Clem Hill's Reminiscences

Jack Lyons had been a stalwart in the ranks of Australian cricketers up to this period, but he now dropped out of Test matches until 1897, when he played in one game. I have many recollections of his tremendous hitting. The cricket associations had to repair many pickets broken by him. I have never known a batsman who, without leaving his crease, could clout the ball with the power that he could. It was seldom that he lifted it into the air. He drove with great power without apparent effort, the result of perfect timing. He was so confident that the ball would go to the boundary that he would call out to his partner, ‘Don’t move, son; I’ve hit that one.’ In those days a batsman had to go through the public bar at the Adelaide Oval to reach the small dressing-room. I was passing through to fill the vacancy caused by the dismissal of Lyons when I heard one of the men at the bar put down his glass of beer and call out, ‘How did you get out, Jack?’ A batsman is not in the best of humour when he is returning to the pavilion after having made a duck. Jack wasn’t. ‘There was a ******* hole in my bat,’ he snapped out viciously. A favourite excuse of Jack’s for getting out was that the perspiration was in his eyes, and an expression that he often trotted out was, ‘I’m a doer; not a talker.’ Caught ball in pith helmet! But I am digressing. I am taking you with me on the trip to England. Ernie Jones was my mate in the cabin near the propeller on the Cuzco . He was very seasick, and his anguish was pitiable. I was just as bad. ‘Oh, to goodness, that I could find the man who first put a cricket ball in my hand!’ he exclaimed bitterly. He soon got over it. We played at Colombo. Pith hats were supplied to members of the team. The ubiquitous Graham, of course, had to provide the merriment of the day by using his to catch the ball with in the outfield. Much to the delight of the onlookers, and the disgust of the owner, a ball went right through and dropped to the ground. The first match in England was against Lord Sheffield’s team on his private ground. The great W.G.Grace was captain of the English side, and he opened to the bowling of Jones. The wicket was fast and fiery, and in the opening over two successive balls from ‘Jonah’ hit the old man fair on the chest. He never winced or flinched in the slightest, but stood up to the fast stuff like a Briton. 7 He and Ranjitsinhji, of whom I shall have something to say in my next article, made 140 out of the 190 scored by the Englishmen. Ranji, who was making his first appearance against the Australians was nimble as a kitten, and we at once realised that he was a great batsman. There was no leg theory with Jones. 8 He sent them down fast, of good length, and right on the wicket. Of course, there were times when his direction was His First English Tour 19 7 No figure has dominated cricket to the extent of W.G.Grace. Credited with changing the structure of the game in England, the reference here to W.G., who at 48 displayed John Bull characteristics, might also be seen after the Bodyline series as being a sideswipe at the Australians who were accused of squealing about the English tactics. 8 This could be another aside on Bodyline, using the term preferred by some English commentators ‘leg theory’.