Date-stamped : 12 Jul96 - 02:17 Tour Match MCC v South Africa 'A' Shenley Park 10,11,12 July 1996 ====> REPORT (Day 1, 10 Jul 1996) Tour Match: Tourists lashed by Arthurton By Charles Randall at Shenley Park First day of three: South Africa A (31-2) trail MCC (391-7 dec) by 360 runs LITTLE has been heard of Keith Arthurton since his wretchedly em- barrassing World Cup, but the West Indian popped up in rural Hertfordshire yesterday to slaughter some tempting South African bowling. Arthurton is spending the summer playing for High Wycombe in the Thames Valley League and he was able to let off further steam for a cosmopolitan MCC side at Shenley Cricket Centre`s beautiful oval. In India his haul, as a specialist batsman, of two runs in five innings had been one of the mysteries of the World Cup, but yesterday the left-hander`s bat swung freely for 82 off 78 deliveries, including six sixes. He trimmed a lively seam attack and then demolished the spinners, driving Derek Crookes`s second ball deep into a laurel bush and in the same over depositing the off-spinner for another into a field of ripening wheat, which required a lengthy ball- search. Source :: Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk) ====> REPORT (Day 2, 11 Jul 1996) Rural idyll just what doctor ordered By Charles Randall at Shenley Park Second day of three: South Africa A (204 & 133-1) trail MCC (391-7 dec) by 54 runs DENIS Compton performed a ceremony yesterday that gave his name to this lovely rural oval in Hertfordshire, on the edge of Lon- don, and as Middlesex`s president said he would be asking the county`s committee for championship cricket on "his" ground. He could picture Middlesex camped here for four days, surrounded by a verit- able Kew Garden of trees: chestnuts, oaks, elders, ash, cherries and crab apple, with a rolling wheat field isolat- ing the north sightscreen. Not often is a first-class match interrupted while clusters of fieldsmen wander knee-deep in wheat looking for the ball. "This ground has the essence of cricket," sighed Compton on the veranda of the balconied Edwardian pavilion. The wide outfield, levelled and laid out under W G Grace`s super- vision at the turn of the century, has remained dead flat over the decades, and the pitch looked sound yesterday as the South Africans recovered from the follow-on. Nigel Francis, 24, with a similar action to Ian Bishop, his fel- low Trinidad and Tobago bowler, unhinged the tourists` first in- nings with his pace and accuracy. Francis had nightwatchman Nicky Boje held at short leg, dislodged the impressive John Commins and produced one snorter that pinged off Herschelle Gibbs`s helmet grille, carrying 50 yards into the outfield. Source :: Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk) Contributed by Shash (shs2@*.cwru.edu)