Clem Hill's Reminiscences

innings on a soft wicket by Jack Worrall. Batting just under 90 minutes he scored 76 out of 95. England responded with 220. In our second innings five of our best batsmen were out for 39. But then, as frequently happened on the tour, the later batsmen set out to save the game by stubborn defence and pluck. The Englishmen marvelled at out patience, at our great tenacity. We were never defeated until the last ball was bowled. It was Trumper and Kelly who first came to the rescue. They put on 58, and then Trumble and Laver became associated and added 73. England were called upon to make 177 to win, but on the last day there was so much rain that the match was abandoned. Briggs collapses in theatre The Englishmen were without doubt weakened by the absence of Johnny Briggs, one of their best bowlers. He was seized with a fit while the teams were in a theatre on the night of the first day. He never played again in first-class cricket that season, but he appeared in a few games for his county in the following year. When we were steaming down one of the Gippsland rivers to the lakes in Victoria some shooting was going on. Ranjitsinhji (a crack shot) was at the bow waiting to get his first pop at some black ducks some distance ahead. When about 100 yards off Briggs crept up on the bridge and blew the whistle. Off went the ducks. Ranji was furious. Briggs came along later sympathising deeply and saying many unkind things about the man on the bridge who blew the whistle. I remember Briggs at Old Trafford playing a ball straight to mid-on and shouting to his partner to come on. He had a knack of bolting out of his crease a few yards, turning quickly and bolting back again. The fieldsman did not know him, and let fly at the wicket with no chance of running him out. Four for an overthrow resulted. An antic of this sort would create roars of laughter for three or four minutes, much to the discomfort of the fieldsman. In this third Test at Leeds, Charlie McLeod arrived in the dining room at the Queen’s Hotel at 11.15 for breakfast, as he thought. Seeing the room empty he said to the waiter, ‘Am I the first down?’ ‘Yes’, replied the waiter, ‘first down to lunch.’ He looked at his watch, saw the time, rushed to the ground three miles away without his breakfast, and was just in time to find himself left out of the team. This was my last Test of the tour. As soon as the game was over, I went to London for the removal of a post-nasal growth, and expected to be back within a week. But a germ got into my system, and I became thoroughly run down and weakened. I accompanied the team, but it was not until towards the end of the season that I was able to resume. 12 Noble’s stubborn Test fight: determined to save side from defeat Eight and a half hours batting for 149 runs. That was the patient performance of Monty Noble in the fourth Test match played at Manchester in 1899. He set His Second English Tour 51