Clem Hill's Reminiscences

The Years 1909 to 1912 90 nibble at the ball just outside the off stump or whether he is weak on the leg stump. The most successful bowler for Australia was Dr H.V.Hordern. I put him in the same class as Bosanquet. He did well against such batsmen as Hobbs, Rhodes, Gunn and Hearne, who were exceptionally clever in playing the ‘googly’. Hordern took a catch in the fourth Test and did not know he had the ball. He was standing at forward short leg and Armstrong was bowling to Foster. I beckoned to him to come in still closer. The next moment Foster clouted one hard at him. He put out his hands instinctively. The ball struck him in the stomach, he doubled up and it found a resting place in the folds of his sweater. He was glad to have escaped and shook his fist at me. This was my last season in international cricket and this article therefore brings my series to a close. I had been chosen as captain of the Australian team to play in the triangular contests in England [in 1912] but dropped out on account of the trouble with the Board of Control. Those who have followed me through these articles will have noticed that success comes to a country in cycles. Young players of ability are picked out and sent away. Though they may not be a success at first, they are persevered with and in later years become the backbone of a side. Australia lost the Ashes this season but her turn will come again. 57 The tendency now is for spin bowlers to come back into favour. Trumble, Giffen and Noble were great exponents of this type of bowling and for variety a fast bowler was included in the side. Then the ‘googly’ became popular and this, in turn, gave way to the bowler who by taking advantage of the seam, was able to swing the ball. O’Reilly, Ironmonger and Grimmett are spin bowlers. England this tour relied to a great extent upon the fast bowlers Larwood, Allen and Voce. I do not want to set myself up as a critic of cricketers today. My task has been to give some of the unwritten history of test matches in which I played. But I think it is not inappropriate to mention that many runs are lost today which would have been stolen by earlier players by smart running between the wickets. Gregory and Graham added to the score when facing Tom Richardson, the English fast bowler, in a match against Surrey. They came to an understanding that as soon as a ball was seen to be pitched off the wicket they would start to run. Richardson had to slow down and the wicket-keeper came up closer. You never see anything like that attempted now. The comfort of cricketers is given much more consideration now than in my days. We had to get to the ground as best we could – on top of buses or in tramcars. When we were playing Essex in the days before motor cars we would hire a four-in-hand and all sit behind some spanking horses and ride to the playing field at Leyton. A taxi cab now arrives at the hotel and whisks the players away to the ground and it is there waiting for them at the end of the 57 A reflection on the result of the Bodyline series.