Fletcher cagey over result

England coach Duncan Fletcher insisted his team had plenty of work left after West Indies finished on 13 for nought on the second day of the fifth and final Test here at The Oval.

"What happens in the first hour or two hours tomorrow will be crucial. It's not a wicket that you are truly in on. There's a lot of cricket to be played," said Fletcher.

He added that the prospect of a sponsors 215,000 pounds team bonus for an England series win - they are 2-1 ahead - would have no effect on England's motivation. "The guys out there want to win a Test, that's all there is to it."

Sherwin Campbell was six not out and Adrian Griffith four not out, the tourists 268 runs behind. Campbell was lucky when in the first over of the innings he edged Darren Gough just short of Graham Thorpe at third slip with the tourists on nought.

Andrew Caddick at the Pavilion End also settled immediately into a probing line and length. He was unlucky not to have Griffith lbw for two in the 10th over when the batsman played no stroke.

Experienced English umpire David Shepherd rejected the appeal and the West Indies stayed on nine for nought. Gough had an equally good lbw shout against Griffith on four, West Indies 13 without loss in the 13th over.

The ball pitched in line and appeared to be going on to hit middle stump but Australian umpire Daryl Harper was unmoved. Caddick did not concede a run off the bat in his spell of 7-5-2-0, two no-balls his only blemishes. Gough was not quite so mean with 7-2-10-0 but he was still parsimonious enough.

Earlier, England were bowled out for 281 on the stroke of tea. Craig White was 11 not out on an afternoon when rain halted play for nearly two hours. It was cruel luck for the tourists, who could have done with wrapping up the innings quickly in a match they must win to square the series.

They could at least be pleased with holding England to under 300, a fine recovery after the home side had been 159 without loss on Thursday. Last man Gough weighed in with a typically flamboyant pulled four off first change fast bowler Nixon McLean and also struck Courtney Walsh for a boundary.

Walsh had his revenge when he clean-bowled Gough for eight to finish with figures of three for 68, the best return of the innings. Earlier, for the third time in the match, West Indies took two England wickets on the same score.

First Graeme Hick, two not out overnight, was lbw to Curtly Ambrose for 17, the Worcestershire captain playing outside the line of the ball after 116 minutes and 73 balls of uncomfortable resistance.

Then with the score still on 254, England lost their seventh wicket when Graham Thorpe on 40 was plumb lbw, once again deceived by Walsh's slower ball.

So convincing was the dismissal that the crowd saw the Surrey left-hander walk off his home ground before umpire Harper had given him out, a highly unusual sight in Test cricket where some batsmen stand their ground for obvious catches never mind lbws. Thorpe had been in for 204 minutes, faced 158 balls and struck a solitary boundary. His partnership with Hick yielded 40 runs in 162 balls.

Dominic Cork lasted just six balls, like Hick playing down the wrong line but in the Derbyshire captian's case he was lbw to McLean for nought.

England were then 255 for eight and a total of 300 plus which had seemed a realistic target when they were 159 for nought was now in the distance.

West Indies need to win this match to preserve an unbeaten series record against England that stretches back to 1969 but the weather as much as the opposition could yet frustrate them.

Mail Cricket Editor