Lives in Cricket No 19 - Frank Sugg

twenty-ninth match of the tour – it was now mid August – and the Australians were, not surprisingly, showing signs of fatigue. The Australians batted first and, in splendid conditions for a change, mustered only 80 in their first innings, the batting so tedious at one stage that fourteen successive four-ball maidens were sent down by the England bowlers, Lohmann and Briggs. Briggs had another splendid day, finishing with five for 25 off no fewer than 37 overs with 24 maidens. After a shaky start in which W.G. and Ulyett were out with only six runs on the board, England batted more steadily and eventually posted a first-innings score of 317 with Abel making 70, Barnes 62, Lohmann 62 not out and Sugg, at seven, 31. The ever-persevering Turner bowled 60 overs and finished with six for 112. Frank Sugg had the good fortune to be missed twice in the slips and the misfortune to run out his partner Bobby Abel by calling for ‘a stupidly short run’. Sugg ‘played very fluky cricket indeed’, according to the report in Wisden . He was to have no chance of making a better impression as the Australians were dismissed for 100 in their second innings leaving England the winners by an innings and 187 runs in just two days. Percy McDonnell made 32 but no one else had much success in combating the fine bowling of Peel, who took four for 49, and Barnes, five for 32, though Alex Bannerman hung on for an hour and 25 minutes while scoring only five. It was the allround strength of the England attack compared with the Australians’ heavy reliance on Charles Turner and, to a lesser extent, John Ferris that proved the main difference between the two sides. 30,957 paying spectators watched the two days’ play. The Third and final Test was to be at Old Trafford and to start on 30 August after the end of the county season. Sugg played in two county matches in the interval between the Tests. The first of these was against Surrey, the championship leaders, who were still unbeaten after eleven matches, at The Oval. It was a triumph for Lancashire. After Surrey had scored a useful 294 in their first innings, Lancashire responded with 376, with Joseph Eccles scoring a magnificent 184 in opening the innings. Sugg contributed only four. Surrey were then put out for 152 and Lancashire knocked off the 71 required for victory for the loss of only one wicket; Sugg, revelling in the favourable situation, finished with 41 not out. However this was only Lancashire’s fourth win of what was proving to be a disappointing season, a season in which the wet weather had undoubtedly dealt the 58 Early Seasons with Lancashire