(SYDNEY) Centurion Mark Butcher admitted he had enjoyed his fair share of luck as England tried to salvage some pride in the final Test against Australia.

Butcher survived several scares to hit 124 and help England to 264-5 at the close of the first day's play at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

It was a welcome return to form for the Surrey left-hander after his return of just 160 runs in the first four Tests but he was dropped twice and given two further reprieves by the umpires.

Butcher, whose five-and-a-half-hour knock ended when he played on to Brett Lee four overs from the close, said: ''I wouldn't be the first person on either side to have had more than one go at it in an innings on this trip, so I'm not going to make any apologies for that.

''I've struggled a bit during the series and fortunately things came back to me a little bit as the innings went along today - it's always nice when that happens.

''I've not been particularly worried about it, I've just been a bit concerned about when my rhythm was going to come back.

''I try not to be too complicated about batting and the way I play and the rhythm just comes and goes sometimes.

''I was under a little pressure to score a few runs, pressure I've put on myself because I expected myself to score more runs in this series so it was nice to turn that around in front of a big crowd today.''

Butcher also revealed that wicketkeeper Alec Stewart, who was unbeaten on 20 at the close, played despite contracting a bout of chickenpox.

Stewart, who missed the 4th Test with a bruised hand, woke up with a rash and arrived late at the SCG after a trip to hospital.

Butcher added: ''We heard just before we got onto the coach this morning that he was off for a test and he thinks he's got chickenpox and he has got it.

''I think nearly everybody has had it among us, but he wasn't feeling so good today.''

Australia, who confirmed they would not object if Stewart's condition got worse and England needed to field a substitute wicketkeeper, had medical problems of their own with seamer Andy Bichel damaging his left index finger attempting to stop a drive from England captain Nasser Hussain.

The hosts are already without key bowlers Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne and must now wait whilst Bichel has an X-ray.

Coach John Buchanan however claimed it was not a serious injury and said: ''It will take more than that to keep Andy off the field.''

Buchanan admitted that four missed chances had given England a helping hand but their three wickets late in the day meant honours were even.

''It is relatively evenly balanced,'' said Buchanan. ''Excellent batting by Butcher and Hussain gave them a good launchpad but the run rate didn't get away from us and getting a couple of wickets near the end evened the day out.

''Obviously we made it harder work for ourselves than it should have been with the four missed chances.

''I think the standard of fielding from us during the series has been reasonably good so it's disappointing to miss those chances but the batsmen capitalised on that and good luck to them.''

England's hopes of posting a first innings score in excess of 300 rest heavily on John Crawley and Stewart, a point not lost on Buchanan.

''Crawley and Stewart are at the crease and that's a pretty crucial partnership for England as they try to get a big first innings score.

''Any score of 350-plus would be reasonable on that wicket. Anything above 400 and England would be looking to put some pressure on us.''

Asked how much Australia had missed injured duo Warne and McGrath, Buchanan added: ''It would be pretty difficult to say you hadn't missed those two but the guys have bowled pretty well and apart from the missed chances it's been a pretty solid day.''

1 Jan, 2003