreboard

(Third day; South Africa won toss)

SOUTH AFRICA - First innings 428 (D J Cullinan 91, D J Richardson 84; D G Cork 4-113).

ENGLAND - First innings

(Overnight: 40 for 1)

*M A Atherton c Richardson b Adams 72

(298 min, 237 balls, 6 fours)

J E R Gallian c Cullinan b Pollock 14

(97 min, 78 balls, 2 fours)

G P Thorpe c Rhodes b Adams 27

(53 min, 34 balls, 3 fours)

G A Hick lbw b Donald 62

(191 min, 158 balls, 8 fours, 1 six)

R A Smith lbw b McMillan 2

(9 min, 9 balls)

R C Russell not out 26

(129 min, 89 balls, 3 fours)

D G Cork c Richardson b Pollock 1

(4 min, 3 balls)

R K Illingworth not out 25

(82 min, 60 balls, 5 fours)

Extras (lb7, w1, nb9) 17

Total (for 7, 438 min, 110 overs) 250

Fall (cont): 2-50 (Gallian), 3-88 (Thorpe), 4-163 (Atherton), 5-168 (Smith), 6-199 (Hick), 7-200 (Cork).

To bat: P J Martin, M C Ilott.

Bowling: Donald 20-5-40-1 (nb6) (4-0-9-0, 6-3-4-0, 4-1-9-0, 6-1-18-1); Pollock 22-8-58-3 (nb3, w1) (3-2-5-1, 2-1-1-0, 5-2-16-1, 7-2-15-0, 3-0- 16-1, 2-1-5-0); Adams 32-10-73-2 (7-2-16-0, 8-2-23-1, 2-1-5-0, 12-3-28- 1, 3-2-1-0); Matthews 20-7-42-0 (4-2-6-0, 5-0-14-0, 2-1-3-0, 4-1-13-0, 5-3-6-0); McMillan 15-6-30-1 (nb1) (5-3-5-0, 7-3-13-1, 3-0-12-0); Cronje 1-1-0-0.

Progress: 50: 93 min, 25.1 overs. 100: 181 min, 47 overs. Lunch: 109- 3 (Atherton 49, Hick 7) 51 overs. 150: 270 min, 72.5 overs. Tea: 170-5 (Hick 39, Russell 0) 81 overs. New ball taken after 88 overs at 190-5. 200: 353 min, 90 overs. 250: 436 min, 109 overs.

Atherton 50: 202 min, 166 balls, 4 fours.

Hick 50: 176 min, 140 balls, 6 fours, 1 six.

Umpires: S A Bucknor and C J Mitchley.