Clem Hill's Reminiscences

The Years 1909 to 1912 88 the same class as Bosanquet, the originator of the googly. Cotter, Australia’s fast bowler, came to me on the Melbourne Cricket Ground when we were having a practice knock before the commencement of the second Test on December 30, 1911, and said, ‘Well, Clem, I hope you lose the toss today, for the weather is just the same as when I bowled out the Victorians a few days ago. I will swing the ball so that none of the Englishmen will be able to play me with confidence. Half of them will be out before lunch time.’ In the interstate match he referred to, he had taken ten wickets. Instead of losing the toss as Cotter hoped, I won it, and of course we had to bat. 54 And so Barnes, the greatest of all English bowlers of his type, and not Cotter, had the opportunity to make use of the humid conditions. He exploited them to the full. 55 Bardsley was the first to go. He played a ball from Barnes on to his wicket and was out without scoring. I came in and was rather amused at the efforts of Kelleway to play an over fromBarnes. He played one ball only and was morally bowled two or three times. At the close of the over Kelleway came down the pitch and jocularly remarked, ‘You need not laugh; wait until you get at the other end.’ The over I got from Barnes was the most difficult I ever played. I scratched about in an effort to defend my wicket. He knocked back my middle stump when I had made four. Kelleway was out lbw to him for two, and Armstrong caught off him for four. In five overs he bowled four maidens for one run and four wickets, and the board showed 4 for 11 – a most disastrous start. Barnes was swinging from the leg a great deal and was coming back sharply from the off the width of the wicket. Occasionally he sent along a ball which turned from the leg. If the atmospheric conditions and the wicket had remained as they were he would have dismissed the eleven best batsmen in the world for 100. By lunch he had five wickets for six and the board showed six for 38. After the adjournment the wicket was much better, and Ransford and Hordern made a stand. The score was carried to 184 and 38 more runs were made off Barnes without the capture of another wicket by him. Barnes and F.R.Foster were the most effective bowling combination England had while I was playing international cricket. In this 1911-12 season they captured 66 out of 95 Test wickets between them. Foster was a left-arm bowler with an easy natural delivery. He bowled medium to fast. He made the ball swing in with his arm and come off the pitch at great pace. No bowler made the ball fizz off the wicket with so little effort as he did. Other players new to Australia were F.E.Woolley, a left-hand batsman and a useful left-hand bowler; J.W.Hearne, a stylish batsman and a leg break bowler who could send down the wrong’un; C.P.Mead, a slow, stodgy left-hand batsman with a strong defence; J.W.Hitch, a fast bowler, but not as fast as 54 Hill must have been a slave to convention. 55 So what does this tell us about the quality of Hill’s captaincy?