Twelve players departed without the aid of the cut, with backs just shading wrists in the excuses department.Stewart investigated the rapid departure of Howard Clark after nine holes of his second round, at which point he was six over, but was happy the Ryder Cup man, who was penalised two shots for repairing the hole on the 13th instead of calling for a referee to do it, had a genuine shoulder injury. David Higgins was left playing on his own after Fabrice Tarnaud (hip) quit on the front nine. In terms of moving the event, I don’t think that was a realistic option. The actual construction of the site takes four weeks.” Relocating the sponsor’s pavilion by the 18th green, which offers an excellent view of the carnage, would have been a major problem apparently.The second half of the draw got by far the worst end of the deal, having been interrupted on Wednesday afternoon and having to resume in a strong wind yesterday morning. Given that it was almost impossible to get up and down from off the greens, making them harder to hit was a turn of the screw too much for some.

I was aware three weeks ago that there was a problem with the greens, but they have deteriorated since then. We will examine why things went wrong and make sure we learn from the mistakes. It is a hard decision to have to make to move the tournament but at least Woburn had been prepared for a tournament.”The tournament director, Mike Stewart, said: “It is fair to say that we are all disappointed that the greens have not been of the standard we would expect for a tournament of this stature and the apology extends to everyone involved. “It doesn’t do the sponsors any good or the Tour any good when we are playing for so much money and you have to putt on greens like that They have gone and they are not coming back. The greens here for the One 2 One British Masters, are that bad, however, and heavy overnight rain did not help the situation.

“They are the worst greens I have ever putted on,” Ian Woosnam said.
Woosnam, who first completed a first round 70 and then added a 76, went on to suggest that the tournament should have been moved somewhere else, like Woburn, which hosted the Women’s British Open only two weeks ago and where the greens are in excellent shape. Golf

It is, of course, a gross exaggeration to suggest that even Heaven and Country Club would draw complaints from a threeball of professional golfers, but only just. The former England opener struck 15 boundaries in a gritty stay of nearly four and a half hours for his 111.Athey, who offered a difficult chance to Hegg off Ian Austin on 43, also had a let-off having added three more when dropped at midwicket off Jason Gallian.From 147 for 3, Athey put on 70 in 24 overs with Keith Newell, who was playing in only his second Championship game of the season in place of the injured Martin Speight, ground out 31.Austin struck again shortly before stumps by having Peter Moores caught at cover and the pace bowler finished 3 for 34.. The visitors, 33 runs behind on first innings, reached 226 for 1 in their second by the close, courtesy of an unbeaten 106 by Jason Pooley.Bill Athey compiled a typically painstaking century to help Sussex take control by reaching 285 for 6 against Lancashire on a flat wicket at Hove. David Millns took 4 for 35 to bring his season’s haul to 56 wickets and there were two wickets each for Gordon Parsons, Phil Simmons and Vince Wells.Liam Botham, followed his five-wicket haul for Hampshire by making 30 on his debut against Middlesex at Portsmouth, but he hit only two boundaries in an hour-long innings. The former Great Britain sprinter, who decided to switch sports after he was left out of the Atlanta Olympic squad, is expected to put pen to paper next week.John will make his first domestic appearance for Moseley at South Wales Police in Saturday’s opening game in the new Anglo-Welsh Second Division..

Round-up

Leicestershire stepped up their Championship challenge yesterday by bowling out Somerset for 83, the third-lowest Championship score of the season, at their Grace Road headquarters. They followed up by reaching 202 for 5 by the close.
On a damp, greenish pitch, it was the seamers who did the damage after Somerset had been put in. “Both Ian and Jim were our top choices for their positions and no other candidates were interviewed.”The two coaches will benefit from having three squad sessions during the season with the players from the national squads of the four home unions. The giant Northampton forward was injured last April but the trouble has just been diagnosed as a damaged pubic bone.Jason John has accepted Moseley’s offer of a one-year professional contract. The touring team will be announced at the end of March.The England lock Martin Bayfield is facing a lengthy lay-off with a groin injury similar to the one which put Jeremy Guscott out of action for 14 months. He last worked with McGeechan when Scotland won the Grand Slam in 1990.Although the Home Unions tours committee, who are responsible for planning Lions’ tours, announced an advisory selection panel of four, it is clear that it will be Cotton, McGeechan and Telfer who have the final say.”What we want is to be the best prepared Lions team ever to leave these shores,” Cotton said yesterday. Darren Gough also played his part, giving away only 16 runs in his first five overs and his control was better than it often is.

Later on, Robert Croft played a most important part taking 2 for 36 in 10 excellent overs of off-spin. He confirmed all the good impressions he made at The Oval.When Pakistan’s first wicket fell, at 82, it was in the 24th over and the remaining batsmen found themselves under great pressure to push the score along and make up for this sedentary start. The England bowlers, backed up by good fielding, had throttled the early batting and taken control.Even so, the England batsmen had every chance of losing their way but they were given a wonderful start by Alec Stewart and Nick Knight. They attacked the bowling from the start and never let Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis settle down.This opening partnership effectively won the match although both Mike Atherton and Matthew Maynard made handsome contributions later on.To balance the equation though one has to say that this was an extremely slow pitch but even so Wasim and Waqar can be fast and hostile on any surface if they are in the mood. On Monday at The Oval they could not wait to get the ball and they ran in to bowl as if their lives depended on it.