Cricket 1905

J u n e 22, 1905 CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 213 THE AUSTRALIANS. TIIE SECOND TEST MATCH. (THIRTEENTH OF THE TOUR.) Played at Lord’s on June 15, 16 and 17. Abandoned. In the London district there was so much rain in the ten days preceding this match that although the weather seemed to have cleared up there was a certainty that the match would not be played throughout on a good wicket. As things turned out there was a thunderstorm on the night before the game began, and storms on the Thursday and Friday nights, with the result that on Satur­ day the match had to be abandoned at a time when England had a very decided advantage. The Australians left out Gehrs, Newland, Cotter and Howell, but Trumper was able to take his place in the team again. On the other hand Hirst was not fit to play, and for the second time this year England had to do without his invaluable services. So much rain fell on the Wednesday night that no one could possibly foresee what effect it would have on a wicket which had already been exposed to a week’s heavy rain. When the Hon. F. S. Jackson won the toss he had a very difficult question to decide, but he came to the conclusion that his best policy was to send in his own team. The wicket proved to be in favour of the bowlers, but not abso­ lutely difficult—it was the sort of wicket on which Alfred Shaw and Morley, or Spofforth and Turner, would have quickly dismissed any side. By adopting a policy of caution, for which they have been much blamed, the Englishmen managed to keep at the wickets all the first day, scoring 258 for the loss of eight men. At no time during the day was there anything of an attractive nature about the batting ; it was scientific, it is true, but it was decidedly not interesting to the average spectator. No one cared to throw away his wicket, and as the Australian bowlers declined to bowl balls which could easily be hit without risk, runs were few and far between. Four men on the England side distinguished themselves, viz., Fry, Maclaren, Tyldesley and Jackson, but they all scored much slower than usual. No one was surprised when Maclaren and Hay­ ward opened the game with the greatest possible caution, for they had to find out the pace of the wicket, but when they had found it they were obliged to continue to act on the defensive. When the partnership was broken with the total at 59 after lasting for an hour and twenty minutes, Hayward, who was then dismissed l.b.w., had only scored 16. Mac- claren and Tyldesley were together at lunch time when the total was 86 for one wicket, made in two hours. In the afternoon the rate of scoring did not increase. Maclaren showed splendid defence, but Tyldesley was hardly at his best. Their partnership pro­ duced 38. The want of success of C. B. Fry in test matches has been the subject of so much comment that his arrival at the wicket was waited with anxiety by the vast crowd. He very soon showed that he was comfortable enough and quite at home with the bowling, but he could not get the ball away, for the field was so admirably placed for him that the strokes by which he usually scores were intercepted. But although the utmost endeavours were made to induce him to get himself Jout, he went steadily and surely on his way until just before stumps were drawn, when, in a very bad light caused by' an approaching thunderstorm, he and others were disposed of. Meanwhile he had scored 73 runs, and, although he was so slow that his innings lasted for three hours and twenty- five minutes, he had showed that he is in his right place in a test match. Many of his strokes would have gone hastily to the boundary if the ground had been hard. Maclaren, too, had played a leisurely innings, taking two hours and ten minutes to make his 56, but he cannot be blamed for suiting his play to the wicket. Tyldesley was nearly two hours at the wickets for his 46, and Jackson took an hour and twenty-five minutes to make 29. It was certainly not exhilarating cricket that had been seen up to the time that Jackson was out, for only 208 runs had been scored in four hours and a-half. But in the remainder of the play there was excitement, for in a failing light four more wickets fell so quickly as to astonish the twenty-seven or twenty-eight thousand spec­ tators. Armstrong bowled without a rest for two hours and three-quarters. At the end of the day it was still by no means certain that England had been fortunate in batting first, but a thunderstorm in the early morning seemed to point to a great deterioration in the wicket. But when the game was resumed on Friday morning Haigh seemed to find no difficulties in his way, nor did Duff and Trumper when the Australians went in. Indeed so resolutely and so well did these two men hit that they seemed to have mastered the bowling, which was not as good as it might have been in the way of length. The score had been taken to 57 in thirty-five minutes by the brightest and most attractive play, when it occurred to the captain of the England team to put himself on. With his first ball he bowled Trumper, who shaped to cut it, and shortly afterwards Hill was caught off him at cover-point. The Austra­ lians met with a third disaster when the score was 87, Duff being caught at the wicket off Rhodes. At 96 Noble, the most dangerous man on the side when the wicket is difficult, was finely caught off Jackson in the long field by Fry, who had to run some distance. Anything might have happened at this period of the game, but Darling and Arm­ strong, undismayed by the rapid fall of wickets, hit at every possible opportunity with such good results that the score was taken to 131 before the next wicket fell, Armstrong then being l.b.w. This was the beginning of the end, and the remainder of the innings was only remarkable for the fine hitting of Darling and Hopkins. Darling’s 41 was an innings which could not be too highly praised, for it was played at a critical time on a very difficult wicket. The innings of 181 lasted for less than three hours, whereas the Englishmen had taken six hours and a-quarter to make 282. The downfall of the last five Australian wickets for fifty runs presaged disaster for England, and when Hayward was out at 18, and Tyldesley, who followed him, did not seem at his ease, no one would have been surprised if the batting had failed. But Maclaren played a glorious innings, the best of the match, and was quite master of the situation; while, after Tyldesley was out for 12, Fry again settled down and proved to be immovable. He and Maclaren put on 73 for the third wicket, and then Maclaren was bowled by Armstrong for 79, compiled in a couple of hours ; it was one of the very best innings of his career. Arm­ strong met with further success, both Jackson and Jones falling victims to him before stumps were drawn with the total at 146 for five wickets, England thus being 252 runs on. Fry, who had been at the wickets for an hour and forty minutes was still unconquered with 36 to his credit. England was in a splendid position, for the top of the wicket was off, and wet or fine the Australians would have had to work very hard to make a draw, if there had been any more play. But a storm in the early morning, followed by steady rain, caused the game to be abandoned at lunch time. E ngland . First innings. A.C. Maclaren (Lancashire), b Hopkins........................56 Hayward (Surrev), lbw, b Duff ...............................16 Tyldesley (Lancashire), c Laver, b Armstrong ... 43 C.B.Fry (Sussex), c Kelly, b Hopkins ........................73 Hon. F. S. Jackson (York­ shire),cArmstrong,bLaver 29 A. O. Jones (Notts), b Laver 1 B. J. T. Bosanquet (Middle­ sex), c and b Armstrong.. 6 not out... Rhodes (Yorkshire), b Hop­ kins ............................... 15 Lilley (Warwickshire), lbw, b M cL eod........................ 0 Haigh (Yorkshire), b Laver 14 Arnold(Worcestershire),not out...................................... 7 B 20, lb 2 .................22 Second innings. b Armstrong ... 79 cLaver,bMcLeod 8 b Noble ..........12 notout... ... ... 36 b Armstrong ... 0 cTrumper,bArm- strong .......... 5 4 Total ..........282 A ustralia . B 2, lb 4, nb 1 7 Total (5 wkts) 151 V.T.Trumper(N.S.W.), b Jackson ..........31 R. A. Duff (N.S.W.), c Lilley, b Rhodes ... 27 C. Hill (S.A.), c Bosan­ quet, b Jackson .. 7 M. A. Noble (N.S.W.),c Fry, b Jackson ... 7 W.W. Armstrong (V.), lbw, b Jackson ... 33 J. Darling (S.A.), c Haigh, b Arnold ... 41 S.E.Gregory (N.S.W.), c Jones, b Rhodes... A.J.Hopkins (N.S.W.), b Haigh ................. C. E. McLeod (V.), b Haigh ................. u F. Laver (V.), not out. 4 J.J.Kelly(N.S.W.),lbw, b Rhodes................. 2 B 3, lb 5 .......... 8 16 Total ...181 E ngland . First innings. McLeod ... Laver Noble Duff.......... Armstrong Hopkins... O. M. R. W. 20 34 34 . 7 30 15 40 1 ... 8 64 3 ... 13 61 0 ... 14 1 ... 11 41 4 40 Second innings. O. M. R. W. 15 5 33 1 10 4 39 0 13 2 31 1 10 2 30 3 2 0 11 0 McLeod delivered a no-ball. A ustralia . O. M. R. W.l O. M. R. W. Haigh ... 12 3 40 2 Jackson.. 150 50 4 Rhodes ... 16.1 1 70 3 ! Arnold... 73 13 1 SUSSEX v. SOMERSET. Played at Brighton on June 15, 16 and 17. Sussex won by two wickets. Without O. B. Fry Sussex fared badly on the first day of this match, for although on an excellent wicket they managed to dispose of Somerset for 211, they lost Vine, Relf, and Cox for 64 before stumps were drawn. Braund and Lewis, who began the batting for Somerset, put up fifty in about three- quarters of an hour, but when nine more runs had been made Lewis was out, and for a time after his dismissal the bowlers had much the best of matters. Braund, Sellick and Poyntz 'were all out when the total was 60. But Woods and Martyn came to the aid of their side, and put up 80 for the lifth wicket in an hour. Woods, who played a delightful innings, was almost in his form of former days. The tail all made useful scores, but the total was small for the wicket. Killick met with great success with the ball. The only Sussex batsman who dis­ tinguished himself on the first day was Heygate, who was not out 40 when stumps were drawn. Heygate did not increase his score on Friday, and the remaining Sussex batsmen did badly against the bowling of Braund, who for the first tune this season showed his best form with the ball. In the second innings of Somerset Braund and Lewis had put up 28 when the latter was obliged to retire on account of an injury to his knee. He returned at the end of an hour, but in the meantime things went so badly with Somerset that six wickets fell. Braund, playing with the utmost caution, kept up his wicket until nearly the end, and was ninth out after batting two hours. This unlooked-for breakdown in the Somersetshire batting made the task of Sussex seem fairly easy, for they only had to make 175 to win. The wicket was still in excellent condition, and before the day’s play ended 95 of the runs were knocked off for the loss of two wickets. Vine was