Lives in Cricket No 25 - Tom Richardson

38 but leaked out some days afterwards. The Englishmen were being taken round the beautiful Sydney Harbour. They drew up after lunch in one of the lovely little bays which abound. Straightaway Lockwood jumped overboard despite previous warnings as to the prevalence of sharks, and essayed to swim ashore, a distance of at least 100 yards. When midway across he called out for assistance three or four times, and, thinking it was a joke, those on board took little notice. A yacht was, however, passing, and seeing that the Englishman was struggling, threw two life buoys towards him. He secured one but went under, his feet going up in the air. Then a couple of yachtsmen came to his assistance, and got him ashore. With the aid of brandy the Surrey cricketer soon came round, though the serious nature of the affair left an uncomfortable impression on all. 72 The New Year Test at Melbourne provided the first instance of a Test captain inviting the opposition to bat and the second instance in as many matches of England recovering from a seemingly impossible position to win. A heavy thunderstorm on the day before the match made batting conditions difficult and the captains agreed that the pitch should be rolled after each day’s play. MacLaren was out to the first ball of the match and England were all out for 75 in 40.1 overs and two hours in their first innings thus entirely vindicating Giffen’s decision. ‘Richardson’s fast ones bumped a great deal’, but by the second day ‘the wicket looked excellent except for a spot at one end’. Led by Stoddart’s second innings 175, England were able to set Australia a fourth innings target of over four hundred which, thanks in part to Richardson’s 60-10- 100-2 on top of his first innings 23-6-57-5, the hosts never looked like achieving. This was one of the rare occasions on which Richardson’s batting was complimented. He was able to cash in on what was perhaps tired bowling. 53 had been added for the ninth wicket. Then – Richardson, the last man, also gave a lot of trouble and the score was raised to 475 before a fine catch in the deep by Gregory dismissed Richardson. 73 His 11 was still the lowest score in an innings in which all the batsmen reached double figures. Cricket was to say of him later that he was anything but a scientific batsman, though he could hit like a horse kicking. 74 On to Adelaide for the Third Test, with Australia needing to win to stay in a series which had sparked nationwide enthusiasm. Daily attendance at the MCG had been around 15,000 and the interest spilled over: Intense interest was taken in the match throughout Australia, and in South Australia itself where the match was played, special trains were 72 Cricket 31 January 1895 73 Cricket 28 February 1895 74 Obituary 20 July 1912 Australia 1894/95