Lives in Cricket No 18 - FR Foster

match’. England finally reached 589 in 190.5 overs, at the time their best Test score. Needing 398 to avoid the innings defeat Australia batted spinelessly. At 12 Kelleway departed, caught behind off Barnes and then Bardsley confirmed his distaste for Foster, who now referred to him, cruelly, as ‘rabbit warren’. They subsided gently to an innings defeat, only Sammy Carter showing any backbone. Douglas was this time the most effective bowler, but was finely supported by Foster, three for 38 and Barnes. Irresolute batting enabled England to triumph with a basically three-man attack. For the second Test in succession Foster had made an aggressive fifty in his only innings, as well as bowling valuably. Had a ‘man-of-the-series’ award been made, he would have been well in contention. On to Sydney, and the return with New South Wales, newly crowned Sheffield Shield winners, and outside the Test matches it promised to be the game of the tour. A 17-hour train journey was not the ideal preparation, but any suspicions of tiredness were soon allayed. Trumper won the toss and a large Sydney crowd sat back in the sun, doubtless expecting a run-filled day. Doubts would have crept in right from the second ball however. Bardsley had pushed Foster for a single but then H.L.Collins, intent on establishing himself as a Test prospect, found himself baffled and defeated by the swing and pace off the pitch of his first ball. A few balls later it was 7 for two. Bardsley, having scrambled two singles, saw a Foster lifter strike the shoulder of the bat. Strudwick muffed the catch but deflected the ball to Gunn at slip. Barnes now had Syd Gregory brilliantly taken low down at second slip, by Foster, of course. Douglas and Woolley then came on to get rid of Macartney and Trumper, after which Foster returned to run through the later order, finally finishing off the innings for 106 in 145 minutes. What a day for young Frank Foster. Seven for 36 in 19.3 overs against the cream of State cricket in fine batting conditions. In their reply MCC had much for which to thank Rhodes, his 119 the backbone of a not too satisfactory 315. Foster, on 10, gave a return catch to Hazlitt, whose medium-fast variations puzzled all, as his seven wickets testified. Inspired by a magnificent unbeaten 186 by 42-year-old Syd Gregory, New South Wales made a better fist of things second time around, managing a total of 403. Foster again bowled poor ‘rabbit-warren’ Bardsley cheaply, sealing his fate for the final Test. His two wickets cost 53 and the best bowling came from Jack Hobbs. Needing 195, MCC strolled to an eight wicket victory, Rhodes helping himself to a second century of the match. This win, against disappointing opposition, put England in a good frame of mind for the final Test at Sydney – a dead game admittedly, but one Douglas and his men were anxious to win. England won the toss and relying more on attrition than inspiration reached 324 in 129 overs. Woolley’s 133 was the best innings for England and, incidentally the first hundred by an English left-hander against Australia. Foster never got going and was stumped off Hazlitt for 15. In its Under the Southern Cross 62