TEST AND OTHER CRICKET.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 1, 2 January 1937, Page 8

TEST AND OTHER CRICKET.

If the. Australians are to have a chance of retaining the "Ashes" they must win the Test which.opened in Melbourne yesterday, but their prospects at the moment are far from bright. Bradman won the toss, but was! unlucky in that the circumstances were such that Allen was content to lose it. However, it was possible to make runs (as McCabe was to show later), but Brown and Bradman failed to make them. To that fact, principally, is attributable the poor score which the side put up on the first day. Is the responsibility of j the captaincy .affecting Bradman, or is he simply- having a poor seasont Whatever the reason, it seems indicated that without his lead in century-making some other batsmen are not so great as has been supposed. No fewer than 78,830 people saw the play yesterday, but they saw nothing comparable to the exhilarating display given by .the Aucklanders Carson and Whitelaw at Dunedin.. Even after making all allowances, Auckland's score of 550 for five wickets contrasts so favourably with Australia's 181 for six that those people who are convinced that Test cricket is not the be-all and end-all of the game will be mightily encouraged.