AFTER THE TEST.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 150, 27 June 1934, Page 7

AFTER THE TEST.

THE HIGH LIGHTS.

Was the Wicket as Bad as All That?

FOURTH DAY "GATE" RETAINED

(United P.A.-Electric Telegraph-Copyright)

(Received 10 a.m.) LONDON, June 20. The "Daily Mail" states that a total of about £6000, including entertain- s ment tax, was taken for the fourth E lay of the Test match. No money fj is returnable, therefore must the s Uarylebone Club pay the entertain- c ] merit tax when there will be no enter- t tainment, or will it and the Aus- £ tralians benefit? It is a piquant situation. • j "Naturally I am delighted to havej\ been captain of England on the occasion i af its first victory at Lord's .since r, 1800," says R. E. S. Wyatt. "The rain undoubtedly helped us. I am thankful I ® had a bowler who was able to take advantage of the conditions to such a marvellous extent. I cannot fully express my gratitude to Verity." a Wyatt added, in the course of an in- £ terview, that the wicket was not nearly 1 is bad as the result indicated. He thought England's chance of retaining ( the "Ashes" was excellent. £ Woodfull says: "I congratulate England most heartily and sincerely on its fine victory. It saw its chance and , seized it. The rain and the state of the ] wicket were all in the day's work. It 1 might just as easily have come to us." ] Verity says: "I am proud to have ■ helped my team to win, but I. could not help thinking of my old skipper, Jardine, ] and how delighted he would have been ( to have led England to such a victory." < What the Critics Say. 1 Jack Hobbs says he thinks England was fortunate that Verity found the wicket to his liking. Without the rain Australia would have made a big score. Neville Cardus, writing in the "Manchester Guardian," says: "England was not a great side when Verity was not bowling. Chipperfield must give his team mates lessons in how to bat on a bad wicket." D. R. Jardine and P. F. Warner both hold that the winning of the toss meant the winning of the match. Jardine adds: "Leyland's benefit match is to be played this week against Notts. One may be quite sure, to quote a Yorkshireman's words, that there will be no walking off the field or any nonsense of that sort up north." Jardino concludes his commentary on the second Test by saying it would be futile to pretend for one moment that the victory was convincing. Writers of editorial articles concede that the rain played a vital part in the match. Several say that Grimmett probably would have been as deadly as Verity had the position V+eu reversed. On the last day of the second Test match England, with the weather in its favour, was on top from the start, declares the Australian Press Association representative, and everything went awry for Australia. The wicket was ideally suited to Verity. The Australians, never having had to bat on anything worse than slightly worn wickets, received in this Test a shocking reminder of their comparative ignorance of a pitch on which normally moderate spin bowling becomes venomous. Nevertheless Australia's failure to save a follow-on was really deplorable for the wicket was scarcely as bad as the batting represented it to be. THE NEXT GAMES. 2 COUNTIES AND THIRD TEST. The Australians play the third Test at Old Trafford, Manchester, on July 0, 7, 9, 10. Of the previous fourteen games there England ha 3 won three (ISSG, ISBB and 1905). Australia got home in two (1890. when express Tom Richardson with six ' for 70 nearly stopped the visitors making 125 to win by three wickets; and 1902, when Jack Saunders bowled Maurice Tate's father when England required only four runs for victory)'. The other nine were drawn, rain often ruining these games. In IS9O not a hall was bowled, and not a single match since the war has approached anywhere near a decision. England's victories were twice by over an innings, and by four wickets in the very first engagement on tile famous Lancashire field. The fourth Test commences at Leeds on July 20, and the fifth at The Oval on August IS. The Australians commence a match at Taunton to-day against Somerset. The Western county, for whom the ex-Aus-tralian Sammy Woods was such a great all-rounder, finished eleventh in the 1933 championship, ahead of Middlesex, Northants, Hampshire, Worcestershire, Glamorgan and Leicestershire. Though reducing their fixture list by two matches, Somerset did not maintain their splendid improvement in 1932; and, winning only half a dozen games and losing ten, they dropped from seventh position. They began the 1933 summer badly, losing their first three engagements, recovered to gain five victories in June, but then won only one of their remaining fifteen matches. AVERAGES FOR TOUR. PONSFORD AND O'REILLY TOP. The averages for all games played by the Australians on their 1934 tour of England, including the second Test at Lord's, are:— BATTING. Ings. N.O. n.S. Runs. Avge. Ponsford 12 2 2Sl* 857 85 70 McCabe IS 3 240 1393 79 53 Chipperfield ...14 8 175- 651 59.1C Bradman .... 34 — 20R 743 5150 Brown 17 1 119 79S 49.57 Barnntt 10 4 (11* 22S 38.00 Woodfull 15 1 172* 452 32 28 Darling IS 1 100 538 31.fit Kippax 10 1 89 207 29.00 Oldfield 9 2 07 190 27.14 O'Reilly 11 5 25 139 23.10 Bromley 11 — 50 205 IS 03 Grimmett 12 2 39 100 10.00 Ebeling 9 — 37 102 11.33 Wall 7 2 24 49 9.80 Fleetwood-Smith 5 2 4 8 2.06 •Signifies not out. BOWLING. Wkts. Rons. Avge. O'Reilly ... 57 904 10.91 Grimmett 72 1219 10.93 Ebeling 20 544 20.92 Fleetwood-Smith 35 - 754 21.54 Wall 29 75S 20.13 Chipperfield 8 331 41.37 .McCabe 9 378 42.00 Darling 3 170 59.C6