Clem Hill's Reminiscences

in the crowd had been responsible for the confusion. After some consultation between the English captain and Trumper, who led the Australians, Hearne came back. 52 All cricketers have superstitions. Mine concerned the player who, it was announced before a match, would not be able to play because he was unfit. Nine times out of ten that player did well if he went into the team. Ranjitsinhji, when he was here in 1897, was reported to be unfit to play in the first Test in Sydney. The start was delayed a couple of days by rain, but in the interval he improved. He made 175. If A.O.Jones, the English captain in 1907-08 had been well, George Gunn might not have been called upon to play. England were weakened by the absence of Jones. He was out of the team for the first three Tests, and Fane, who had not been to Australia before and had never played in a Test, had to take over the captaincy. Australia won four of the Tests. The Englishmen were on top in three of them but failed to drive home their advantage, mainly through missed catches. Tests are often won by a brilliant catch and lost by catches missed. Jones’ Tour of Australia 83 The Australian side which played in the first two matches of the 1907/08 series against England. Duff was twelfth man in both games. 52 Good sporting behaviour is evident here.