FOURTH TEST.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 23, 28 January 1937, Page 13

FOURTH TEST.

AT ADELAIDE TO-MORROW.

THE 1924-25 CLASSIC

THRILL OF GILLIGAN'S LIFE

The Australian team for the fourth Teet match againet England, at the Adelaide Oval, to-morrow is: — '

D. G. Bradman (captain), J. H FinaleW. A. Brown, C. L. Badcock, S J. * u w R ' °- GregOry, A " G " Chi PPerfield W. A. S. Oldfield, W. J. O'Reillv. A- L. McCormick, L. O. B. FleetwooJSmith and K. E. Rigg. Badcock S eem 6 likely to be twelfth man

The English eleven probably will be: - G. O. B. Allen (captain), R. E. S Wyatt, C. J. Barnett, W. R. Hammond, M. Leyland, L. E. G. Ainee, R. W V Robine, J. Hardetaff, J. M. Sims,' H \ erity and W. Voce.

The Drevioue three Teete resulted--Briebane.—England won by 322 rune Sydney. - England won by an innings and 22 rune.

Melbourne—Australia won by 365 runs. ihe fifth and final contest will be deeded at Melbourne, commencing on February 26.

Apart from its important bearing upo;i the rubber," to-morrowe match » of l^ dlt '°n na! M interest because eac " country has won the same number of Tests 54-J-Leen r 7rawn nK % 137 hav^

M.C.C. Batting Averages. The batting figures for a!] nrs+-clase jnatche. on the EnglMunen'. tojir of tK Commonwealth tine summer are:-

thI h L b f Wl V ng + u nal ; Vsis is not available, as the cost of the four South Australia wicket, which fell at Adelaide 1..t sSurHken W h 8 v ? Ofc / ab, K d - , Numbe r of wickets taken by leading bowler.s:-Allen 36. Sims 31, Voce 28 Verity 25, Fames 22, Copson la, Hammond 14, and Bobins 12.

Gllligan's Story. It take, very little time to answer the question: "Which is the most exciting inatcn in which you have played?" .Beyond doubt, the Test Match played at Adelaide from January 16 to 24. 1925, beats everything else in my experience, says Arthur Gilligan, the 1924-25 English captain, who was in New Zealand earlier this month, en route to aee his brother, Mr. F. W. Gilligan, headmaster of Wanganui Collegiate School. Australia beat us by 11 runs'

Shall I ever forget the see-saw character of that stirring contest? Ite incidents are as clear to me as though the match had been played last week.

Australia won the toes, and had first innings on a pitch which, it seemed to rne, the Australians thought was more difficult than it wae. We had three of them out for 22, four for 114, and six for 119. Collins was .bowled by Tate, and that seemed to hearten us, everything going right for us until Ryder joined Andrews. A Very Lively " Tall." Now, I am not making excuses, but the fact remains that after getting the wickets of Collins and Taylor for only 12 runs, Tate broke down. He retired at the luncheon interval, just before which one o£ my znuecles " went," and I also had to retire. Later Freeman had to retire with a badly bruised wrisC so that England was left with Kilner and Woolley ,to bowl, a predicament necessitating the appearance at the bowling crease of " Patsy " Hendren and Whysall, who had been chosen for the tour as batsman-wicketkeeper. The miehaps on our side do not detract from the great batting of Jack Ryder, 201 not out, T. J. E. Andrews 72, W. A. Old:field 47, and A. A. Mailey 27. Australia's last four wickets added 370 runs! That, in itself, was exciting enough. Our first innings began late on the Saturday evening. I altered my order, Whysali end Tate opening, and Strudwiefe*. following. (Bradman opened with O'Reilly, Fleetwood-Smith, and Ward in the second innings at Melbourne this New Year.) The plan did not really fail, nor did it succeed, for we lost Whysall and Strudwick for 39 that evening. Monday was very hot. A. P. F. Chapman and Tate ■were soon out, and Hobbs and Sutcliffe pot together at four for 69. They took the score to 159. Woolley was out at 180 for six. Then the ever-willing " Patsy " partnered Hobbs while 147 runs were added, and with 297 for six on the board ■we began to smile again. Gregory brought off a great slip catch end Hobbe was out for 119, hie ninth Test match century. "Patey" missed hw hundred by eight, and we were 124 in arrears when Australia went in again t> ciijr hereelf well in by making 211 for three hy close of play on the fourth day. A Bio Hurdle. A deficit of 333 and our opponents ■with seven wickete in hand was what we had for dinner that night! Next morning the Fates, having treated us rather harshly on the first two days, relented and turned on some welcome rain. The restart of play wae delayed 45 minutee and on seeing the pitch I guessed the remaining Australian wickets would make exactly 39 runs. That was just what they did make, their 211 for three being turned into 250. Ryder was 86 not out overnight, but Tvae out for 88. He had very bad luck to miss two hundreds in one Test by only 12 runs. We were left witli 375 to win, with the ■wicket likely to improve and ample time to eet the rune. AIL went well for us until Collins made a great catch at short leg I to get rid of Hobbe at 63. The game again [ swung strongly in Australia's favour, for when Hobbe, "Woolley and Hendren were out we had enly 96 on the board. After Sutcliffe was out at 153 for four on- the sixth day of this terrific struggle Chapman and Wh'ysall played two glorious sitting innings. With the score board showing 244 for four the game had swnug round again and we were winning comfortably. J

An Exciting Innings. Then Gregory intervened once mor° ft ->£V S « 3nd Ca^ ch to die "iies Whysah at 244 for five. Ten runs later another magnificent catch, this time by Rvder at deep point, got rid of Chapman." With four wickete in hand we wanted 121—a very different position to that of only a quarter of an hour earlier. y

fell tS' a b r lg ' it 21 Off two ovene » then ell to a Booghe, and I went in in order to try to keep luy end up for Kilner, who th? V l'T- set - Wc luul added 33 when the lorkshireman was out at 312, eo then ffl were wanted when Frceman'came m> aid. I am afraid I cannot say how we added 4.j for the ninth wicket. I hearted]""' ™ baUed Very sto^

We wanted 27 to win on the niornin|^sr;^dferyV e «e^ wanted 21 to win. I thought I'd got a Wr™ r eetO "- d bal1 ' but T °»™ Andrews at cover, intervened, singles off he fourth, tilth and seventh balb TeTvin* Eighteen were wanted when "Struddv" (Surrey wicket-keeper) went in, and *I can Ml i r i the dln lvhen Freeman hh Mailey hard past cover to the ring. Strudwick got a couple off the Met but one °' Gre foo'B next over, and then-the end. Ihe second ball of Mailev'e next an" fuetTr f. ni , Cked int ° OldfieldVhi and Australia had won.

torj, JOB ior the game.

S 'ill •t, m. Sims' J § J |» Jβ; siie G. Duckworth ..8 1 I5 I- , " K - Farnes 7 2 13 S* Sieo ♦Denotes not out.