Clem Hill's Reminiscences

On our previous tour of England Harry Trott knew how to get the best out of Jonah. On the eve of a test when a special effort was demanded he would go up to Jones and remark, ‘They say you are losing a little bit of pace, as compared with Tom Richardson.’ There was just a suspicion of rivalry between these two speed merchants. ‘Am I?’ Jones would snap back viciously, ‘we’ll see tomorrow if that’s so.’ I don’t know if anybody suggested to him on this first day at Lord’s that he was losing his pace, but I do know that he rocked them in at a tremendous pace. Six wickets were down for 66, and the whole side was out for 206. Jones’ figures were 7 for 88. One of his victims was Fry, who was magnificently caught by Trumble in the slips. Without the slightest fuss Trumble caught the ball right off his toes. Australia replied with 421. The Englishmen in their second innings compiled 240 leaving us 28 to make, which we did without the loss of a wicket. F.S.Jackson was making a stand in England’s second innings when Trumble caught and bowled him as he had done so often before with a slow ball. It was the last over of the day. Disgusted that he had fallen into the trap again, Jackson shouted out, ‘Damn!’ and he was heard all over the ground. 35 Hearne’s hat-trick This overwhelming defeat led to many changes in the English team for the third Test at Leeds. The English selectors, in fact, chopped the team about a great deal during this season. We were confronted by 23 different players in the five Tests. J.T.Hearne was brought back into the side, and in the second innings he secured the hat trick. With the third ball of an over he bowled me. It was on the wicket, and I tried to force it round to leg. Next ball Syd Gregory was caught at extra slip by MacLaren. Noble went in and snicked one which bounced off the pads of Lilley, the wicket-keeper, into the hands of Ranjitsinhji in the slips. The excitement was indescribable. When Gregory returned to the dressing room he snorted and said, ‘By crumbs, I’ve got them!’ He had made a duck in both innings. He took off his pads, lit his pipe, and went out to watch the game without any more display of feeling. Alf Noble, who was in the dressing room when Gregory was dismissed, did not know that Hearne had taken two wickets in two successive balls. He came back, and was reflecting gloomily over his failure, for he, like Gregory, had a pair of spectacles. At that moment he looked to be the most miserable man in the world. When I told him that he had given Hearne the hat trick he mumbled, ‘That makes it ten times worse.’ He took much longer to get over his dismissal than Gregory did. The odds were all in favour of England winning. We were lucky to get out with a draw. We were all out for 172 in the first innings, the feature being the fearless His Second English Tour 50 35 Shocking!