Clem Hill's Reminiscences

I don’t recommend his kind of living. The pace was too fast and he paid the penalty. It is interesting when looking back over the Test matches to speculate how results would have been different if something had happened – a catch taken or a player run out. The last Test in England in 1902, played on the Kennington Oval, was won by the home side by one wicket, but we think the game should have been ours. The Englishmen had 263 to make. Palairet, MacLaren, Tyldesley, Hayward, and Braund were out for 58, and our bowlers – Trumble and Saunders – were still receiving assistance from the rain-affected wicket. Jessop, Hirst and Jackson turned the tide. Jessop was a great hitter. He was not a success in Australia, his highest score in Tests being only 35. But in England where the wickets are slower, he would jump out and hit the ball very hard. He should have been stumped off Saunders in this Test at Kennington Oval before he had made 30. He was down the pitch two yards, and did not attempt to get back until he saw that the wicket-keeper had fumbled the ball. He scrambled home just in time. Darling was a great captain, but we thought he was in error in this match. The only way Jessop could play Trumble was by jumping out and hitting him. One end of the Kennington Oval is longer than the other. Trumble was bowling from the short end, known as the pavilion end, with the result that Jessop was hitting him into the grandstand. If he had been on at the long end, and Jessop had continued making the same lusty hits, he would have been caught in the outfield. Before Hirst had scored there was a confident appeal by both Trumble and Kelly, the wicket-keeper, for lbw, but the umpire did not allow it. Neither Trumble nor Kelly ever appealed unnecessarily. MacLaren and Jackson, who were sitting in the Englishmen’s dressing room and right over the wicket, saw the incident, and after the match extended their sympathy to us. They were sure Hirst was out. When England wanted 15, and there was only one wicket to fall, Armstrong practically caught Rhodes in the slips. He overbalanced and the ball fell out of his hands. The winning hit was a possible chance. A brilliant fieldsman like Jones or Gregory would have moved forward smartly and possibly have caught it, but Saunders made little effort. But that’s cricket. Both teams suffer similarly. Trumble did some fine bowling. He was on at the pavilion end unchanged right through the match. In the first innings his figures were eight for 65, and in the second four for 108. Duff was out to a marvellous catch by Lilley, the wicket-keeper. Lilley jumped a yard to the leg side, and held a ball that would have gone for four. A South African Sojourn, 1902 Hill made no mention that this tour included three Test matches played on the way home from England. Darling’s Australian side won the series 2-0 on His Third English Tour 70