Clem Hill's Reminiscences

Plum Warner has been to Australia three times – twice as captain and once as manager – and has always returned with the Ashes. It cannot be all luck. He is a great and keen judge of the game. Warner was lucky with the coin, but not nearly so lucky as F.S.Jackson in the 1905 series in England. He won it every time from Darling. He also called correctly whenever they met in county matches. At Scarborough at the end of the season Jackson came to our dressing room. We surrounded him and quietly informed him that Darling was not going to toss him with a coin, but in the catch-as-catch-can or Graeco-Roman style. We did not dispute his ability to toss the coin to his own satisfaction. We, however, felt certain that he would not be a match for our thick-set, determined captain in either of the wrestling styles mentioned. A space was made for them, and they entered the ring. He whispered something to Darling. A coin was tossed. Jackson called ‘heads’. He did not wait to see what turned up, but burst through the cordon of players and told his two opening batsmen to put their pads on. He had won again. Noble was much more fortunate in the toss. He won it in all Tests in the 1909 tour of England. England, by winning three Tests to two in 1903-04, took the rubber. It was a success that was badly needed, as not only had the two previous teams to visit Australia been badly beaten, but the Australians had won the rubber in England in 1899 and 1902. Among the players in the team new to Australia were, in addition to the captain, R.E.Foster, B.J.T.Bosanquet, A.E.Knight, a steady bat, E.Arnold, a bowler after the style of Barnes and not given credit for his ability, H.Strudwick, second wicket-keeper, who made several visits to Australia after, A.Fielder, a fast bowler, and A.E.Relf, an all-rounder. All batsmen puzzled by googly Rhodes bowled splendidly, and Tyldesley made some valuable scores, but Bosanquet did more to give England the Ashes than any other player. He had conceived the idea while playing with a tennis ball on a table that it should be possible to make it break either way with the same movements of the fingers. If he could do that, he argued, his opponent who had to catch the ball when it bounced would be in difficulties because he would not know in which direction it was going. He experimented, and his success led him to try it with a cricket ball. He concentrated on his new delivery, which, first called the ‘Bosey’ came to be known as the ‘googly’. He gave up fast bowling. It was most difficult to know from his action whether the ball he was sending down would break from the leg or the off or come straight through. All ‘googly’ bowlers have their off days, and then they are punished severely. There were days when Bosanquet was erratic. But when he was in good form and bowling a consistently good length, he had all batsmen, Australian and English, puzzled. He was most dangerous on our fast wickets. There would always be a couple of poor balls in an over, and they would be sent away for a certain four. Warner’s Tour of Australia 73