Clem Hill's Reminiscences

After a while the leading Australian batsmen became more accustomed to him, but he always had batsmen like McLeod, Trumble, Howell and Kelly in difficulties. Our first six batsmen would make a respectable score, but the remainder would collapse. Against ordinary bowling they would have made runs. In the fourth Test in Sydney he went on when the score was 74, and took 5 for 12, finishing up with 6 for 51. Charlie McLeod sat in the grandstand all one day studying the deliveries of Bosanquet, and then announced to us proudly that he could pick the ‘wrong’un’ He may have been able to do it to his satisfaction from the pavilion, but he certainly did not when he was at the wicket. I never saw such an exhibition of floundering by a batsman. Most of us did not try to pick the ‘googly’ (sooner or later we would be fooled if we did), but went down the pitch when we could and hit the ball before it could do anything. When in doubt we played back, packed up and watched. 47 Bosanquet was not the first bowler of the ‘wrong’un’ that I had played against. The first was Simpson-Hayward of Worcestershire. He bowled under-arm. The ball kept very low and came through quickly. He worried some of our batsmen. Syd Gregory could never master him, and often said that, if he were choosing an English eleven, Simpson-Hayward would be the first bowler. I was stumped off him in 1902. In the first international match in which I played – in 1894 in Adelaide – I was opposed to an under-arm bowler named Humphreys. Joe Darling relished him and banged him to all parts of the ground. There was another of these under-arm bowlers in Scotland. His name was Anderson. He used to run up the pitch after every delivery. I warned him that he might get his head knocked off by a batsman like Trumper; but he said he had never been hit. Soon after, one from Trumper whizzed past his ear. He stayed at his own end after that. 48 The first Test in Sydney was made memorable by a score of 287 from the bat of R.E.Foster. I have seldom seen greater contrast in a batsman. His batting for the first 80 was about the worst exhibition imaginable. He might have been out half a dozen times, and was missed at least twice. Next day he was a different man. He hit with great power all round the wicket. It was in this game that the umpire gave me run out when Trumper and I were making a stand. I was 51 at the time. The crowd showed dissatisfaction by hooting the umpire. Trumper made 185 not out. That, I consider, his best innings. It was unfortunate that there was nobody to stay with him. England required 194 to win, and had lost 4 for 83. Hirst then came in and Laver missed him before he had scored. It was anybody’s game at that stage. He went on and made 60 not out. England won by five wickets. Warner’s Tour of Australia 74 47 ‘Packed up’ is a little vague. Hill probably means that the batsmen covered their stumps and using minimal back-lift attempted to read Bosanquet’s googly off the pitch. 48 Hill has the wrong name here. The underarm bowler fielded by Scotland against the Australians in 1905 was H.J.Stevenson.