WEATHER AND WICKET

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 3, 5 January 1937, Page 8

WEATHER AND WICKET

HISTORICAL OPENING. i BRADMAN ON HOBBS' TRAIL. (Received 12 noon.) MELBOURNE, this day. Two heavy showers fell at Melbourne last night, but in the early hours of the morning the sky was cloudless and indications pointed to better weather for to-day. It is believed that O'Reilly and Fleetwood-Smith made history yesterday. As Test openers they both made ducks. There is no trace of a similar double failure by opening batsmen. Bradnmn, when he had scored 13, passed Sutcliffe's aggregate of 2741 runs made in Tests and now has only' Hobbs' aggregate of 3636 to beat. Arthur Mailey, in the Sydney "Daily Telegraph," declares: "Only an out-size in miracles can save England lrom defeat. Heavy downpours last night will result in the pitch favouring the bowlers to-day." c Only five Australians and three Englishmen have a 2000 runs aggregate to their credit in Tests between the two countries. In order of average, the fiinirpa lira-—

ngures are:— Ins. K.O. Runs. H.S. Avge. Bradman 37 3 2785 334 81.91 Sutcliffe 46 5 2741 194 66.85 Hammond 39 3 2101 251 58.36 Hobbs 71 4 3636 187 54.26 Hill 76 1 2660 188 35.46 Armstrong 71 9 2172 158 35.03 Trumper 74 5 2263 185* 32.79 Gregory, Sid .. 02 7 2193 201 25.80 not out.