Cricket 1902

CRICKET, MAY 29, 1902. “ Together joined in Cricket’s m an ly to il .” — Byron. CARTER. h o . ooo. v o l . x » . THURSDAY, MAY 29, 1902. p r i c e ad. THE AUSTRAL IANS , 1902. H. TRUMBLE. W. P. HOWELL. E. JONES. MAJOR WARDILL. W. W. ARMSTRONG. J. SAUNDERS. J. J. KELLY. R. A .DUFF. M. A. NOBLE. J. J. DARLING. A. J. HOPKINS. V. TRUMPER. AN APPREC IATION OF THE AUSTRALIAN TEAM. It is notorious that atouring team, whether from England or Australia, has, in nine cases out of ten, no honour in its own country until it has given indisputable proof in its campaign that it can at least hold its own. It is also notorious that the mere fact of playing with each other in match after match, day after day, has the effect of making a team as a -whole more formidable than the individual reputations of its members would he says, “ will probably play above their Australian form of 1901-2; at all events, I quite expect them to do so. But should they only equal their form of this season in Aus­ tralia, England should win the rubber; that is if English cricket be up to its best this year.” In England we were all inclined to think that the Australians of 1902 were not likely to be as powerful a combination as those of some previous years, for we could not over­ look the good performances of the English team touring in Australia during the past winter, weakened as it was for so long by x : ( From a photo by E. Hawkins <fc Co., Brighton.) lead critics to expect. It is, perhaps, hardly necessary to point out thatthis is particularly noticeable with regard to schools, who often beat opponents who, man for man, are un­ doubtedly very much their superiors. This being the case it is not at all surprising that critics in Australia have generally regarded the prospects of the present team as dubious, to say theleast of it. Themost sanguinehardly hope that they will win the “ rubber,” as it is termed. Perhaps the following remarks by one of the best known Australian critics will serve to show the prevailing opinion at its most sanguine point. **TheAustralians ,9 *