Lives in Cricket No 4 - Ernie Jones

MacLaren moved to his century before missing a pull shot from McLeod and being lbw for 116 to bring up a remarkable sequence of scores at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Over the 1897/98 and current tours he had accumulated 1,001 runs in ten completed innings. When MacLaren departed the score was 3 for 193, but a middle-order collapse left the honours about even at the end of the first day at 6 for 272. Jones attacked next morning from the southern end and one of his deliveries got up high, but Lilley and Braund then swung the pendulum England’s way with a seventh wicket stand of 124. The last three wickets were also productive in adding 68 for an eventual total of 464. Jones was involved in two of the dismissals on the second day, first making a superb leaping catch at mid-off from a powerful skimming drive from Braund off McLeod, and then catching Gunn from a mishit off his own bowling. Jones’ eventual figures of 1 for 98 from 36 overs were a poor reflection on his bowling as he had the worst luck of any of the attack with, apart from Howell’s mistake, many mishits and snicks finding vacant spaces in the field. Australia’s batsmen took unnecessary risks and collapsed against Barnes who bowled all but two overs throughout the first innings of 168 to finish with 5 for 65. Following on, they were put out for 172 by the wrist spin of Braund and finger spin of Blythe for a comprehensive defeat by an innings and 124 runs. Everything the Englishmen did came off; and everything the Australians did went wrong. After Australia’s loss it was understandable that there should be talk about who should be culled, and Laver and McLeod lost their places to newcomers Reg Duff and Warwick Armstrong, the latter becoming one of the giants of the game over the next two decades. McLeod could consider himself a little unlucky as against his pair of spectacles at Sydney he could point to bowling figures of 4 for 84 off 44 overs. Jones’ position does not appear to have been questioned. Writing from England in the London Daily Express was Charles Fry who attempted to understand whether Jones had lost form, while pointing out that he was the decisive factor in Australia’s win in the 1899 series. According to Fry, Jones was far quicker than any of the English bowlers, with the ability to get rid of batsmen when they first came in, and before they had the chance to adjust to either his pace or the pace of the pitch. Fry pointed out that Jones beat batsmen by his sheer speed and high degree of accuracy. Unlike Richardson and Lockwood, he asserted A Slow Dimming: 1900-1903 57