Clem Hill's Reminiscences

Chapter Nine His Fourth English Tour, 1905 England, led from the front by F.S.Jackson, won the series 2-0 with three draws. After England won the first game, due to an imperious second innings century by MacLaren and the befuddling bowling of Bosanquet, the second match at Lord’s was a washed out draw, and the third at Leeds yielded a similar result, after good defensive play by the visitors. Rain deadened the pitch in the fourth Test at Manchester where England made 446 in the first innings but the Australians batted witlessly to lose by an innings. The fifth Test at The Oval was drawn, although a topsy-turvy last day gave winning opportunities to both sides. 18 Absent without leave: Test cricketers went shopping Australian cricketers did not always sit patiently in the grandstand in England after they had been dismissed. Sometimes they disappeared to view the sights of the town or do some shopping. Clem Hill was himself one of the offenders, and he tells of a narrow escape he had from having to pay a fine for being absent. Hill also relates entertaining stories such as the boy who followed big Warwick Armstrong because of the shade he gave on a hot day. This article also describes the great fight Australia made in 1905 to draw games and thus avoid defeat. Absent without leave. Yes, we Australian cricketers were guilty of that offence in England at times, but, of course, never in a Test. And once or twice the offending players were nearly ‘on the carpet’. During the 1905 tour, Trumper and I were dismissed at about 3 o’clock in a match against Worcestershire. It seemed reasonable to suppose that as only three wickets were down the other batsman would stay in for the rest of the day, so we strolled off, called for our wives at the hotel, and went to buy antique furniture. We were passing a critical eye over a table when we were startled by a newspaper boy calling out ‘Collapse of the Australians’. We bought a paper. Yes, it was true, they were all out. Hurrying to the ground in a cab, we found that our mates were out on the field and hustling the umpires to make a start. The scoundrels, out of devilment, wanted to have a ball bowled so that we would be fined for being absent. Then down came the rain. It was never more welcome. The players scurried to the dressing room and by that time we had jumped into our flannels and thrown a sweater over our shirt. We escaped the fine, which by the terms of our agreement, we would have been called upon to pay by being late. 76