Lives in Cricket No 4 - Ernie Jones

to his legs and thence to the wicket. As in the previous match Jackson was called upon to save the side, but rain stopped play for a further twenty minutes. When the game resumed Jackson scored the first run of the match and then made a dangerous stroke off Jones through the slips. Had the chance been taken, it would have seen the scoreboard read 3 for 1. The total had only advanced to 19 when rain prevented play again until 5.15, but in the last hour MacLaren and Jackson batted grandly to reach 2 for 102. Rain ended the game at this point as the last two days were washed out. A curious fact was that Darling employed six bowlers to deliver 38 overs in 105 minutes. Jones bowled 11 of them but the wicket was too slow for him. Jones was replaced by Trumble for the only Test match ever played at Bramall Lane, Sheffield, but if the weather conditions conspired against him he had no chance of reclaiming his spot from the lofty Victorian off-spinner who took 26 wickets in the next three games. It might be said, however, that Jones’ omission influenced the selection of the English side. Fry was initially left out of the Third Test team following his two ducks; his weakness against Jones’ express deliveries suggested that his value as a batsman when exposed to them was discounted. Into the side, in Fry’s place, came the 42-year-old Surrey veteran Abel who himself had been passed over in recent years because of his inability to handle genuine pace. Ironically Fry was restored to the side in place of his Sussex colleague Ranjitsinhji who had strained a leg while fielding in a match against Essex. Australia won the match amid the Sheffield smokestacks by 145 runs, but the last two games at Old Trafford and The Oval remain classic Ashes battles, Australia winning the first by three runs with the loss being blamed on Fred Tate, and the second won by England by one wicket after Yorkshiremen Hirst and Rhodes coolly knocked off the winning runs. Darling and his comrades thus won the rubber, but there was not much to choose between the two countries and the splendid fights in the series indicated the closeness of the strength of the rivals. Despite their occasional difficulties on sticky wickets, the 1902 Australian side secured a better proportionate record of wins and losses than any team since the list of engagements became extensive. They also gained a reputation for hard-hitting and fast-scoring which was epitomised by Victor Trumper whose 2,570 runs included eleven centuries, remarkable statistics in a wet year. Wet turf helped most of the A Slow Dimming: 1900-1903 63