THE FIRST TEST.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 20315, 14 August 1931, Page 11

THE FIRST TEST.

[plucking THE LION'S| j MANE. J HONOURS WITH NEW | ZEALAND. I j ) i j i ) ENGLISH CRITIC'S OPINION. J i ~ 1 \ Un Lh'j uu; ul the lhu-1 ' I.o*l/ mutch between England and Now Zealand, at Manchester, it is of special interest to know what ouo of tho best writers on cricket iu the world had to say about the first Test at Lord's. "Cricketer," in the ''Manchester Guardian," wrote: New Zealand made a magnificent light uphill to-day (Juno 30th). Not | only did they save the innings deJeat; they achieved the haudfiomo total of -169 lor nine, and then declared—a gallant gesture which plucked, the Lion's mane and, so to say, lauded him one in the } eye. Moreover, New Zealand's bowlers j prevented England from any matchI winning indulgence whatsoever. ; I Tho foundation of New Zealand's { stand was well and truly laid on M onchy night by Weir and Dempster alter tho wicket of Mills had been lost for only uno run and after New Zealand had stalled the long, almost hopeless task of scoring 230 to avoid defeat in a single innings. This morning Dempster and Pago set themselves very coolly and skilfully to blunt whatever edgo the England attack could claim to show. Dempster reached his hundred, an inevitable deed for him to pei'lorm, boeauso he is as dependable as Wood full and much more attractive to watch. Hit; hatsmanship to-day possessed the surest touch and the keenest intelligence. Yet when he was bowled at 218 by a finely-tempered ball by Hammond, which his canny bat foil Id not quite stop, New Zealand were st.iil a dozen runs behind, arid their i one great batsman had departed. But i i'age is an accomplished cricketer, ! thoughtful and scientific in defence and git ted with strong strokes to most parts of iho field. He never looked like getting out; New Zealand's problem was fo f'.nd a durable colleague for Page. Through Vacant Slips. 'I o everybody's surprise Blunt survived si few overs front Voce, many a hall of which troubled him sorely. Blunt for a long while seemed entirely vulnerable; ho poked his bat out, stiff-armed, at Voce and snicked balls dangerously through tho vacant slips. Only two men were placed there, and so Blunt's edged and apprehensive strokes wers allowed to increase 'lis score. And with tho advent of runs most players find confidence. Not until too late in tho day did .Jardine adequately cover the slips lor Blunt, but tho eye of Blunt was seeing the ball then. Tt was a, "Heaven help me" snick by Blunt that saved New Zealand from defeat by an innings. Then Blunt cut Robins beautifully for four, and was guilty immediately afterwards of another highly speculative poko through tho slips. Meanwhile Page took tho measure of every bowler; lie pulled Robins to leg imperially, and one of his cover drives from Allen would have stamped his quality had he shown us nothing rise. Jarclino changed his attack from tinio to time, but the more he changed it tho more it remained tho same thing—fuel more or less for runs Blunt readied fifty in seventy-five minutes. It is not to discredit his talents that I say he ought not to have been permitted to hold up an English advance in a Test match. He failed bv only four runs to score a hundred, and if he had done so, three hundreds would have announced to all Australia that no Bradman is needed nowadays to achieve the rarest honours of the gamo at Lord's against English bowling. Feeble Bowling. Since lljo war tho slory has been tho same—English bowling is feeble. No matter how our selection committees choose tho men it remains possible for newcomers to Test to get centuries for the asking. Wo have given opportunities to most of our leading bowlers—Tate, -Larwood, Richard Tyldesley, Peebles. Robins, Geary, Voce, Froe*nan, and so on. And against rham in successive Test match seasons Australia. South Africa, anfi now New Zealand have lound it easy to make grand totals of over 400 on English wickets. Tho main trouble is that our bowlers lack concentration oi purpose and good length. To-day the number of wretched balls sent up has caused pain to those of us who remember J. T. Hearne, Rhodes, Arnold, Frank Foster, Brearley—to name only a few of the not most famous names. Two googly bowlers in one side are bound to prove expensive, but only Peebles and Robins seemed to have it in them to got a wicket on this smooth stretch of Lord's turf. Jardine could not bo blamed for giving Peebles and Robins heavy work to perform; between them they liowled over for 276 rw;s and six wickets. Only eleven maidens were included m these 79 overs. If the match was to be won ny England at all only the googly bowlers could possibly win it ; tho others were merely utilitarian. It is easy to protest that no England eleven can lie called representative it three of its bowlers come from Middlesex. But, as I say, most of our bowlers have in recent years been unable to stop young men from the colonies from improving their batting averages in Test matches here. England Struggling. Shortly after four o'clock Bake well and Arnold batted again for England together. Two hours and twenty minutes were at England's service, and 240 runs were wanted for victory. In just under an hour Bake well and Arnold scored 62, and Bakcwcll _ after nearly losing his wicket by a snick to tho slips in Cromb's first, over, delighted us with keen stylish hits, winch foretold that some day he will bat first for a real England eleven. Arnold jn a conscientious fashion got a few consoling runs, but he and Bakewell were both out at 62, and by the time land's score attained 105 in a hundred minutes, Duleepsinhji and Woollev had failed—Woolley clean bowled by Cromb, who attacked without rest, as though determined to humble us to the utmost. At the finish England were actually struggling to maintain some appearance of batting prestige. j Giddiest Optimism Surpassed. ; The honours of the match certainly j went to the New Zoulanders. The limit J o#' their ambition in their first Test in this country was to avoid defeat. In | their giddiest mopients of optimism they could not have seen themselves piling up nearly 500 runs in a single innings, and then, after a declaration, forcing our best batsmen to bend down oa protective bats. Right to the flitter end the New Zealanders pressed hard. At twenty past si:c Hammond helped their efforts by running _ himself out, after an innings of no little responsibility. At the finish Jardine and Ames were rather ingloriously on the defensive, neither daring to enjoy a liberty. Jardine'* Haxlequia A

on view, pretty enough, but there was no Harlequin—not u sign of one to lend England's innings a faint suggestion of a delightful volatility. | THE THIRD TEST. ! | BROADCASTING THE PLAY. Arrangements have beeu completed for the broadcasting of a daily summary of play in the third Test cricket match between New Zealand and England. which begins tomorrow in Manchester. As 011 the previous i occasions, the radio telephone will be used, linked up with Manchester. 1M first rebroadcast by the YA stations will take place on Sunday morning, and others will follow 011 Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday morning??.