MICHAEL FINCH, Bloemfontein | Monday 9.00pm.
SPINNERS Phil Tufnell and Michael Vaughan shared five wickets as England beat a Free State/Griqualand West combined XI by 153 runs on Monday for the second win of their South African tour.
Left-arm spinner Tufnell captured three for 27 and Vaughan showed his off breaks are a useful addition to his primary role as a batsman by taking two for 37.
The combined team, 15 without loss overnight in pursuit of a victory target of 376, were bowled out for 222 with 12 overs of the fourth and final day remaining.
Not the least significant aspect of the result for England was that their main strike bowler, Darren Gough, finished with a match haul of six for 112 in only his second game since his injury enforced absence that started in mid-July.
Gough took two for 52 in the second innings and fellow pace bowler Gavin Hamilton had two for 39 which, allied to Vaughan’s two wickets, made the Yorkshiremen an influential trio in the outcome.
England grabbed four wickets in the morning session before Loots Bosman and Finlay Brooker put on a stubborn 79 for the fifth wicket.
The partnership, along with a rain interruption that cut 12 overs from the day, looked likely to deny the touring side until they regained the initiative by snapping up two wickets in six balls.
Left-arm paceman Alan Mullally trapped Bosman lbw for 40 off 77 balls, with seven fours, and Vaughan bowled Brooker for 56 from 149 deliveries, with five fours.
Despite a stubborn 33-run last wicket stand between Garth Roe and Chrisjan Vorster, it was eventually Vaughan who clinched victory by bowling the latter.
England next play a powerful Gauteng/Northerns combined XI, who include five former South African internationals, in a four-day match at Centurion Park starting Thursday — their last game before the first test next week. — Reuters