Cricket: Mullally walks tall with size 12 shuffle

England 178-8 in 50 overs Australia 145-9 in 36 overs England win on faster run rate

FOR A brief moment after England's rain-affected seven-run victory at the Gabba last night it was possible to think that the wrath of the authorities would be heaped on English cricket and that the whole contest would be subject to an inquiry about gambling on matches. Fortunately, it turned out that Alan Mullally was talking about bootmakers.

It was a member of that honourable profession who made a substantial contribution to England's cause at the start of the Carlton & United series. This makes for a healthy change. For weeks one-day cricket has been making headlines because of the unhealthy influence of bookmakers.

Not that the story which Mullally related after cutting through Australia's top order is anything other than bizarre. He took four wickets in 27 balls, just when it seemed the consensus that England were at least 30 runs short of a competitive score would be proved painfully accurate, and then explained how. If it did not say too much for the meticulous preparations on which this England pride themselves, it was gripping stuff.

It seems that after a long tour Mullally's size 12s were rather more than down at heel. Ian Botham secured a replacement pair from Nike but when they arrived they were two sizes too small. Mullally had worn basketball boots before and found them to his liking so he took a wild chance and went to a Brisbane sports shop.

There he found a pair of basketball boots of the type promoted in return for a fortune by the great basketball player, Michael Jordan. The boot- maker was enlisted to sand down the sole and replace it with a leather version into which spikes were inserted. White tape was then liberally applied to the black segments on the uppers to make them look suitable for cricket.

Mullally said they were the most comfortable pair of boots he had ever worn. "All I need now is $40m (pounds 25m) like Michael Jordan and I will be home and hosed," he said. His spell of eight overs merited the rewards it reaped.

The pitch, green and moist after heavy rain in Brisbane, was more like something in England in late May than the Gabba, which is generally reckoned to be the best one-day batting pitch around. It was here last week that England made 324.

The first success of the day was Alec Stewart's winning of the toss for the first time this winter in an international match. After calling heads as usual he gave a little jig of delight. The feeling of relief lasted precisely one ball for him when England batted. Nick Knight played a maiden and then the England captain was palpably lbw to Adam Dale's first delivery.

It swiftly became clear that here was a pitch whose reputation, on the day at least, was false. The ball was moving if not alarmingly then enough to prevent assured strokeplay. In addition to which Australia's fielding and the field placings of their acting captain, Shane Warne, were both highly commendable.

None of the top batsmen managed to look truly in and though Graeme Hick was the victim of a dodgy decision there was also some pretty injudicious play. Vince Wells, who with Mark Alleyne was making his debut for England in a one-day international, was not exactly out of his depth at No 3 though he looked a bit perplexed as Glenn McGrath greeted him with a burst of balls which made a statement something along the lines of: "Welcome to the big time, mate."

Neil Fairbrother worked the ball around as usual best but it was not a comfortable process for this master of the rotating scoreboard. England were indebted to the ninth-wicket stand of 42 from 57 balls between Darren Gough and Robert Croft, using care and common sense.

It rained during the break and Australia lost 14 of their 50 overs. The revised target, assessed by a system of Australia's own invention rather than the Duckworth-Lewis method now favoured in most other places, left them needing 153 in 36 overs to pass England's 178.

When Gough failed to control the swinging white ball it seemed only a matter of how much Australia would help their run rate in securing victory. The Yorkshireman went for 32 off his first three overs. But at the other end Mullally was accurate and gaining movement. He bowled Adam Gilchrist with a beauty and though Mark Waugh played some sweet strokes, Australia went from 46 for 1 to 48 for 5.

There was still, however, the little matter of Michael Bevan, the most effective one-day batsman in the world. He ran swiftly between the wickets, aided by Brendon Julian. A tight finish looked likely but the run out of Warne by Mark Alleyne, moving swiftly to his left at mid-off, finally put it beyond Australia's reach (though their overall run rate was 4.02 compared to England's 3.56).

They needed 14 off the final over, too many even for Bevan, who finished with 56 in 76 balls with just one four. He probably thought the match was a load of cobblers.

BRISBANE SCOREBOARD

England won toss

ENGLAND

N V Knight c Gilchrist b McGrath 30

98 min, 57 balls, 3 fours

*A J Stewart lbw b Dale 0

4 min, 1 ball

V J Wells b Dale 10

28 min, 22 balls, 1 four

G A Hick c Gilchrist b Fleming 8

18 min, 14 balls, 1 four

N H Fairbrother b McGrath 47

123 min, 83 balls, 4 fours

A J Hollioake c Gilchrist b Fleming 5

23 min, 20 balls

M W Alleyne run out 2

5 min, 3 balls

M A Ealham c Ponting b Julian 14

32 min, 31 balls, 1 six

R D B Croft not out 26

48 min, 46 balls, 1 four

D Gough not out 23

33 min, 24 balls, 2 fours

Extras (lb4, w8, nb1) 13

Total (for 8, 50 overs) 178

Fall: 1-0 (Stewart), 2-29 (Wells), 3-42 (Hick), 4-72 (Knight), 5-87 (Hollioake), 6-93 (Alleyne), 7-122 (Ealham), 8-136 (Fairbrother).

Did not bat: A D Mullally.

Bowling: McGrath 10-1-24-2 (4-1-12-0, 2-0-2-1, 4-0-10-1); Dale 10-3-25- 2 (w2) (one spell); Fleming 10-0-33-2 (w1) (4-0-11-1, 4-0-15-1, 2-0-7- 0); Julian 5-0-29-1 (nb1, w2) (3-0-17-0, 2-0-12-1); Warne 10-0-42-0 (w2) (7-0-22-0, 3-0-20-0); Blewett 5-0-21-0 (w1) (one spell).

Progress: 50: 74 min, 102 balls. 100: 146 min, 197 balls. 150: 196 min, 272 balls.

AUSTRALIA

M E Waugh c Stewart b Mullally 23

35 min, 22 balls, 4 fours

A C Gilchrist b Mullally 13

14 min, 11 balls, 2 fours

R T Ponting c Hollioake b Mullally 8

26 min, 18 balls

D R Martyn b Mullally 0

16 min, 8 balls

G S Blewett c Stewart b Ealham 0

7 min, 10 balls

M G Bevan not out 56

122 min, 76 balls, 2 fours

B P Julian b Croft 23

63 min, 43 balls, 1 four

*S K Warne run out 8

24 min, 16 balls

D W Fleming c Mullally b Croft 2

14 min, 7 balls

A C Dale b Gough 4

11 min, 4 balls

G D McGrath not out 1

3 min, 1 ball

Extras (lb2, nb5) 7

Total (for 9, 36 overs) 145

Fall: 1-24 (Gilchrist), 2-46 (Waugh), 3-47 (Ponting), 4-48 (Blewett), 5-48 (Martyn), 6-94 (Julian), 7-117 (Warne), 8-129 (Fleming), 9-142 (Dale).

Bowling: Gough 6-0-47-1 (w3) (3-0-32-0, 2-0-10-0, 1-0-5-1); Mullally 8-1-18-4 (one spell); Ealham 7-1-16-1 (5-1-9-1, 2-0-7-0); Hollioake 7- 1-31-0 (w1) (5-1-18-0, 2-0-13-0); Croft 7-0-24-2 (w1); Alleyne 1-0-7-0 (one spell each).

Progress: 50: 55 min, 71 balls. 100: 121 min, 158 balls.

Bevan 50: 111 min, 71 balls, 1 four.

Umpires: D J Harper and A J McQuillan.

Man of the match: A D Mullally.