Clem Hill's Reminiscences

Tests. Jackson closed England’s innings three times in an effort to gain an outright victory. Invisible umpire The first Test also should have ended in a draw. The light was so bad when the Englishmen were striving to get us out in the closing stages of the third day that McLeod said he could not see big Jim Phillips, the umpire, let alone the ball. Wisden’s Almanack reports, ‘The light grew worse and worse with every sign of oncoming rain. For a quarter of an hour, play went on in deep gloom, and then McLeod was given out leg before wicket.’ If Trumper, who had been hurt, had been able to put on the pads and go to the wicket, the game would not have been lost. The players had not reached the pavilion when down came the rain. In the fourth Test, which we also lost, the last wicket had no sooner fallen than rain set in. Another five minutes and the game would have ended in a draw. It is a coincidence that at Nottingham and Leeds the English captain declared at the same hour and gave us the same number of runs to make in the same time – 402 in four and a half hours. Jackson was the outstanding player for England. He was very slow at the start of an innings, playing very carefully until he was set, and then he gave a fine exhibition of all-round batting. He was always a little lucky in the early stages of an innings, especially in being missed in slips, and snicking a couple between them. Like MacLaren he was popular with Australians. We admired him for his sportsmanlike qualities. He had the fine average in Test matches this season of 70.28. He also topped the bowling averages with 15.46. It was in the first Test match of this series that he bowled his famous over. Australia had lost one wicket for 100 when he put himself on. Noble was out to his first ball, I was dismissed by the fourth and Darling by the last. His Fourth English Tour 80