ENGLAND IN THE ASCENDANT

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22005, 1 February 1937, Page 9

ENGLAND IN THE ASCENDANT

THE REWARD OF DOGGED BATTING MACARTNEY PKAISES ALLEN'S TACTICS (Received January 31. IL2O p.nO ADELAIDE, January 31. C. G. Macartney, commenting on the second day's play in the test match, says:— At the end of pJay. England occupied a strong position, mainly because of dogged batting against accurate bowling and first-rate field : ing. McCormick's blunder changea the complexion of the game, and fortunate Barnett is still unconquerecL It was a triumph for Allen and his men to dismiss such a fine array of batsmen as Australia possessed, for such a moderate total. Fames was a real menace to Australia. Nc other bowler on the English sidr compared with him. Allen's object in opening with Verity instead of Wyatt was to keep "Wyatt away from the new ball, and it would be too risky to open with Hammond. Verity acted as a good foil for Barnett. Thus the policy of opening with a mixture of defence and aggression, as represented by Verity and Barnett, proved most successful. Hammond was not in his usual good form and lost him wicket in playing one of those round-the-cor-ner leg-side strokes when a fuTi- ' blooded pull would have been safer. ! F-rnett was always sound in defence and made some powerful drives but he found it difficult tc penetrate the well-placed field nor could he afford to take liberties with the bowling. Leyland played more aggressively than any of the others. Fleetwood-Smith beat Barnett badly twice. He appeared to bowl just as well as O'Reilly, but without O'Reilly's luck. McCormidk bowled well and with considerable pace a* the start, but faded appreciably.