In the penultimate match of their season, the Oporto Cricket and Lawn Tennis Club were hosts to an England XI, brought to Oporto by Essex wine merchants Lay and Wheeler.

A similar visit took place during Graham Gooch's benefit year in 1995, but this time round the trip was for Peter Such and John Stephenson, whose team included nine ex-England players.

On a fine autumnal day and with many UK supporters present, the England XI got off to a slow start. The first wicket, Robin Smith (3), a run out by a direct throw in from Edward Chambers, fell early at 7, but a century partnership by John Stephenson and Mike Gatting took the score to 111, when Mike Gatting (65) was caught by Intesab Mehdi off Nadeem Butt.

John Stephenson and Ian Gould kept up a steady scoring rate and the England XI were soon 178 when Ian Gould (35) was caught by Tony Baker.

John Stephenson continued his innings with several sixes before being caught at 85 by Edward Chambers off Paulo Buccimazza. At 211 Derek Pringle was brilliantly caught one-handed by Edward Chambers off Humayun Shahzad, who also took the wicket of Graham Gooch (13), caught by Steve Rogerson. Mark Ilott (16*) and Johnny Wheeler (3*) completed the 35 overs and taking the score to 242 for 6 in perfect time for a 1pm lunch.

The Portugal XI, featuring six players from the national squad, got off to a bad start, with Akbar Saiyad and Nadeem Butt back in the pavilion without scoring as a result of the acccurate fast bowling of Mark Ilott.

However, Martyn Wade and Intesab Mehdi gradually brought some stability to the innings before Medhi (16) was bowled by John Childs with the score at 59. The top quality bowling continued, and Edward Chambers did not get off the mark, bowled by John Childs. Runs were hard to come by, and at 142, Paulo Buccimazza (29) was caught by John Childs off John Stephenson.

Twelve runs later and with the best innings of the day, Martyn Wade (89) was caught by Peter Such off John Stephenson. Few overs remained, and the innings came to a close with Johnny Graham (6) caught and bowled by Robin Smith, Humayun Shahzad (10) caught by John Stephenson off Ian Gould, and Steve Rogerson (2) caught by John Childs off Ian Gould.

Tony Baker (10*) and Ian Selbourne (3*) completed the 35 overs, taking the score to 187 for 9, resulting in a win by 55 runs for the England XI.

All those present enjoyed a memorable day with a very high standard of cricket. After the match, John Stephenson presented a signed photograph to Johnny Graham and thanked him for the club's hospitality.