Date-stamped : 04 Dec94 - 10:27 England v Bradman XI (50 overs a side) Bowral, 2 December 1994 England won in Bowral yesterday, which is not exactly winning the Ashes, but at least is an advance on its last visit here four years ago, and this is becoming a tour on which the smallest of gains has to be treasured. A win is a win, is a win, is not a de- feat. The Bradman XI made it perilously close for a while. England`s sixth wicket fell in the 40th over, and so their tail was exposed 70 runs short of the target, the outfield was heavy and the bowlers scented a kill. But Lancastrian John Crawley (91 not out) and Yorkshireman Darren Gough (26 not out) came up white and red roses for England, play- ing so well they won with seven balls to spare. They surmounted the problem with the outfield by hitting a six each; Brawley`s with such a mighty blow that with another metre of carry it would surely have finished up in the front yard of Sir Donald`s child- hood home. Crawley, who followed Mike Atherton from Cambridge to Lancashire and into the England team, seems to take a perverse delight in ruining Australian fairy tales, for it was his rousing century that inflicted on Australia their only first-class defeat until the last Test on last year`s Ashes tour. Australians may well wonder why he is not in England`s Test team; Englishmen do. As for Gough, he is no superstar, but the spirit of Fred Trueman moves within him; his heart is already winning the hearts of the Australian crowds. The southern highlands gave England the sort of warm welcome it likes, which is to say a bitterly cold one, so that Bowral seemed more like Bradford or even Balmoral. The Bradman XI were talented, but scarcely glamorous. Only four of their players are regulars with their State teams, but they did have the considerable moral force of playing under Sir Donald`s auspices, in his home-town, on the ground he first graced and is now named for him, and under the leadership of Test cricket`s greatest run-maker, Allan Border. England played five seam bowlers, excluding only the convalescing Devon Malcolm, but the young Australians ran up 4-205 without Border even taking block. Jason Arnberger, kept out of the NSW team by Mark Taylor and Michael Slater, made a composed 79, and shared 106 for the first wicket with Jamie Cox (42). All-rounder Shane Lee enhanced his cavalier reputation by clubbing two mas- sive sixes. Mike Atherton and Alec Stewart sent England away briskly, cream- ing 46 at run-a-ball, but then there was an implosion. Just as you might have imagined that Border was here as some sort of tem- porary exhibition at the Bradman Museum, he snapped up one of his patent ankle-high catches at short mid-wicket to send back Craig White. England [had lost] 4-30. But Crawley had by now built up a head of steam mightier than the locomotive on the excursion train from Sydney, his driving straight and through the off field in particular laden with hor- sepower. Mike Gatting shared 50 with him, then was out for the third time this tour to left-arm spinner Anthony Kershler, but Gough barged in and he and Crwaley knocked off the last 70 runs in less than 40 minutes. Crawley finished the match with consecutive fours from Maxwell. The first man to shake his hands was Border, and both were swamped. The boys from Bowral might wear baseball caps and play against plastic garbage bins instead of tankstands nowadays, but their heads are full of the same dreams as the original boy from Bowral. It was not merely the cold that made their cheeks glow. Thanks :: Greg Baum, Sydney Morning Herald. Contributed by David.Mar (mar@physics.su.OZ.AU)