Cricket 1905

300 CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THiE GAME. J u l y 27 , 1905. F. R. Spofforth and the editor, Mr. Spofforth writes about bowling in the most entertaining way, and gives away a few secrets which he has hitherto treasured up. The article ought to be read by every young cricketer who fancies himself as a bowler. Mr. Spofforth’s comments about “ one-eyed batsmen ” will come as a revelation to most cricketers. Mr. Fry has a fascinating subject—Ranjitsinhji’s hands—and treats it well. THE AUSTRALIANS. THE FOURTH TEST MATCH. ( t w e n t y - f o u r t h o f t h e t o u r .) Played at Manchester on July 24, 26 and 26^ England won by an innings and 80 runs. Unusual interest was taken in this match, because it was known that the result would decide whether the Australians had a pos­ sibility of gaining a numerical advantage in the series, or whether the honours would rest with England. The position was that three matches had been played, the first of which ended in a victory for England, while the other two were drawn in England’s favour. If the match at Manchester were won by England, the Australians would be placed out of the running; if it were drawn the Aus­ tralians could only equal England’s record, while if the Australians won they had still a chance of carrying off the numerical honours. It was generally anticipated that under these circumstances the Australi»ns would strain every nerve to try to win, instead of beginning to play for a draw quite early in the game as in the three previous matches, for a drawn game would mean almost as much as a defeat to them. Hence when, after Jackson hadwon the toss for the fourth time, Armstrong in due course went on to bowl, no one was surprised to find that he tried not so much to keep down the runs as to get men out. Rain had affected the wicket to some extent, and Cotter, who has done fairly well of late against not very strong teams, made the ball bump considerably for some time. But, although he caused in­ convenience to some of the batsmen, and hurt Tyldesley rather badly, he was ineffective in the match as far as getting wickets was con­ cerned. The Australian bowling seemed to have lost most of the sting which made it so difficult during the first month of the tour, but it was remarkably accurate. Maclaren and Hayward began England’s first innings, but the former, when playing the bowling with ease, was very finely caught with one hand by Hill, who had to run along the boundary for some distance. Hayward, who always seems at his best in a test match, gave a masterly display for about two hours and a-half, but in the remaining part of his in­ nings, which lasted about thirty minutes, he was not quite at hisbest. Tyldesley who was hurt by a fast ball shortly after he went in, played a plucky game, but was hardly at his best, and Fry, who succeeded him, was not able to get into his stride, although he re­ mained with Hayward for about an hour, during which the partnership produced 59 runs. Like Fry, who was at the wickets for more than twenty minutes before he scored his first run, Jackson was very slow when he began his innings, and he was nearly as long as Fry in scoring his first run. But he was never in difficulties, and was only biding his time. Just when it seemed that he and Hayward were likely to have a profitable partnership Hayward was caught at third man for a characteristic innings of 82, in compiling which he showed all his usual cool­ ness and indifference to the wiles of the bowlers. Spooner received an ovation such as would have completely unnerved many older men, but after being a little unsteady in his first over, he at once began to show all the sang froid of a veteran, who treats the bowling for exactly what it is worth, irres­ pective of the importance of a match. He played delightful cricket, and remained with Jackson while 125 runs were put on in an hour and forty minutes. More attractive cricket than was played by him has not been seen in a test match for years, and his treat­ ment of Armstrong was a revelation to many. Meanwhile Jackson, who, like Hayward and Maclaren, regards a test match as one in which a man is bound to show his very best form, was scoring whenever he had the least opportunity, and seldom allowing a ball to pass him. His off play was perfect, and he made many fine strokes on the on side. When the bowling began to fall off a little he made runs more quickly, and towards the end of the day he was scoring fast. Hirst played the best game for his side by making runs as rapidly as he could; he scored 25 out of 46 in a little over half-an-hour. When stumps were drawn Arnold had joined Jackson, who in the last over of the day brought his score to 103 by a boundary hit. He had then been at the wickets for three houra and a-quarter. The total was 352 for six wickets. When the game was resumed on Tuesday it was obviously the best policy for England to make runs as quickly as possible without taking any risks, tor some rain had fallen in the early morning, and it was more than probable that the wicket would be difficult for a time in the afternoon. In the first half hour 30 runs were made and then Jackson’s great innings came to an end. He had made 113 out of 226 while he was at the wickets, and he was batting altogether for three hours and three-quarters ; his hits included twelve 4’s. After this eachman except Brearley made over 20, and the innings closed for 446 shortly after half-past twelve. During the morning 94 runs were put on in an hour-and- a-half. Although according to the laws the umpires are to allow ten minutes between each innings, more than twenty minutes passed by before the first bail of the Australian’s innings was bowled. The Australians began their innings at five minutes to one with Trumper and Noble, who took the score to 20, and seemed likely to play out the time before lunch, when Trumper was well caught by Rhodes at second slip. At 21 Hill was caught at mid- off, and at 27 Noble was bowled. After lunch the Australians did very little better for some time. Duff was taken at slip by Maclaren at 41. At 88 Armstrong, who had played very well for an hour, was bowled, and at 93 Gehrs was also bowled. Thus six wickets were down. But Darling rose mag­ nificently to the occasion. He took his chances, and might have been caught three or four times, but the chances were not easy, and he survived to make 73. Five times in the course of his splendid innings he hit the ball over the heads of the spectators, once startling the correspondents of the press by a drive which only missed some of them by about a few feet. When he was at last well caught by Tyldesley at long off his score was 73. He was only at the wickets for an hour and twenty-five minutes, and his runs were made out of 105; he hit thirteen A ’s. His innings will never be forgotten by those who saw it. Cotter and Laver made useful scores, and the innings closed for 197. Although it was not a wicket which was calculated to suit him, Brearley bowled exceedingly well. England had a lead of 249, and it would not have been surprising if Jackson had decided to make the game quite safe by going in again, especially as the wicket was now as good as it had ever been. But the Austra­ lians were made to follow on, and as they scored 118 for one wicket before stumps were drawn, they seemed to have an exceedingly good chance of saving the game, while if the Old Traffordwicket lived upto its reputationof this year, there was a possibility that England might be tumbled out in the fourth innings of the match and be defeated. Duff was not out 5' and Hill not out 26, both men having played splendid cricket. But the situation was entirely changed yesterday and the Australians would have found a difficulty in avoiding the innings’ defeat if the bowling against them had been no stronger than that possessed by one of the counties at the foot of the Championship table. For rain fell in the morning for a couple of hours, and the wicket, under the influence of the sun, give the batsmen no chance, lt was not possible to resume the game until ten minutes past twelve, and then disasters came thick and fast. Only a miracle could have saved the Australians in any case, and their present system, which has been so much admired, of going for the bowling beforethey have found the pace of the wicket, was hardly likely to bring about a miracle. Duff and Hill were both out when the overnight score had been increased by 4, and none of the other men ever looked like staying. Before half-past one nine wickets had fallen for 51 runs, aud the match was over. Brear­ ley again bowled splendidly, and madeit clear that he ought to (have played in the three previous matches, while both Rhodes and Arnold distinguished themselves with the ball, Rhodes in addition making four catches two of whi6h were remarkably good. The Australians had much the worst of the luck all through the match, but they did not strike one as being as strong in batting, bowling, or fielding as many previous Aus­ tralian teams. It may be stated that Tyl­ desley was unable to field on account of an injury to his hand received on Tuesday when trying to catch Darling ; his place was taken by A. O. Jones, who disposed of Hill very neatly. 'E ngland . A. C. Maclaren (Lanca­ shire),cHill.bMcIieod 14 Hayward (.Surrey), c Gehrs, b McLeod ... 82 Tyldesley(Lancasbire), b Laver ....................24 C. B. Fry (Sussex), b Armstrong ............*17 Hon. F. S. Jackson (Yorkshire),c Ootter, b McLeod ......... 113 R. H. Spooner (I^anca- shire), c& b McLeod 52 Hirst (Yorkshire), c Laver, b McLeod ... Arnold (Worcester­ shire), run out Rhodes (Yorkshire), not out ................. Lilley(Warwickshire), Ibw, b N oble.......... W. Brearley (Lanca­ shire), c Darling, b Noble ................. B 17, lb 20, w 1, nb 1 27 Total ...446 A ustralia . First innings. M. A. Noble (N.S.W.), b Brearley ........................ 7 V. T. Trumper (N.S.W.), c Rhodes, b Brearley..........11 C.Hill(S.A.), c Fry, b Arnold 0 W. W. Armstrong (V.), b Rhodes ........................29 R. A. Duff (N.S.W.)* c Maclaren, b Brearley ... 11 J.Darling(S.A.),c Tyldesley, b Jackson....................... 73 D.R.A.Gehrs(S.A.),bArnold 0 C.E.McLeod(V .), b Brearley 6 A. Cotter (N.S.w .), c Fry, b Jackson ........................11 F. Laver (V.), b Rhodes ... 24 J. J. Kelly (N.S.W.) not out 16 Byes ................. 9 Total ............... 197 Second innings. c Rhodes,bBrear- ley ... ... 10 lbw, b Rhodes ... 30 c sub., b Arnold.. 27 b Brearley.......... 9 c Spooner, b Brearley..........60 c Rhodes,bBrear- ley ................. 0 c and b Rhodes... 11 cArnold,bRhodes 6 run out ... .... 0 not out................. 6 cRhodes,bArnold 5 B 4, nb 1 .... 5 Total .........169