CRICKET: Generosity of spirit on the field of play is not considered one of the great Australian virtues. Tooth and claw might as well be national symbols here; if a man is down, give him a shoeing and only after play take him a beer to salve the wounds, writes Mike Selvey in Sydney.
But they were generous to Mark Butcher yesterday almost to a fault and, although the second new ball dragged the first day of the final Test back on an even keel, leaving England at 264 for five, the Surrey left-hander had thanked his hosts after batting his way to his sixth Test century in more than six hours.
Tiredness, over-ambition and Brett Lee's pace and verve finally did him in with the sanctuary of the dressing-room barely three overs away. Lee, hostile all day, pitched up wide of off-stump and Butcher, as he has done a thousand times during his career, launched himself at the offside.
Tiredness stole his conviction, though, his eye and timing out as the ball wavered back into him a fraction. It caught the edge, diverted on to his stumps and, as Lee celebrated in extravagant fashion, Butcher removed his helmet and, with the beads of sweat on his head glistening in the evening sun, he raised his bat to the thunderous applause of 44,000 people and disappeared into the pavilion.
As an example of how to take one's opportunities, his 124 was a masterpiece, much more like his first Test and Ashes hundred four years ago in Brisbane - which stood out amid a background of low scores - than his landmark innings of 173 not out against Australia at Headingley two years later.
He might have been lbw to his first ball before the sleep was from his eyes, as Lee's booming inswinger, sent down at searing pace, crashed into his pads. The appeal was compelling and looked justified, but Russell Tiffin was unmoved.
Next, on 13, Damien Martyn in the gully climbed high but just failed with his left hand to cling on to a typically loose drive.
The chance he offered to the close cordon on 43 - he flirts shamelessly with slips and gullies - was simpler and ought to have been left to the excellent hands of Martin Love at first slip.
Instead Adam Gilchrist, who had already poached one catch with spectacular success, tried to do so once again and he pushed the chance away.
Finally, having fought his way to within five of his hundred, Butcher's attempt to heave Stuart MacGill's leg-break mightily towards mid-wicket brought only an under-edge on to his front pad and a rebound to Matthew Hayden lurking at silly point.
This time, to everyone's disbelief, the South African umpire Dave Orchard looked kindly upon him.
It was certainly a curate's egg of an innings. Butcher is a rounded man who gets his kicks not just at the crease but with his music and in the bar.
He is not the type to see the new year in with a glass of lemonade and until well past lunch and on into the afternoon he might have been batting with his eyes closed so frequently did ball after ball rip past his outside edge, especially early on in the day.
Butcher kept on, buoyed by the efforts of Nasser Hussain at the other end. This was the captain at his battling, bloody-minded best, taking advantage of slack Australian fielding (the catch MacGill missed off his own bowling when Hussain had only half-a-dozen was the simplest of the series) to score 75 with eight excellent boundaries.
None was better than the pull off Lee immediately after being "sent to the penthouse suite" by the paceman and immediately and pointedly asking for the sightscreen to be moved to a proper position.
The pair were to add 166 together, beating Wally Hammond and Maurice Leyland's third-wicket record for England on this ground and the sixth highest for any wicket.
At times, when both hit a purple patch, it bordered on exhilarating. Hussain deserved a hundred but fell three-quarters of the way there, unable to avoid a bouncer from Jason Gillespie, the ball feathering his glove on the way to Gilchrist.
Quite what woke Butcher from his apathy midway through his innings is unclear. Suddenly after the interval the runs began to flow as if he had turned on a tap.
MacGill was hit searingly through the covers, swept square and then, two overs later, back-cut through the gully as his initial forward press movement seduced the bowler into dropping his length.
When Andy Bichel tried a slower ball it was clipped mercilessly through mid-on before one of a number of MacGill full tosses was smashed through the covers.
The loss of Hussain, immediately after Orchard's blunder, might have upset a man more easily distracted than Butcher. Instead another MacGill full toss - the leg-spinner sent down more than a third of Australia's 90 overs - was put away firmly before a flick to leg gave him his century.
The third-wicket stand resurrected an innings that had seemed doomed to go off the rails after Michael Vaughan and Marcus Trescothick were dismissed inside the first hour.
Only five days ago Vaughan's wonderful 145 had made him the leading run scorer of 2002. Yesterday's innings made him the lowest scorer of this year. How the mighty have fallen.
Although Australia bowled their way back into the day with three wickets after tea, it finished positively for England.
Whether or not Alec Stewart had chicken pox in what may be his last Test, he came out in a rash of strokes, culminating in the last two balls of the day from Lee hitting the boundary boards.
Stewart waited for more, only to be told by John Crawley that stumps had been drawn and all were making their way off. Like Stewart, it was well spotted.
Guardian Service
Herschelle Gibbs and Graeme Smith thrashed a lacklustre Pakistan bowling attack as they shared South Africa's highest Test partnership of all time on the first day of the second and final Test at Newlands in Cape Town yesterday. Gibbs (228) and Smith (151) put on 368 for the first wicket. South Africa finished the day on 445 for three, which beat a 100-year-old record for the most runs in the country in a single day.
South Africa's performance made virtually certain that they would finish the match as the official world Test champions. They need only to draw the match to win the series and go ahead of Australia in the ICC table.
Sydney scoreboard: Fifth Test - First day
DETAILS: South Africa: First innings 445 for 3 (G Smith 151, H Gibbs 228) England won toss
ENGLAND - FIRST INNINGS
M Trescothick c Gilchrist b Bichel 19
M Vaughan c Gilchrist b Lee 0
M Butcher b Lee 124
N Hussain c Gilchrist b Gillespie 75
R Key lbw b Waugh 3
J Crawley not out 6
A Stewart not out 20
Extras (b6, lb3, nb8) 17
Total (5 wkts, 90 overs): 264
Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-32, 3-198, 4-210, 5-240
Bowling: Gillespie 21-7-48-1 (1nb), Lee 20-5-66-2 (1nb), Bichel 14-3-58-1 (2nb), MacGill 31-5-81-0 (4nb), Waugh 4-3-2-1
Umpires: David Orchard (Rsa) Russell Tiffin (Zim)
