Cricket 1912

A ugust 10, 1912. CBICKET : A WEEKLY EECOED OF THE GAME. 401 The Triangular Tests. (S e v e n t h M a t c h ; A u s t r a l ia v . S o u t h A f r ic a a t N o t t in g h a m .) (D a il y I m p r e s s io n s .) B y H a m i s h S t u a r t . Many found the first day at Trent Bridge dull, uninteresting and uneventful— the sort of day which critics describe as featureless, and which they, therefore, condem n because giving them nothing to write about. Most of the malcontents were “ sated with the show,” but precisely the same m ay be said of the writer, for one has been watching a first-class m atch every day since the season began and has in consequence had a blank season so far as participation in the active joys of the game is concerned. One should, therefore, feel as blase as one’s fellows. I a m ; yet I did not find M onday’s play uninteresting or featureless. On the contrary it was interest­ ing, because the South Africans seemed to have secured their first real chance of establishing an advantage; because they made their best score in the present series, and because their batting as a whole did their powers m ore justice than any previous display, for the 265 at Manchester in the first test was m ainly a “ one man ” effort. Then all day on Monday one kept looking for the change at the wicket— from slow and easy to difficult—which never occurred. So much rain fell on Saturday night and Sunday that play must have been impossible until late in the afternoon but for a high, drying wind and perhaps also the fact that the wicket was on a part of the area which had been little used this season. In any case play was possible at noon. This was the first surprise. The second was furnished by the way in which the wicket “ played.” It was to be “ slow and ea sy ” up to lunch and extremely difficult thereafter, with the usual m any happenings of a difficult pitch. It was slow and easy all day, or, at least, never became difficult. For this failure to becom e difficult two showers were largely responsible. At the same time some bowlers, say Blythe and Dennett, m ight have got a good deal m ore out of the wicket than the Australian bowlers were able to extract, even with the aid of the high wind that blew at a sharp angle down the cricket ground, pavilion end. One puts the matter this way because the wind was strong enough to help W hitty and to produce wind-form peculiarities in flight in Hazlitt, Emery and Matthews. Of the four bowlers Em ery was decidedly the most erratic (the others were fairly accurate if nothing else) but Emery also bowled every now and then a specially good ball— as for example the genuine googly with which he deceived and bowled Llewellyn— and with a little luck m ight have accomplished a very fine performance. A ll the circum stances being considered, the South Africans accom plished an excellent performance in scoring 266 for 8 wickets in 5 hours. The rate of scoring m ay seem slow, but it was faster than our rate at Manchester off the same bowling under very similar if not identical conditions. Moreover, one could safely say that the scoring strokes lost at the least 40 or 50 of their run-value through the slow state of the outfield. Many strokes that cleared the field at a good pace stopped short of the boundary and yielded only 2. The South Africans really scored fast for the circum stances— particularly in a test match. Taylor, who opened the innings with Tancred, had the m isfortune to make the mistake that counts before he had settled down, but Nourse and Tancred redeemed the bad start by scoring 77 for the second wicket’ in about 100 minutes. Tancred, who again played like the seasoned veteran he is, gave a curiously mixed display. He was greatly daring for periods and very cautious at other times. Still there was much judgm ent in his batting. H e hit a six— a fine square hit to the on off W hitty— and two fours. H is on-driving and late cutting were good and he occasionally made a well timed leg-glance. Nourse ran no risks and, though he occasionally missed scoring chances in making his first 16 runs in some 75 minutes, he was at his best after lunch and made some specially fine strokes on the off-side. Two off-drives off Matthews compelled that bowler to put a man out on the off-side. Nourse made the left-hander’s stroke past point particularly well, and when he was out after batting for 2 ] hours he fell to a really good ball. H e hit 6 fours and got 64 out of 138. The innings was worthy of his reputation and was his best, as well as his highest, effort in the present series of tests. Faulkner was disappointing— all the m ore so because one expects so m uch from him and hence judges him by a high standard. Strieker was seen to advantage especially on the off-side, while White, after being hopelessly at sea in his tim ing, played in a way that suggested his own great self. He was always hitting the ball hard and if not at his best it was not through lack of confidence. H e was not out 30 at the close and had received some useful assistance from the imperturbable Pegler ^ h o bats in tests as if he were playing in a club match. W ould that other and greater batsmen would emulate Pegler in this respect! The Australian fielding was unequal, while the attendance was disappointingly sm all—only some 4,000 at the most. Of these 2,300 paid at the gates. SECOND DAY. Tuesday’s play was both interesting and eventful. More rain had kept the wicket from becom ing difficult, aud when the game was resumed the Australian bowling was so bad— one wonders whether m uch worse length bowling has ever been seen in a test—that the last two South African wickets added 63 runs in some 50 minutes. Pegler helped White to put on 50 in all for the ninth wicket in 40 minutes, while W ard and White added 47 in 35 minutes for the last wicket, so that the last two wickets added 97 runs in 75 minutes. The total of 329 was an excellent one for the conditions, and would have been at least 50 more if the out-field had been a little faster. The innings lasted for 5 hours 40 minutes. The Australians in reply made 219, and hence the South Africans secured a lead of 110 runs, and thus for the first time in the present series of tests, gained a decided advantage. At one time it appeared certain that the Australians would make a much bigger total than 219, for with only 4 men out, 171 was up. Then Bardsley was run out and the batting broke down badly before Pegler and Faulkner, the last 5 wickets falling for 48 runs as against the 175 runs put on by the last five South African wickets. The Australians were unlucky in one way, for Jennings and Bardsley were both run out, and but for their dism issal in this way the total would probably have been much larger. But both “ runs out ” were due to wonderful returns by Taylor and to the skilful way in which W ard took the returns and broke the wicket. Indeed the South African fielding all through reached a very high standard of excellence, White and Llewellyn like Taylor doing much fine work. As to the batting of the Australians, Macartney played much the m ost attractive innings. The way in which he used his feet in his forcing back play and in pulling was worth much to see. His innings was all too brief. Kelleway who wras batting for two hours again proved his value as a test player, while Bardsley was very sound and safe. H e ran no risks and never made a bad or unsafe stroke. Indeed he never looked like getting out— one ball from Pegler excepted— until he was run out. Minnett and Matthews hit hard, and Jennings and Gregory were a little unlucky. The form er was run out, and Gregory, when playing well was bowled by a wonderful leg-break from Pegler that did its work very quickly. An impression left by the play was that if rain had not caused a delay of an hour at 3.40, and so made the wicket easy again, the Australians would not have made anything like 219. The Australian innings lasted for 4 hours, and the wicket was fairly easy all day, but was becom ing difficult when the rain shower just referred to fell. A feature of the afternoon was the absence of fours. Only one had been hit after lunch up to 3.40 and Bardsley’s 56 contained no fours. Tuesday night proved very wet and several smart showers fell on W ednesday m orning. The result was that the ground was so thoroughly saturated that all hope of play before lunch was abandoned. More rain fell, and the “ drying conditions ” were so bad that on an inspection being made by the captains and umpires at two o’clock it was at once decided to abandon the match as a draw. It was well that the decision was reached thus early, for the afternoon proved very wet. Indeed, Trent Bridge was “ under water ” after one tropical shower at three o'clock. The enforced abandonment was a bit of very bad luck for the South Africans. They held a very big advantage, and if Tuesday night and W ednes­ day had been fine I have little doubt that they would have won. W hatever may have been their faults and failings in other matches they were the superior side in this match in all departments and quite justified those who held that their failure in the other tests was largely due to moral causes ; though, of course not wholly so. The pity is that they found their form so late. G E O R G E L E W I N & Club Colour Specialists and Athletic Clothing Manufacturers. OUTFITTERS BY APPOINTMENT TO T he R oyal N avy and A rray, C orn w all, K en t, M id d lesex, S om erset and Surrey C ounties, and L on d on S cottish, Irish and W elsh, B lack h eath , H arlequins, R ich ­ m on d , C atford R u gby F ootball Clubs, and all th e lea d in g C lubs in the B ritish Isles and a b roa d ; M .C.C. S. A frican Tour, 1909, S. A frican C rick et A ssociation 1910, and Q ueen’s C lub, K ensington , the M.C.C. Australian Team 1911-12, an d the South African Association Cricket Team 1912. E stablished 1869. W r ite for E stim ates . Telephone: P.O. 607 C IT Y Works at Camberwell. 8, CROOKED LANE, MONUM ENT , E.C.