Date-stamped : 17 Dec94 - 22:26 England v Queensland, Tour Match played at Toowoomba, 17-20 December 1994 ====> Day 1, 17 Dec 94 Gatting and Crawley stage their own battle for test spot Mike Gatting, spurred by the presence of John Crawley at the other end, cracked an unbeaten century against Queensland here Saturday in an attempt to retain his England place for next weekend's second Melbourne test. Gatting, a two-innings failure in England's 184-run loss to Australia in the first Brisbane Test, found form against Queensland, led by Australian strike bowler Craig McDermott, to remain 114 not out as England finished the opening day of their four-day match at 355 for five. At the other end, second Test hopeful John Crawley added further weight to his test chances by scoring 91. Gatting and Crawley put on a 202-run third wicket stand in only 200 minutes as England pushed aside the recent one-day miseries against Zimbabwe and the Australian Cricket Academy. The two are vying for the same batting spot in Melbourne next week, depending on the team's worrying injury list. Gatting would not talk after the day's play, but England manager Keith Fletcher did, even though he could not be drawn to comment on Gatting's situation. "Gatt's obviously still a great player," Fletcher said. "He's been a bit out of nick but it's not that he hasn't been trying, the form just wasn't there." Fletcher said that despite growing criticism following his side's recent poor performances he would not quit his job. Fletcher's defiance follows attacks in the media after England slid to a 13-run loss against Zimbabwe on Thursday. "It's entirely up to the journalists what they write, but I've still got two-and-a-half years of my contract to go and I intend to see things through," Fletcher said Saturday. But he did say that much of the media criticism of England's efforts was fair comment. (Thanks : AFP) Contributed by Ram.Krishnan (rkrishna@garnet.acns.fsu.edu)